Mildenhall cheerleader donates Easter eggs to Addenbrooke's Hospital ahead of World Championships

A charitable cheerleader from Mildenhall has donated 100 Easter eggs to Addenbrooke’s Hospital ahead of a competition which will see her fly out to America.

Ella Clark has, for the past year, been raising money to send herself off to the World Championships in Florida after she joined the Casablanca team in Loughton, Essex, in 2020 and made try-outs for their International Open Large Coed Level 6 team.

The 14-year-old has shown extreme dedication to the sport by raising £2,175 for the trip with a series of seasonal online raffles.

Ella decided to do an Easter raffle to bump up funds just before the competition and was donated over 250 Easter eggs. She didn’t sell as many tickets as she’d hoped so she made sure that every raffle ticket holder won a prize of a bundle of chocolate eggs and the rest she donated to the three children’s wards at the hospital.

Ella said: "There’s lots going on in the world at the moment and some children aren’t as lucky as I am to be able to do all this with cheer and live the life I’m living at the moment.

"I thought some children might not be able to get Easter eggs this year and they all deserve some for fighting the battles that they’re fighting."

Aside from the dedication the talented cheerleader has shown through fund-raising, Ella has also shown immense determination by doing four one-hour online training classes a day when the club was closed due to the pandemic and has quickly risen up the ranks. Ella said she is not nervous to compete on the main stage of Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex which will take place across April 23 to April 25.

"Now that I’ve been doing the routine over again at other competitions I’m not as nervous as I thought I would be," she said.

"It’s such a big opportunity to go over there and get to compete. It’s so big and I never though I’d be doing it at 14," she added.

Going forward, Ella hopes to return to the competition next year and one day go on to compete for Team England.

Career wise, the driven 14-year-old hopes to join the police force and is already involved in police cadets.

Ella is currently looking for businesses to sponsor her so that she can continue to pursue the sport. Potential sponsors should email paul_clark@live.co.uk.