CHILDREN in the Elgar Avenue area of Malvern have seized the initiative and cleaned up their own streets and gardens.

Neville Stones, a member of the newly-formed Elgar Association, said the streets were looking really messy, so some of the youngsters decided to take matters into their own hands.

"The place was beginning to look pretty grim, especially the big squares," he said.

"I was talking to some of the kids last week about the mess and later they all came along and picked up about two-thirds of the rubbish!"

"I couldn't believe how well they've done. I just had a little talk with them about the rubbish but they seemed to really take it to heart.

"There were broken bottles, cans, glass, even bits of old car and they've cleaned the lot. it's absolutely spotless now."