ACTRESS and Strictly Come Dancing winner Kara Tointon joined villagers at the Amelia Grace Rainbow Fund fun day at the weekend.

West End and Eastenders actress Kara met Amelia-Grace Cooper shortly before her death from a rare form of cancer five years ago, and she is now the patron of the charity, which helps children suffering from terminal, life-limiting and chronic diseases.

The event, held at Colehill Sports and Social Club on Sunday, included a host of stalls, games and entertainment, including music from Drew Allen, the LEAF Choir and the Bournemouth Carnival Band, appearances from Purbeck Dog Agility, Falconry Solutions, hip hop dancers from RockiT and the ever popular Dorset Troopers dressed in Star Wars costumes.

Kara, who travelled down from London for the day, said: “It is exciting to be here, it is a celebration of what the fund has achieved so far.

“And I am pretty sure Amelia is looking down and playing a part in this too.

“I first met Amelia at an event for children with serious illnesses and at first I thought she must be a sister of one of the children there, she bounded up to me and we started chatting, she was a ball of energy.

“But she was severely ill. It just made me realise people out there are going through pretty awful things every day.”

The charity, which was set-up by Amelia’s mother Chantel Cox and her husband Karl, has raised more than £100,000.

Mrs Cox, who gave birth to baby Dexter seven weeks ago, said: “This is the first fun day we have held, it is basically the biggest event we have done and we are very pleased with how it is going.

“We wanted to hold it here to give it a village atmosphere, and we couldn’t have done it without the help of the club and all the volunteers.

“We are amazed at how the charity is growing. We have just got £30,000 from Dorset company 4Com which we will use to buy a holiday home in Highcliffe for the children.

“Amelia had a big impact on everyone who met her. She died but this is all in her name, this is what she has achieved.”

The charity’s next event is as a participant in the Dorset Plane Pull at Bournemouth Airport on the August Bank Holiday Monday, where teams will compete to pull a Boeing 737 in the fastest time.