A Leicester girl collecting stamps for a military charity was stunned when a donor brought her more than one million.

Alex Windram, 10, was amazed to be given 24 bags of used stamps for her Support Our Soldiers appeal.

They were donated by Susanne Brown, 66, of Wigston, whose late cousin had been collecting them for more than 60 years.

After counting up the donation over Christmas, Alex, from Braunstone Town, was stunned to discover how many she had been given.

She said: "I couldn't believe it when I saw how many there were.

"There were massive Royal Mail sacks everywhere which were full of stamps.

"It's the biggest collection I've ever seen and I would like to thank Mrs Brown so much.

"I really can't believe how many stamps she has given us."

Alex started collecting two years ago when her cousin, who cannot be identified because of the work he is doing, was sent to Afghanistan.

She made an appeal in the Mercury for readers to donate stamps for her collection – which had previously totalled more than 500,000.

Alex's mother, Mandy, 32, said: "We had a phone call from a lady who had seen Alex's plea in the paper who said she had a few bags of stamps to donate that a relative had collected.

"We went to collect the stamps and to our amazement the few bags that we thought were carriers were actually 24 Royal Mail sacks full.

"Alex was in total shock when she saw them.

"Mrs Brown doesn't realise how much of a difference they can make. We really can't thank her enough for the donation."

Mrs Brown's cousin, Dr Mervyn Beeby, of South Wigston, died, aged 84, last January.

He had been collecting the stamps since 1944, when he worked part-time for the Royal Mail while studying at Cambridge University.

Mrs Brown said: "Mervyn kept the sacks in the attic of his bungalow.

"He was a big charity person and had said he wanted the stamps to go to charity. But, after he died, I didn't know which to send them to.

"The rest of his family wanted to dump them but then I saw Alex's appeal and thought I would keep them for her.

"I have never met a child like Alex – she's just amazing for what she is doing."

Support Our Soldiers stamp appeal co-ordinator Mandy Jenkins said: "I'm hoping to travel to Leicester later this month with a dealer to get them valued and sold.

"The stamps are old so, hopefully, there might be some rare ones in the collection."

The funds raised will help fill parcels of shower gels, sweets, biscuits and other items for soldiers.

What happens next with the collected stamps

Stamps given to the Support Our Soldiers Appeal are sent to a post office collection point.

Co-ordinator Mandy Jenkins collects them and looks for stamps that may be of value.

She puts these into Royal Mail sacks which are sent to expert and dealer, Steve Renshaw.

He sends a cheque for their value per kilogram to the Support Our Soldiers head office.

Due to the predicted age of some of the stamps Amy is set to donate from Dr Beeby's collection, their sale could fetch £1,000.

The stamp appeal is one of several aiding Support Our Soldiers, which helps members of the British armed forces serving overseas and their families.

www.supportoursoldiers.co.uk/