Young 'Swiftie' receives gift of a lifetime after extraordinary challenge

Eleanor 'Ellie' Scarr couldn't believe the 'kind' gift she received from a complete stranger after completing her swimming challenge to raise money for the RSPCA.

Ellie ,11, decided to swim lengths for the duration of all of Taylor Swift's albums in her local hotel pool in order to raise money for charity. Ellie swam for three days to complete the challenge, ultimately spending a 'whopping' 24 hours and 46 minutes in the pool.

She raised more than £830 for the RSPCA through her challenge, which she powered through with the help of Taylor Swift playing on her waterproof headphones, noting Swift's music has helped her get through some 'tricky times'. This good deed did not go unnoticed.

When Ellie, who is from Stockport, spoke about her challenge, which she did in aid of the RSPCAs new campaign For Every Kind, on BBC Five Live she did not expect what would come next. A listener known only as Joe gifted her tickets to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour after listening to her 'good deed' on the show.

Ellie, whose 'love of Taylor Swift' created her swimming idea, said: I am a massive ‘Swiftie’ and will be ‘forever and always’! Taylor is inspirational. I couldn’t believe it (and still can’t!) that someone could be so kind to give me tickets to the tour. It is so exciting! The donations are very, very generous, and people have left lovely messages of support,"

“I will be donating the money I’ve raised to the RSPCA because I love and care for animals. Taylor references different animals in her lyrics and interviews, and has three cats, so I'm pretty sure she loves animals as much as I do - she has cats and grew up with horses and dogs, so raising money to help animals is a perfect match.”

Ellie's love of animals comes not only from her favourite pop star but also after hearing stories from a neighbour whose family member worked as an animal rescuer for the charity. The secondary school pupil also owns a dog called Ember as well two guinea pigs named Rocky and Pumpkin.

Ellie’s mum, speaking on her daughter's 'amazing' achievement said: “I’m so proud of Ellie for carefully planning this idea by herself, she’s very capable and is so driven by her love of Taylor Swift and animals. It’s amazing what she’s achieved.”

The RSPCA noted Ellie's swim 'highlights perfectly' what their new For Every Kind campaign is about as well as the public's dedication to helping animals. The campaign comes in time for the charity's 200th anniversary and their first rebrand since the 1970s.

The campaign urges people to carry out one million acts of kindness for animals and to urge everyone to do their part to take care of animals.

Jen Boyson, from the RSPCA, added: "Look what Taylor made her do!"

"Eleanor's incredible efforts are so inspiring, and an amazing example of the remarkable things people are doing to help us build a better and kinder world for every animal. She’s even made some gorgeous bracelets in the RSPCA’s colours to mark her challenge,"

"We couldn't do our work for animal welfare without our amazing supporters - raising money for us, backing our campaigns, and spreading the message about how to make our communities a better place for animals to live,"

“Our 'For Every Kind' campaign and exciting new brand is all about urging people to care about the lives of every animal, and to carry out one million acts of kindness for animals - and Eleanor's unique efforts highlight perfectly the amazing things people can do to help animals of every kind. We’re so happy she’s been given tickets to see Taylor.”