After seeing rubbish that was left behind in Verulamium Park over the weekend, two St Albans children took it upon themselves to clear it away.

Six-year-old boys Thomas and Max Nicholson-Wolfe went back to the park with bin bags and litter pickers where they spent two hours on Sunday clearing up.

The Garden Fields School pupils said there were bottles, cans and cups left behind by a minority of park users.

In two hours the boys had filled three rubbish bags.

They usually go to the park to play tennis and enjoy riding their bicycles but said the fun had been taken out of it a little by the excessive litter.

Their dad, James Nicholson, said: “There was still so much rubbish left that they were unable to get to which shows the seriousness of the problem.

“My wife, Vicki, and I are so proud of their community spirit and that they wanted to do it for the benefit of the other park users.”

He added that they had been inspired by Captain Tom Moore and wanted to help people during the COVID-19 shutdown.

Max said: “It’s so rude of people to leave their rubbish behind instead of using a bin.”

Thomas said: “It’s really bad that people just leave it for other people to clean up.”

Councillor Anthony Rowlands, portfolio holder for leisure, heritage and public realm said: “Our parks staff have been at full stretch dealing with the consequences of so many more people coming to our parks.

“Residents even took the trouble to email me in praise of the amazing work the rangers are doing to maintain the parks in good condition.

“We want to encourage people to enjoy the great outdoors, but the very high numbers have resulted in far more litter than the current number of bins can cope with.

“We will be taking action to deal with this, but we also need the public to support us.”

He said that there is no excuse for dropping litter on the ground or not clearing up after themselves.

He added: “Verulamium and Clarence Parks both have Green Flag awards, national recognition of high environmental standards, and we want to ensure that they retain that status.”