A CHARITY is seeking help to cushion the blow of losing thousands of pounds after being forced to cancel a popular fundraiser.

The Children’s Adventure Farm Trust's family fun day was due to take place on Sunday, September 22 – an annual event that usually generates around £6,000 for the charity.

But hours of heavy rain forced the charity, based near Lymm, to cancel the fun day at short notice for a second time in months.

CAFT's Helen Crowther said: "It was with a very heavy heart on Sunday that we took the decision to cancel our family fun day.

"After a week of beautiful weather, the heavens opened and we simply couldn’t go ahead – we arrived to set up at 7am to find many hours of heavy rain had resulted in flooding of our fields and surrounding roads.

"We held on for another couple of hours hoping it would stop, but the rain was relentless – we even had thunder and lightning and the forecast was for heavy rain for most of the day, making visiting the adventure farm impossible.

"We understand this will have been a huge disappointment to all of you who were coming along to the event, and we really are very sorry – we didn’t make this decision lightly.

"Staff and volunteers had worked tirelessly to prepare our land and facilities for our visitors.

"Months of work had gone into creating a day of fun, and to say we were disappointed is an understatement.

"Cancelling an event like this comes at a huge cost to our charity – so much has been invested financially, and we now need to look at ways of recouping the money we’ve spent and the funds that would have been raised on the day.

"Funds raised would have helped us bring fun, love and laughter to the lives of children visiting CAFT and we’d be so grateful for any donations."

Young helper Ruby Moorhouse is among those who have rallied around the charity.

The 11-year-old designed and printed off nearly 100 leaflets and handed them out in the community in a bid to drum up financial support for CAFT.

Helen added: “She had such a positive response from people, one lady came running after her saying it had brought a tear to her eye.

"She collected £13 for CAFT, and we’re bowled over by her thoughtfulness – she’s a real superstar."

Meanwhile, fresh food that was set to be used on the day has been donated to the Tree of Life Centre in Wythenshawe with a view to distrusting the produce in the community.

To donate £5 to CAFT, text CAFT01 to 70970 – or to donate £10 text CAFT01 to 70191.