A SMALL boy in Berkshire, touched by the plight of Dartmoor farmers during the foot and mouth crisis, has sent £25 to try and help.

Sam Gardiner, 9, spends much of his school holidays with Grandma June Ward in Peter Tavy, where he walks and rides on the moor.

'He loves this area,' she said.

'He watches the news and saw what was going on — he was very concerned.'

Sam recruited three of his school friends — Georgina Harmsworth, Charlotte Doubt and Amy Clerk — to help him raise some money.

They in turn roped in their parents to bake dozens of cakes and sold them last Friday to fellow pupils in the playground, making £24.97.

'Juanita, his mum, baked about 200 fairy cakes — they were coming out of her ears,' said Mrs Ward.

The money will be added to an emergency fund, just as soon as West Devon Borough Council sets it up.

'Sam was adamant the money was not to go to Berkshire, or Cumbria, or anywhere else — he wanted it to come to Devon and particularly Dartmoor,' said Mrs Ward.