A “caring” eight-year-old from Norwich will be taking on a 10k challenge to support the county’s mental health trust.

Sophie Cole was inspired by the efforts of Captain Tom Moore, who has raised more than £27m for the NHS by walking 100 lengths of his garden.

For her fundraiser, Sophie and her mum Carla have challenged themselves to run and walk 10k for the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT).

The primary school pupil had raised more than £250 ahead of the challenge on Saturday.

Sophie, eight, chose NSFT as people’s mental health is an important issue in “these challenging times”.

Mrs Cole described her daughter as very caring and often dotes on her four year old sister Hollie.

Read more: Singer’s Facebook Live gig raises hundreds for NHS charityShe said: “She is always keen to help people and I’m sure she will end up in a caring profession. That’s her personality,”

Dawn Collins, deputy lead nurse at NSFT, said: “We are delighted to hear about Sophie’s brilliant efforts to raise money for our hard-working staff and to make lives of service users on the wards easier in these difficult times. We wish her the best of luck on Saturday and look forward to hearing how she gets on.”

Read more: Huge support for Clap for Our Carers celebrations across NorfolkAnyone in the area on Saturday morning is encouraged to cheer Sophie and Carla on as they complete the route around the Norfolk and Norwich hospital, Earlham Park through Eaton and Cringleford.

Her fundraising comes at the NSFT has launched an appeal to support service users and staff during the coronavirus pandemic after receiving a number of donations from the public.

The fund will be spent in a variety of ways including helping keep service users stay connected with friend and family while self-isolating, or to purchase fruit and vegetable boxes for staff who have not had time to go shopping.

Click here to donate to Sophie’s fundraiser Visit here to find out more about NSFT’s JustGiving page.