Boys who cleaned graffiti from Wally Randall's memorial bench rewarded by Leighton Linslade Helpers

The charity gifted games sets to three Pulford Lower School pupils – including Lennon Hunt and Joshua Hunt – as a thank you for scrubbing the seat clean after it was vandalised in Parson’s Rec at the beginning of June.

The boys cleaned the writing off before their school lessons started, as they understood the significance of the bench [installed earlier this year to honour Wally, who was Britain's oldest poppy seller] and wanted to help.

Sarah Cursons, chair of the Leighton Linslade Helpers, said: "We were very touched by what they did and believed they went above and beyond to do a small action to make a big difference.

"We wanted to reward them and say thank you."

June Tobin, lead coordinator at the Leighton Linslade Helpers, added: "We were so touched by what they had done, these little boys understanding the value of the memorial bench.

"I think it's important to recognise when people do good for the community."

Reflecting on the recent spate of vandalism, the Helpers are now planning a project to help young people have a "direction, responsibility, and purpose", and stop them from getting into trouble.

June used to run a youth playground based in Elephant and Castle, London, and witnessed it turn youngster's lives around.

She explained: "We got the young people off the streets and they got involved in its activities, the junior council, and NVQs in football and boxing.

"One of our success stories saw a person who burned the playground down go on to become the leader of the junior council, leading a community of 12 people and making decisions about how the playground should run."

June believes that there are not enough free activities for young people in Leighton Buzzard.

She added: "I know there's a youth club open once at week at Vandyke, but ideally we need one open six days a week from 3pm to 10.30 at night.

"Clubs like this and the playground keep people out of prison. I think that no child should be written off, and we need to tackle it now."

Concluding, she said: "I think the whole town should take a leaf out of these little boys' books; they are future community leaders."