Staff at a vandal-hit community centre this week heaped praise on a group of kind-hearted kids who staged an impromptu litter pick.
Six youngsters as young as 10 turned up unannounced at Castlepark Community Centre on Saturday and asked for black bags and gloves to tidy the area.
The deed came after a spate of vandalism at the property, believed to have been carried out by teenagers.
Amber-Rose Rennalds, Dylan Finnie, Alixx MacDonald, Logan Weir, Robbin Jeffrey – all aged 10 – and Deryn Dickson, 11, spent a couple of hours clearing rubbish and filled six bags in the process.
And centre treasurer Eyvonne McCulloch said the kids’ selflessness had restored her faith in youngsters in the area.
“It was completely off their own backs and it makes you super proud of the young community when you see things like this, she said: “We've had a bit of bother at the centre recently with smashed windows and the like.
“We even had to shut the centre for a couple of days to fix a damaged gas flue that had caused a leak in the building.
“So when our caretaker Catriona MacDonald called me on Saturday to say a group of kids had turned up at the centre, my first thought was ‘oh no, what have they done this time’.
“They just wanted to help though. They did a fantastic job and I can’t thank them enough.”
Eyvonne revealed that the kids are keen to do something similar again in the future.
She said: "Castlepark is a big area so it’s too much to ask the kids to do it themselves even though they are keen to help again.
“It’s always difficult to organise a litter pick so any help we can get would be greatly appreciated.”
