A fundraiser took it upon herself to replace stolen charity cash – only for her friends to club together to raise the money.

Sam Hill, from Worthing, arranged a charity pub quiz night at the Ye Olde House At Home and managed to raise £500 for the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), only to have it stolen from her bag.

The money was taken from her bag before she managed to pay it into the bank.

The distraught 24-year-old said she “blamed herself” for what happened and decided to secretly donate £500 of her own money she was saving for a holiday to replace the funds.

When Ms Hill’s friend Katie Skelton found out she set up an online fundraising page to get Sam her money back.

Ms Hill said: “When I realised it was missing I felt really sick and terrible. I was going to take the money to the bank and I blamed myself.

“When Katie set up the page I was just completely overwhelmed and touched. I did not want to tell anyone as I thought they would blame me.”

Ms Skelton said her friend was one of the “most charitable” people she had ever met and set up the page to not allow the thief to turn “Sam’s hard-earned holiday into a generous guilt trip”.

The 24-year-old said: “Bad enough if it was her own money but this was money intended for very sick children and their families at Great Ormond Street Hospital and now it’s in the hands of some petty thief.”

“I know Sam is overjoyed to have the money back and her holiday back in her diary again. She is now very keen for anything raised above and beyond £500 to go straight to GOSH.”

By yesterday morning the total was at £565.

To donate to GOSH visit www.justgiving.com/hillsbills