MONDAY, 18 JUNE 2012 16:19
A school kitchen is to be built in Malawi and named in honour of school dinners blogger Martha Payne.
The nine-year-old became an internet sensation after Argyll and Bute Council banned her from posting photos of her school meals on her blog.
The ban was later overturned after a storm of protest.
She has now raised more than £80,000 for the charity Mary's Meals and recorded more than five million page views on the NeverSeconds blog.
Martha began publishing photographs of her Lochgilphead Primary School lunches on 30 April.
She gives each meal a 'food-o-meter' and health rating, and counts the number of mouthfuls it takes her to eat it.
Last week she was told to stop posting the pictures online.
Argyll and Bute Council said press coverage of the blog had led catering staff to fear for their jobs.
However, after a worldwide response to the story - including support from celebrity chefs Nick Nairn and Jamie Oliver - the council's leader announced that he had instructed senior officials to lift the ban.
Martha gave this cheeseburger a health rating of just 2/10 The schoolgirl has been using the blog to raise money for the Mary's Meals charity.
By Monday morning donations had soared to about £82,000. Martha had originally set herself a target of raising £7,000.
Posting on her blog in response to the rocketing fundraising total, Martha said: "A small thank you isn't enough so here's a big THANK YOU to you all!"
Mary's Meals said it would use some of the money to build a school kitchen in Malawi, where it costs about £10 to feed a child for an entire year.
Martha has decided to name it "Friends of Never Seconds". She said she wanted to give credit to all those who had donated.(BBC)
The nine-year-old became an internet sensation after Argyll and Bute Council banned her from posting photos of her school meals on her blog.
The ban was later overturned after a storm of protest.
She has now raised more than £80,000 for the charity Mary's Meals and recorded more than five million page views on the NeverSeconds blog.
Martha began publishing photographs of her Lochgilphead Primary School lunches on 30 April.
She gives each meal a 'food-o-meter' and health rating, and counts the number of mouthfuls it takes her to eat it.
Last week she was told to stop posting the pictures online.
Argyll and Bute Council said press coverage of the blog had led catering staff to fear for their jobs.
However, after a worldwide response to the story - including support from celebrity chefs Nick Nairn and Jamie Oliver - the council's leader announced that he had instructed senior officials to lift the ban.
Martha gave this cheeseburger a health rating of just 2/10 The schoolgirl has been using the blog to raise money for the Mary's Meals charity.
By Monday morning donations had soared to about £82,000. Martha had originally set herself a target of raising £7,000.
Posting on her blog in response to the rocketing fundraising total, Martha said: "A small thank you isn't enough so here's a big THANK YOU to you all!"
Mary's Meals said it would use some of the money to build a school kitchen in Malawi, where it costs about £10 to feed a child for an entire year.
Martha has decided to name it "Friends of Never Seconds". She said she wanted to give credit to all those who had donated.(BBC)
