KIND-HEARTED Bayside footballers have donated cash to get a plucky Rosyth youngster on her bike – after reading her story.

The stars of Bayside Girls 13s, who last year completed a league and cup double by winning every match, have pledged £1,500 that they had raised for an end-of-season football trip to help buy a specialist bike for three-year-old Emily Grant.

In June, we reported that the plucky youngster, who was born with extensive damage to the white matter in her brain which prevents her from having full control of her motor functions, was one of 20 children with cerebral palsy and neuromuscular conditions that attended an inaugural ‘RaceRunning’ event at Pitreavie Amateur Athletics Club in April.

An international disability sport, RaceRunning provides both children and adults who can normally only get around in an electric or manual wheelchair or walker the chance to race at relatively high speed by using a Race Runner, also known as a petra bike.

Gareth Brackley, a friend of Emily’s parents, David and Maggie, launched a fundraising campaign to help buy the tot her own bike and now she will have her own custom-made equipment after the girls’ donation.

Stuart Allan, the team’s coach, said: “We’ve been fundraising throughout the year with the aim of taking the girls away on a trip down south to watch a Premiership match and play a game or two themselves. 

“But we saw the story in the Press and decided to put the money to a better cause. We raised £1,500 and when we looked online, we saw that they’d raised £500, so it took them up to the cost of the bike and allowed them to order it.

“We put the idea to the girls and they came back straight away and said give the money to Emily. There was no hesitation; the girls get so much enjoyment from sport that they wanted to do the same for Emily.

“They have got older heads on young shoulders. They’re a great group and have done so well on the park, so it’s nice to see them do something like this off the park too.

"It’s such a generous act for someone who they’ve not even met and I’m really proud of them. We’re going to try and do something for them at the end of the season to thank them.”

Emily’s dad, David, said: “We were absolutely gobsmacked and couldn’t believe it. Stuart was saying that the girls had been collecting money to go to Manchester but we weren’t expecting anything like that.

"That kind of generosity from people is hard to describe; when it’s friends or family you understand them donating, but something like that blows you away.

“It’s a huge thing for Emily and will be life-changing for her because she can buzz about on her bike and not worry about falling. She is moving her legs freely and stretching her muscles which is what she needs at this stage as she’s growing and getting stronger.

“It shows you should still have faith in humanity.”