Boost for charity as Swifties swoop on gold-dust ticket raffle: They are the hottest tickets in town – and worth a small fortune to a grateful children’s charity.

Taylor Swift fans desperate to attend one of the American star’s sell-out shows in the capital this weekend have already raised nearly £12,000 for Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity as they bid to land a pair of tickets being raffled off.

The tickets were donated by a generous music fan who could no longer attend the 34-year-old singer’s gig at Murrayfield Stadium on Sunday evening. Less than 24 hours after announcing the online prize draw, the charity had raked in £11,871, with six £10 entries being sold every minute yesterday morning. With the prize draw due to close at 4pm on Friday, the final total is set to be much higher.

A charity spokesman said: ‘It’s just incredible and we are so grateful to the supporter for donating the tickets. We launched it on Monday afternoon. Some people have put ten entries in. ‘It’s been super popular – and it will make such a difference to the children and families we support.’

The charity was given four tickets and handed two of them to a family who regularly use the hospital. Around 220,000 of the star’s fans – known as Swifties – will fill the stadium for the three weekend shows during the first leg of her UK tour.