Appeal to find printing company to save Burnley schoolgirl's unique charity craft project that has captured the hearts of the nation

Victoria Bond and her daughter Annie, who is six, need a printing company that can come on board and help them continue to make their gifts that are helping to raise money for a variety of good causes and have also earned Annie a nomination for a Pride of Britain award.

Victoria said: "We have orders on the books that we won't be able to complete unless we can find a company that can take on the printing for us.

"It will be just devastating if we cannot carry on with the project that has taken off in ways we could never have imagined."

Eight weeks ago they came up with the idea to create the keyworker characters, including nurses, doctors, police officers and firefighters, after Victoria bought a pack of plain wooden characters to add to Annie's growing craft collection which was keeping her busy during lockdown.

She had been doing lots of different craft projects and selling them outside their home in Burnley as part of a 'doorstep shop' to raise money for Alder Hey children's hospital.

Victoria spotted the little wooden characters in Tesco and bought a couple of packs not really knowing what they could do with them. The enterprising duo started doodling with the characters and then hit upon the idea of turning them into bookmarks with each one a different keyworker.

Victoria said: "We thought about what people would be doing at home during lockdown and we knew many would be reading so bookmarks seemed ideal."

Creative Annie, who is a pupil at Cliviger Primary School, got to work with her coloured pencils to bring the keyworkers to life and each one has an inspirational quote on it with a little gift label signed by Annie.

Victoria then posted pictures of their creations on a facebook group they had joined called the Great British Camp Out for the NHS and they were bombarded with messages, inquiries and orders from across the country.

Victoria, who is a dental hygenist, said: "I can't believe how this has grown from something that started out as a bit of doodling."

The project has since grown to include mugs, cotton bags and coin purses and beautiful little ceramic hanging decorations that orders are flooding in for. Victoria draws out the figures and Annie gets to work with her coloured pencils, creating the individual characters which are then printed onto the products.

The duo have now raised over £1,000 and they have been invited to become registered charity fund raisers for Chester Zoo, Help for Heroes and Tommy's baby loss charity.

Victoria, who is married to husband Rob and also has a son Oliver, two, was overwhelmed when she received a request for one of the bookmarks from Dr Larisa Corda who makes regular appearances on ITV's This Morning.

And a collection of 30 bookmarks were sent to Yorkshire where they will be used as puppets for children living in deprived communities.

Victoria added: "We really hope we can find a company that will be able to take us on."

Anyone who thinks they can help Victoria is asked to get in touch withh her on the Little Key Worker Co facebook page or by emailing Victoria at [email protected] or ring her on 07927412852.