Well done kid!

[Gob]

Overgrown, littered with discarded beer cans and stalked by youths with aggressive dogs, Ryan Wells's local park was in a state of ruin.



So, bewildered at the lack of any action to sort it out, the crusading eight-year- old borrowed his mother's digital camera and took matters into his own hands.

He compiled a damning dossier of photographs of the park's neglect and his own plans to make it better - and finally shamed the local council into ordering £10,000 of improvements.

In a hand-written letter about the state of Northbrook Park in Lee, South London, Ryan told Mayor of Lewisham Sir Steve Bullock: 'There is nothing to attract the kids to go around there.

'There are so many kids around the streets in my area on the pavement and in the road, some as young as five out without their mum.

'I would like to give them somewhere to go, rather than them ending up in trouble with police as they are bored.

'It just depends how much you can spare to change a run-down park into a place people want to spend time.

'Please would you consider my request. I would be forever grateful.'

The mayor invited Ryan to a meeting where the young campaigner convinced him to part with the money.

It will be spent on an improved children's play area and 'general tidy-up'.

He promised Ryan the local parks team 'would be working hard to improve the standard of the overgrown areas of the park'.

Ryan said he was 'very pleased' with the outcome.

'The park was boring and full of dog mess,' he added. 'All the equipment was broken or too young for us.'

Ryan's mother Michelle Ball, 37, who is the director of a roofing business, said: 'I'm so proud of the way he has gone about raising money for improvements in our local park.

'He did everything himself.'

She said families and young children had stopped going to the park because it was in a 'terrible condition'.

'The tarmac is old and cracked, and the park is overgrown, unkempt and shabby,' she added.

'There are often beer cans and spirit bottles discarded by street drinkers, and sometimes needles and syringes which have been used by drug addicts.'

Buoyed by his success, Ryan now has ambitions to make the revitalised park even better.

He is bidding for £50,000 from the People's Millions lottery fund to build a BMX bike track.

'I was very pleased the mayor offered £10,000, but I wanted more to make the park really good,' he said.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0pebqo5EY

[The Hen]

Good on him. There is nothing better than a kid with a positive plan. There should be more of them and more support from adults.

[loCAtek]

Cheecky bastard, someone hand him a Gameboy™ and get him back inside where he belongs! :ugeek:

[Miles]

Cheecky bastard, someone hand him a Gameboy™ and get him back inside where he belongs! :ugeek:

Yeah, whats the matter with him?!?!?! What kid today wants to play out in the fresh air and sun shine?!?!?! Trouble maker what what he is, just a rotten little trouble maker......