Woman raises £26k for Clarkson's Farm dairy farmer

Rebecca Poole was moved by the plight of a dairy farmer who appeared on Clarkson's Farm

A woman has raised more than £26,000 to help a dairy farmer who appeared on the TV show Clarkson's Farm.

Rebecca Poole, 45, from Solihull, was moved by the plight of Emma Ledbury who was said to have lost half her cattle to tuberculosis.

After seeing the Amazon Prime programme, Ms Poole launched an online fundraising campaign.

She set a target of £10,000 but was soon inundated with public donations.

As a result, Ms Ledbury is said to have been able to keep her farm afloat.

"It's just blown me away how kind people are, especially in the current financial climate where people are struggling to buy food or heating," said Ms Poole, a nursery deputy manager.

"And this cause - we've touched the heart of not only me, but the whole nation.

"I've had donations from Australia, Canada, America, as well as Britain and Ireland and Scotland."

The show follows celebrity motorcar enthusiast Jeremy Clarkson as he manages an Oxfordshire farm.

Dairy farmer Emma Ledbury appeared on the streaming show Clarkson's Farm when spotted by viewer Rebecca Poole

Ms Poole said she had been channelling the "anger" she felt after her father had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

"I thought I've got all these angry feelings around my dad, having the cancer and not being able to be cured of it," she said.

"I thought I could just brood or I could do something - so I decided to put all this anger and focus it into something.

"I just saw [Emma] on the telly and thought 'I can help her'."

Ms Poole has since been in touch with Ms Ledbury's husband and the couple have been made beneficiaries of the online fund.