Blyth Town Council have recognised the sterling work carried out by one of their town’s young residents with a very special award – a certificate and a voucher to buy toys.
The award was presented to five-year-old Oliver Jackson for his work following the successful Northumberland Live at Blyth family festival where the youngster set a fine example of good citizenship by helping the organisers clean up litter.
As people left last month’s festival, Oliver started to pick up crisp packets, cans and other rubbish that been dropped on the ground despite all the litter bins. The festival, headlined by The Undertones , was attended by around 13,000 people of all ages. Council staff and 20 teenage volunteers from Leading Link in Bedlington, picked up more than three tonnes of litter between Thursday before the event began and Sunday morning.
Mel Jackson, event manager for Northumberland Live, who also helped with the litter pick, said: “Oliver is a very conscientious young man. He was upset that so many people had left litter in the park where he plays so he made sure that he did his bit to put it right. “
Oliver’s mum, Victoria Young was rightly very proud of her son.
“Oliver did this totally unprompted and lots of people gave him money to thank him. I was almost in tears when he said he’d like to donate the money to charity. I’m so proud of him.”
The civic award and certificate was presented by the Mayor John Potts and Deputy Mayor Kath Nisbet.
Mayor Potts said; “ It is a pleasure to present this civic award to Oliver for outstanding community service in keeping Northumberland Live Festival tidy. I hope that his example will make others think about how they dispose of litter. We are very pleased to have such a responsible young person in our town.”