Laindon is going to be a little tidier thanks to the efforts of a seven-year-old girl and her friends.

Amy Gallacher from the Five Links estate went to the area's information centre and volunteered to do what she could to help clean up the town.

Volunteers there were SO impressed at the youngster's public-spirited attitude, they have thrown down the gauntlet for other volunteers to come forward.

Linda Greene, who works at the centre said: "Amy is a little girl who lives on the estate and she approached us to see if she could help clean things up.

"We were pleased to have encouraged this. It made us happy that she came to us and that she has got some pride in the area she lives in.

"She knew about the regeneration work going on at the estate and wanted to be part of what's going on."

Amy has yet to set a date to start the big clean-up will, but with the help of her friends she has already begun collecting litter.

After helping organise the estate's annual summer fete and generally helping out, she wanted to do more for the Laindon the area.

She suggested tidying up litter on the Five Links and went along to the information centre to put forward her ideas.

With her sense of community spirit and the summer holidays stretching out into the distance, Laindon should be a much better place by the time the new term begins.

Litter patrol - Amy with brother Thomas, five, and pals Jenny and Peter Spalding and Kenneth Young

Picture: NICK ANSELL

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.