A sports-loving girl is over the moon with excitement after a massive community fundraising effort smashed a £14,000 target to get her a new custom wheelchair.

Eva Redmond, 8, suffers from spina bifida - a gap in her spine which has left her unable to walk and stand.

The youngster loves sport and being outside and active, but her current wheelchair has prevented her from enjoying herself due to its inability to tackle difficult surfaces and is prone to falling and tipping.

Dozens of donations and a “seated sports day” at her school, Thundersley Primary School, saw the family smash the target within months.

Emily Redmond, Eva’s mum, has been overwhelmed by the generosity of the community and has now ordered the chair which will arrive in eight weeks.

She said: “I just want to thank everyone; I am overwhelmed with the generosity of it and we wouldn’t be in this position without the community around Eva.

“It has been lovely the support we have received.

“All we can say is thank you, we’d love to say thanks to everyone.”

Emily has said she can barely believe the target was met so quickly, with the family expecting a long fundraising campaign that would take them all the way to December.

She added: “Eva is so excited for the wheelchair; we had a complicated ordering process, and she got to try it out again to double check it.

“It is custom-made so they had to make the measurements right, it is an adult chair.

“She is very excited and hopefully it won’t be longer than 12 weeks, we hope that she gets it before the seasons change so she can try it when it is dry.”

Emily also thanked the school for playing their part in funding the new chair.

“They added to the pot and raised more than we dreamed of,” she added.

“The school and the kids and all the families attached raised more than we dreamed of and were so generous, we raised a significant amount from their event.”