Twelve months ago this little boy was the face of the Daily Mirror’s special “green” edition.
Layton Lewis was just a few hours old when was photographed for our ground-breaking environmental edition, November 14, 2019.
His gorgeous picture took up the entire front page, with the headline: “Give me a world I can grow up in.”
It was a plea for all governments to tackle the climate crisis.
But within weeks the planet began to reel from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has now cost more than a million lives globally.
Layton was a 5lb 9oz bundle of joy when he arrived at Liverpool Women’s Hospital a year ago today.
His mum Natalie Marsh, 32, was still in hospital and had no idea her son was about to become a star until Layton’s dad, Anthony Lewis, 37, phoned her.
She said: “Anthony called to tell me Layton was on the front page. I said, ‘OK’ and he said, ‘Natalie, when I say he is on the front page, I mean he is all of the front page!’ He brought the paper into the hospital. I could not believe it.”
“I think every member of my family bought a copy.”
A year on and a beaming Layton is on the brink of his first steps, watched by brother Alfie, seven.
Full-time mum Natalie, from Speke, Liverpool, said: “He is a lovely happy boy. And he has such big blue eyes.”
Natalie and Anthony have split but are still close and share Layton’s upbringing.
The environmental and climate debate is still on the agenda but Covid-19 crisis has cast a more immediate shadow.
Natalie said: “Things have just completely changed from where we were last year. It is not the same world is it?”
And as the virus continues to cost lives and jobs, “Give me a world a I can grow up in” has more meaning than ever.
