A 12-year-old boy who masterminded a campaign to secure funding for a Hyndburn play area has been highly commended by police.
David Reid helped to secure around 30,000 votes via a Facebook campaign last year to attract £30,000 of funding for a makeover of West End playground in Oswaldtwistle.
The St Christopher’s High School pupil, whose eight-year-old brother Jack and two-year-old sister Megan both use the park, spoke at the area council last July and also issued leaflets and flyers.
The park was one of 36 play parks up and down the country vying for the money.
However, after an eight-week battle, David and his supporters narrowly lost out to a park in Gateshead which received 33,000 votes.
His efforts have now been recognised by police after he was nominated by proud father Sean Reid for the Lancashire Young Citizen of the Year.
David missed out on the top ‘High Sheriff’ award at the ceremony in Hutton earlier this week but received the ‘highly commended’ award.
Sean said: “Me and his mum Jackie are very proud for what he’s done and you can’t ask any more from him. He did really well.
“I saw about the award a few months ago and wrote everything down and sent it off.
“They got back to me a few weeks ago saying he was in the final.
“Unfortunately he didn’t win but he came sixth overall out of about 30 which is fantastic.
“We never expected to get so far when you think he was up against the whole of Lancashire.”
Sean said David is hoping to do more sponsored events to raise money for the park.
Lisa Allen, of Oswaldtwistle Area Council, said they are still working with David to secure funding and are also hoping to set up a Friends of West End park in the near future.
The park contest was organised by margarine company Flora and environmental regeneration charity Groundwork.
