CHILDREN who were expecting a day of fun activities rallied together to help clean up a play area in Weymouth instead.

The youngsters aged between three and 14 arrived at the new park in Westham to take part in an activity day – only to find The Green covered in litter.

But instead of letting the state of the park ruin their day, they decided to help clean it instead.

Barnardo’s South West arranged the activity day on behalf of Dorset County Council and one of the organisers said she couldn’t believe the state of the park when she arrived.

She added that the children were more than happy to help clean up the mess.

Kelly Houghton, Barn-ardo’s parent support adviser, said: “When we got here this morning it was an absolute state.

“There were glass bottles, crisp packets, containers of rubbish, all sorts of things.

“We suggested that we’d get rid of the rubbish and I actually expected them to say no, but they were all willing to help.

“The boys and girls completely cleaned up the entire play park – we gave them a couple of plastic bags and they started running around doing it.

“We thought people should know about it because people are always moaning about young people but these did really well.”

Chloe Doidge, 11, was one of those helping to clear up the rubbish.

She said: “We came to the park to have fun but when we got here everything was horrible and we just thought it was a bit of a wreck.

“This park hasn’t been open for long and this was only my second time here so it should have been quite enjoyable. I didn’t expect to have to pick up the rubbish that people had dropped.

“We wanted to pick it up to get the message across that there are bins in the park.”

Ryan Kenny, 10, added: “Two girls started picking up the rubbish so I thought I might as well help.

“I didn’t want the girls to look better than the boys.”

Mum Helen Robinson said she thought it was lovely to see the children do their bit.

She said: “When we arrived we saw a couple of girls with bin liners.

“I thought it was lovely to see the children helping out.

“Other than that it was a brilliant day.”

Mum Jackie Isbell added: “Most of the kids here are local and they want to keep their park looking nice for when they play here.”