Cheryl Cole pulls in £40,000 for charity

Pop star Cheryl Cole pulled in an impressive £40,000 for charity during her 11-date debut solo tour.

The Girls Aloud singer raised the sum by staging a series of meet-and-greet sessions for fans backstage during her A Million Lights Tour, which ran across the country in October.

In a post on her Twitter.com page, she writes, "I am sooo (sic) happy I just found out we raised £40,000 for my Cheryl Cole Foundation from our VIP meet and greet on the A Million Lights Tour."

The brunette beauty launched The Cheryl Cole Foundation last year to help disadvantaged youngsters.