Children pressed on with their RNLI fund raising after their charity collection box was stolen

MEAN thieves failed to deter three young fund raisers after stealing their charity collection box at Lyme Regis.

Alfie Ayling, seven, his sister Lily, ten, and friend Iris Penfold, nine, were heartbroken when the money they had raised for the local lifeboat, by painting and selling stones, was taken.

They have been collecting money for the RNLI charity for four years during visits to Lyme and have raised a total of some �500.

But this year their decorated stones and honesty box were stolen from outside their holiday home.

Lily and Alfie, from Chichester, and Iris from London, decided they had to start from scratch after the theft.

They raised �423 and were invited to the lifeboat station to present the money to operations manager Grahame Forshaw.

Iris could not attend, but Mr Forshaw told Lily and Alfie: ”You should be very proud of yourselves. You have set a marvellous example to others and we are very grateful for your efforts for the lifeboat charity, particularly following your disappointment when your first collection was stolen.”

Alfie said: ”We just love lifeboats. We were upset when the money was stolen, but we really wanted to start again. One person even gave us a �20 note.”

Lily and Alfie’s mum, Lesley Davis, said: ”Everyone is very proud of the children. We like to support the RNLI every year – it is such a good cause.”