Schoolboys Jonah and Eli are using their summer holiday to help make "Millisle shine" by cleaning the seaside village’s street signs. The brothers have already scrubbed 36 of the 50 signs on their list in Millisle, County Down, and say they will keep going until the job is done before they return to school.
Why did Jonah and Eli start cleaning the signs?
The pair began after spotting dirty signs on a drive home with their mother and decided to clean them so people could see them more clearly. Armed with rubber gloves, cleaning cloths, sponges and soapy water, they have been removing years of dirt and grime to make the signs clearer and more visible.
"We were driving home in my mum's car and we saw some dirty signs so we decided to go clean them to allow people to be able to see them,"
Jonah, who is 10, said. He and his younger brother Eli, who is nine, then decided they wanted to "make Millisle shine".
Situated on the Ards Peninsula, Millisle is a popular place in the summer for caravanners and day trippers alike. The boys say giving back to their community has made them proud, and their work has drawn positive reactions from people passing by.
"People say 'well done' and people drive past in cars and give me the thumbs up and beep the horn,"
Eli said.
"It makes me feel really happy and it makes me feel very good because I've done something well done."
Taking before and after pictures of their work is the highlight for the brothers, and Eli says cleaning the signs would not be any fun without Jonah, even if they do have the odd disagreement.
The boys have so far cleaned 36 street signs out of the 50 they want to finish before school starts again, and the main street is next on their list.
"We'll keep going until we get the job done, whatever the weather but so far it's been warm,"
Eli said.
How do they hope to inspire others?
Jonah says he hopes their efforts encourage other young people to help improve their communities in future. He says it is important to take pride in your village and believes even small actions can make a big difference.
"It's very important to take pride in your village.
"Doing something small can make a big difference,"
Jonah said.
What do local residents and the school think?
The brothers’ efforts have attracted praise from local residents, including Jemma Hutchinson, who has lived in Millisle all her life. She said the signs now "looked brilliant – you can actually see the names of the streets now" and added that the boys have been setting an example for everyone.
She said there has been a lot of work in Millisle over the last 12 months focused on taking pride in the village, getting it back to its heyday and making it wonderful again, and that it is great to see young people getting involved and using their summer holidays wisely to make the village a little bit better.
"There's been a lot of work in Millisle over the last 12 months about taking pride in the village, getting it back to its heyday and making it wonderful again," she said.
"It's great to see young people getting involved and using their summer holidays wisely to make our village a little bit better."
Staff at Millisle Primary School have also been following the project. School secretary Carole McAvoy said the boys were a credit to themselves and described the social enterprise as "absolutely wonderful to see".
The boys’ mother, Shelley, has been their biggest supporter and, according to Eli, has been seen "maybe once or twice helping to dry the signs". Eli said that while spending the summer cleaning street signs was not what she had planned, Shelley was very pleased with the boys showing initiative.
"I was really pleased with them showing some initiative… it's really nice to be able to do something that they'll always remember and be proud of,"
she said.
"We do a wee bit each day and have the Main Street on the horizon.
"We're hitting the dirty ones first and we'll see where we are by the time we get to 50 – there might not be many left by then."
Key Facts
- Jonah is 10 and Eli is nine.
- The boys are cleaning 50 street signs in Millisle, County Down.
- They have cleaned 36 signs so far.
- Millisle is on the Ards Peninsula and is popular with caravanners and day trippers in summer.
- Their next target is the main street.
