A seven-year-old who wanted to help people with a terminal illness is set to host a tea party in her village hall to raise funds for a charity that does such work.

Sophia French, who lives in Bethlehem, near Llandeilo, had told mum Hannah that she wanted to help people.

“I found out from Sophia that she felt sad about people with cancer and people who were dying and that was what was bothering her, and she was wondering how she could help," said Hannah.

“I said to her there are loads of charities and they all focus on different things, some are a type of cancer, some are for kids, some are for the elderly, some are for people who are terminally ill – ‘oh, that one’

‘I want to help people who are at the end of their lives, to make them happier at the end’.”

The pair researched charities and found Marie Curie, looking at the history of the charity and what fundraising events they had coming up – when they spotted the charity’s annual Blooming Great Tea Party fundraiser.

Sophia is currently home schooled, and the research became part of learnings.

She said: “I feel for other people, and I wanted to make them happy for as long as they can stay alive.

“Terminal illness stood out to me more than any other charity and I like baking, so we thought that it would be a good opportunity to help.”

Sophia’s tea party has now been organised for June 29 at Bethlehem Village Hall, with support from across the village with cake baking, raffle prizes and event advertising.

Sophia – also a keen baker who prefers baking Chocolate Cake and star-shaped biscuits above all else - has invited some former school friends and members of her Brownie group along to the event.

Hannah added: “Thankfully, we’re as yet unaffected by terminal illness, but I think everyone knows someone who has gone through a this diagnosis, and we’ve known others who have used hospice care.

“Sophia just said to me ‘it just makes me sad when other people are sad’ - it’s as simple as that really.

"I’m happy to encourage that compassion for other people.”

The tea party will run from 2pm to 4pm on Saturday, June 29.

To sign up to the Blooming Great Tea Party, visit mariecurie.org.uk/teaparty