A PAIR of enterprising Oxfordshire schoolgirls turned £10 into more than £1,000 for a charity with a personal connection.

Taya Ayres and Sophie Lewin, both 12, from Chalgrove, were given the start up funding as part of the Tenner Challenge, which is run by Young Enterprise.

The scheme sees youngsters given £10 to get their business ideas off the ground and make as much profit as they can over a four week period.

Schoolchildren are then able to keep any profits they make.

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But friends Taya and Sophie, who attend Icknield Community College in Wadlington, decided to use the starter fund to help a good cause.

The 12-year-olds called local businesses to ask for prize donations and then used those to put together a raffle and sell tickets.

This included prizes from Cotswold Wildlife Park, Oxford’s Mini Plant and Miele Experience Centre in Abingdon.

A draw was done at the pair’s old primary school in Chalgrove on Friday and they will donate the mammoth £1,106 raised to Meningitis Now.

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The charity was chosen in honour of Taya’s older sister Jasmine who died from Meningitis B in 2003 when she was just 10 and a half months old.

Her father Colin said: “When I found out what charity they were fundraising for I got a bit choked up.

“Sophie suggested doing it for charity and Taya immediately thought of Jasmine.

“Children that age tend to be quite self-centred and so I was blown away by what they planned to do and how thoughtful they were about it.”

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Mr Ayres, who works at Oxford’s Mini Plant, added: “Taya was too young to remember her sister Jasmine but we have always showed her photographs and introduced her to it over the years.”

Meningitis is the inflammation of the membranes that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord. Some bacteria that cause meningitis can also cause septicaemia - blood poisoning.

Mr Ayres said Jasmine’s death had been traumatic and he still ‘struggled’ as he thought about what she would be like as a teenager.

The 53-year-old explained the illness had caught them by surprise, saying: “We were just going on our first holiday away to Devon and the morning after we got there we noticed Jasmine was a little lethargic and there was a spidery web on her and I don’t know what made me but I did the glass test on the rash.

“We then rushed her to hospital and near enough a week later she passed.

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He added: "There is now a vaccine against Meningitis B, which is the type Jasmine died from, and that is a really positive thing."

Mr Ayres said once word got around the village about what the girls were fundraising for there was an ‘overwhelming’ response from the community and everyone wanted to buy a ticket.

He added: “It’s really incredible what these two 12-year-old girls have managed to do in such a short amount of time.

“Taya is quiet but she is strong willed and knows what she wants.”

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Taya, explaining why should felt compelled to use the challenge to fundraise for the Meningitis charity, said: “My mum and dad have spoken a lot to me about Jasmine and I felt like I wasn’t doing a lot to help.

“Sophie thought about a raffle and I suggested the charity.”

She said the girls initially thought they would only raise ‘£50-£100’ but that lots of businesses donated prizes and within a couple of weeks ticket sales started to snowball.

She added: “When we got past £1,000 I felt really happy, it was really overwhelming.”

The schoolgirl said getting everyone together for the final draw last week had been ‘really exciting’ and that the money would be formally handed over when the Tenner Challenge finished at the end of the month.