A TRIO of trash-collecting youngsters have won praise from the community for their public spirit.

While other children may have spent the recent bank holiday playing on computers, 12-year-olds Emma Cooper, Harvey Magill and Maddison Cooper armed themselves with bin bags and went litter-collecting in Heaton Park.

They spent four hours there and filled five bags, which they the carried all the way back to their Whitefield homes.

Dawn Cooper, the mother of Emma, said: "They had learned at school that in twelve years time there could be more rubbish than people and it clearly made an impression of them.

"I'm really proud of them and I think it's important that people realise that there is a lot of good in youngsters, they're not all bad."

It's a view shared by the community as the Spotted Unswoprth and Whitefield facebook page has almost 100 posts of thanks and congratulations, including one that describes them as "fantastic young role models".