IT was a veritable cake-scramble at the Royal Manor Arts College when the girls from Year 8 held a fund raising event in aid of the Dorset Echo Beslan Appeal.

Trays of fairy, chocolate chip, coffee and crispy cakes, all made at home with no help from mums, disappeared in the space of 15 minutes as the whole school arrived for morning break.

Hannah Cook and Kelly House, both aged 12, had decided that they wanted to make a class contribution to the Echo's Beslan Appeal.

Their classmates were enthusiastic when asked to help and they all did what girls are usually best at - they made loads of cakes. The nine girls involved in the enterprise also ran a raffle, a treasure search and a name-the-teddy bear with a prize of her well-loved bear Gilbert from Kerry Tosh.

Cake seller Brodie Davies said: "I am surprised at how quickly all thecakes went and I am glad to have helped in such a good cause," and Emily Brocklebank added: "We have raised £60.23p which is three times as much as we had hoped for so it shows how good our cakes were!"

This enterprise by nine young girls worried over the plight of others has brought the total contributed by the Royal Manor Arts College to the Echo's Beslan Appeal up to £437.74p.