A five-year-old 'womble' from Kenilworth has been thanked for his efforts litter picking in and around the town.

Laurie Rose has received a personal message of thanks from the Mayor of Kenilworth after an image of the youngster litter picking was posted on Facebook.

Laurie's mother, Stephanie, shared the photograph of him in April after seeing a lot of negative comments surrounding the amount of litter in Kenilworth's green spaces.

"A lot of people have been putting up on Kenilworth Vibes about the amount of litter," says Stephanie, "so that is why I stuck a picture of Laurie up, to show that at least someone was trying to do something about it.

"I just thought that it would be a nice surprise for him.

"I showed him how many likes he got and he was quite impressed, he thought he was famous!"

Thanks from the mayor

Having heard about Laurie's efforts the Mayor of Kenilworth, Cllr Richard Dickson, got in touch with the family and arranged to send a personalised letter of thanks to the youngster.

Cllr Dickson said: "Laurie is one of many people whose contribution to our community I've wanted, as Mayor of Kenilworth, to acknowledge and say thank you to on behalf of the people of the town.

"I'm acutely conscious that our young people, and those who care for them, have had particular challenges to overcome in the past year.

"Laurie is such an inspiration to do what we can to care for others and for our environment."

Stephanie said that when he received the letter Laurie "was over the moon."

Keen to clean

It was not just the one litter pick that Laurie was thanked for however, as he has been a eager to collect other people's rubbish for some time.

"When he was around three he started noticing litter whilst we were out walking, and we constantly had to intervene to stop him from picking it up with his hands," says Stephanie.

"So we got him a litter picking stick and some gloves, and from that point he has been consistently taking his stick out on walks to collect litter."

Laurie has collected litter on the common, in Abbey Fields, at Castle Farm, and along the greenway.

"We call Laurie a womble, he is picking litter wherever we go for a walk really! We have a dog and we do a lot of walking so he has lots of opportunity.

"He has even noticed the increase in litter since the start of Covid as more people have been getting out and about."