Fundraising schoolgirl Rosa Castignetti has a 'sweet surprise' for her local Cancer Research charity shop after she and her friends came up with a tasty business venture.

Rosa and her friends Amy Barker and Iqra Mohsin, 12 - all pupils at Furze Platt Senior School in Maidenhead - wanted to do something useful during lockdown and decided to raise money by selling sweets.

They bought boxes, paper bags and sweets themselves.

Then they made thank you labels, calling their business venture 'Sweet Surprise' and Rosa's mother Claire placed a post with photos on the popular site Maidenhead Gossip Girls and the orders came flooding in.

Rosa, who has three older sisters, said: "We couldn't believe it. Mum kept saying 'we have another order' and we had to carefully write everything down or it was going to become a huge muddle.

"We hoped we might sell maybe 10 boxes but instead we sold nearly 100. Everyone has been so generous."

The girls delivered the boxes all round Maidenhead, Windsor and Slough themselves.

Then on Saturday they were able to hand over their profit of £100 plus a box of their sweets to Maggie Young the manager of the Maidenhead Cancer Research UK shop. Claire, with fellow mums Marnie and Sophia, watched the girls present their money.

Claire said: "Maggie was delighted and very impressed with the girls' teamwork and thoughtfulness. She made them feel very special; it was a lovely moment and we're very proud of them.

"I'd like to thank all the women on Maidenhead Gossip Girls too, as they couldn't have done it without their fantastic support."