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The founder of a wildlife charity hit by a devastating fire has spoken of her gratitude after it received a bumper cash boost from Mansfield’s West Nottinghamshire College.

Cheryl Martins, who runs Mansfield Wildlife Rescue, which takes in injured and orphaned animals in the local community and from surrounding counties, lost everything when her Mansfield Woodhouse home was badly damaged in a blaze which swept through the property in May this year.

Now, Cheryl says she is ‘truly humbled’ after receiving £573 from the college following a fundraising campaign by kind-hearted students and staff, who were touched by her plight.

The animal care department raised £345, while the learning resource centres at the Derby Road and Chesterfield Road campuses contributed £228, after coming up with novel ways to get the cash rolling in.

Cheryl Martins (second left), founder of Mansfield Wildlife Rescue, and Ray Macpherson (first left), chair of trustees, receive the donation from the college, presented by learning resources adviser Claire Barke (second right) and animal care teacher Stacey Allcock.

Animal care students had already begun raising funds for the charity, which covers Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire, after being inspired by Cheryl’s visit to the college earlier this year when she gave a talk about her work and plans to move the rescue centre to a former plant nursery in Common Lane.

But they stepped-up their efforts after hearing about the tragedy, with student Reanna Davies raising £100 alone through her own sponsored walk, covering more than 100 miles throughout May.

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Keen to show their support, staff in the learning resource centres placed collection tins on its enquiry desks, and all fines paid for the late return of books and resources also went towards the campaign.

Cheryl (centre), pictured nursing a poorly crow back to health, gave Claire (left) and Stacey a tour of the rescue centre premises.

Cheryl said: “I'm absolutely ecstatic. It’s fantastic the college has done this for us. This is going to make a huge difference. There are things we can now get done that we wouldn't have been able to, ready for the grand opening.

“I'm truly humbled by the support we've had.

“We'd love to have an ongoing relationship with the college and help a lot of students by giving them hands-on experience of working with the types of animals they wouldn't normally see in the college setting.”

Animal care teacher Stacey Allcock, who helped with the fundraising, said: “After Cheryl gave a talk to our groups about what she was setting up at the new site, we decided it'd be good to give her a bit of a boost financially.

“As soon as we heard the awful news about the fire, we thought ‘what else can we do to help?’. The students worked really hard to raise as much money as they could and we’re really proud of them.

“We’re looking forward to working more closely with the rescue centre and giving students practical experience within an animal sanctuary environment. It may inspire future students as well.”

Claire Barke, a learning resources adviser, said: “We knew we wanted to support a local charity and that the animal care team was supporting Mansfield Wildlife Rescue. With the fire and everything that happened, it was the clear choice.

“Hopefully students who contributed will feel really good about it. The rescue centre will be a fantastic community resource, and our students can benefit from it too, so it's very rewarding to see the money going to good use.”

Wildlife charity hit by devastating fire 'humbled' by Mansfield college’s fundraising