CHILDREN rolled up their sleeves and took to the streets of Prestolee in Stoneclough and cleaned them.

The youngsters joined their parents and neighbours for a spring clean-up as part of the Bolton Evening News's Pride of Bolton campaign.

Fourteen children and six adults joined forces to tidy up the area in a project organised by Stoneclough Community Centre.

Litter pickers started at different points on the estate and removed rubbish from a local park, adjoining grassed areas and nearby streets. Bolton Council provided a skip, protective gloves and plastic bags.

Pat Carter, chairman of Stoneclough Community Centre, paid tribute to all the children involved.

She said: "It shows that our youngsters can take pride in where they live."

The children who took part in the clean-up will receive certificates. Similar clean-up campaigns will be staged in Stoneclough and Ringley later this summer.

Neighbours in Gorses Mount and Top o' th' Gorses, Darcy Lever, showed plenty of community spirit when they held a clean-up day. Then they joined other members of the Darcy Lever Residents Association in setting up an action group to protect the wildlife around a disused railway cutting.

Residents' spokesman Neil Duffield said: "We are trying to link in with the Pride of Bolton campaign and hope to encourage young people to preserve and protect the local environment.

"The residents hope to establish the railway cutting as a nature reserve and will be monitoring the animals and plant life over the summer."