Westhoughton youngster takes action against graffiti vandals

Harper Anderson-Ashton, a seven-year-old pupil from The Gates Primary School, decided to take to the footpaths of Market Street to help paint over graffiti – and it has left her dad Rob Ashton feeling ‘proud’.

The young girl saw the graffiti every time she was driven to school and wanted to do something about it.

Rob said: “Every day we drive to The Gates Primary School and drive past Market Street every day, and we see the graffiti on the walls.

“We always drive past and say oh that’s a nice clean wall isn’t it as we previously painted over graffiti on the street and then Harper said oh no look there is more graffiti and I asked her if she wanted to cover it up that weekend.

“She said yes, so I went and asked the pharmacy, and they said it was fine and I also asked the coffee shop close by too and they also said it was fine to paint it.

Rob Ashton and his daughters Harper and Faith Anderson-Ashton (Image: Rob Ashton)“So, we went and bought some paint, tried to get the closest match from Westhoughton DIY and then we painted it, and it only took myself and Harper around two hours to do.

“Harper really enjoyed it.

“We have a lot of people walking round complaining about the world at the moment, but we forget that we have the power to do something and use actions to make a difference and I have tried to engrain that into my children that they can achieve things if they get up and do it.

“I am proud that Harper can see that it is possible to do.”

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Rob said the community has praised Harper’s work and thanked her for helping in the community.

He said: “The response from the local community has been really positive.

“She has had about 400 likes and hundreds of comments under the post with everyone saying well done and good on you - and people saying they saw us painting and were wondering what we were doing.

“It has just been very positive, nothing negative about it at all.”

Harper after the graffiti was painted (Image: Rob Ashton)This isn’t the first time the young girl has helped to paint over graffiti, Harper was joined by her sister Faith, nine, previously - the sisters painted over graffiti at the same place two years ago.

Rob said: “My other daughter Faith did a graffiti covering as well about two years ago where Provenance is on Market Street.

“Me and Faith just asked if they wanted us to cover up the graffiti for them and they said yes no problem and so we did it, we covered it up in white paint and Harper also took part too.”

If you have a story or something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at chloe.wilson@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on X @chloewjourno.