Kind-hearted Derbyshire boys take time out to tidy their village war memorial

Proud mum Sarah Mount has hailed her eight-year-old son Elliot Mount, and his friend Frankie Hill, aged nine, who have become unofficial guardians of the Pleasley Cenotaph, in the grounds of Pleasley Miners Welfare.

Sarah said she and Jayne Hill, Frankie’s mum, had become puzzled over why their sons were taking longer to walk between the families’ two homes for their lifts to school in the morning.

She said: “We couldn’t understand why a two-minute walk was taking 10 minutes for them to do, so we asked what they had been up to. We were a bit concerned about where they were.

“To our amazement, they explained they were stopping off at the war memorial to tidy and rearrange the crosses and poppy wreaths.

“We were so proud of them. They had taken it upon themselves to do this small, kind gesture and it is now almost a daily part of their school routine.”

Sarah described how the Farmilo Primary School pupils take care to ensure the wreaths and wooden crosses are neatly displayed in the same way every day, and that the children had now become quite familiar with the names of the soldiers.

Proud

She said: “We are obviously very proud of our boys for this, and just thought it was a genuine, heartwarming little story that would hopefully make Chad readers smile.

“They are kind children, sweet-natured, so caring, they are the best of friends, and always the ones who become the ‘playground buddies’ supporting other children at school.

“Their teacher was blown away by their kindness and commitment to the village, and the respect they have for the memorial and its meaning.

“We’ve had comments from local people about what an amazing thing this is for two small boys to do this. We need more boys like this – grown-ups take note.

“It is only a small gesture by our boys, but sometimes those things are the ones that can make the biggest impact in a community.”