A GROUP of talented show jumpers have come together to raise more than £1,000 for NHS workers by taking part in the toilet roll challenge.

Hannah Thorne and Olivia March set up a Facebook group and invited all of their showjumping friends to take part in the challenge to raise people's spirits during the coronavirus crisis.

The challenge sees people passing toilet roll to each other in a creative way.

Olivia, who lives in Highbridge, said she was 'over the moon' when 32 show jumpers from across the country agreed to take part and all filmed a video of themselves passing and catching toilet rolls on horses.

The duo decided to set up a fundraiser alongside the video with a target of £1,000 and said they were 'overwhelmed' by the reaction after it was posted online on Monday (April 13).

Olivia said: "When the coronavirus pandemic hit it meant that we couldn't enjoy the show jumping season this year which was gutting.

"Last week my friend, Hannah Thorne, texted me and said it would be great if we could do something to lift people's spirits during this difficult time.

"We decided to get as many show jumpers together as possible and film a video of us doing the toilet roll challenge.

"We had 32 show jumpers which took part and Hannah stayed up all night on Sunday (April 12) to get the video cut together. She worked really hard and it looks amazing.

"It's really funny and tells a story. We put the video up on Facebook on Monday along with an appeal for donations for NHS Charities Together and within nine hours we raised 600 and it has been going up ever since."

Olivia said she is thrilled the show jumpers video has raised funds for the NHS and is proud of of how the community has pulled together in the face of the crisis.

So far the show jumpers have raised £1,194 for the NHS and their video has been viewed 24,000 times

"It is lovely that we had so many of us coming together to take part," Olivia said.

"Everyone has been doing such a lot to support our NHS and it has been lovely to see the community pulling together to support the NHS as much as possible.

"The video has been viewed more than 20,000 which is fantastic and we would like to thank everyone who has donated."

To donate search for Hannah Thorne on Facebook