Here's an idea

The Millbrook area of Southampton is a regeneration area with its own team of neighbourhood wardens.

We wanted to get the local youngsters involved and give them a sense of pride in their community.

We visited Swindon council, which was running a junior neighbourhoods warden scheme, and decided to adapt that to fit our own needs. The council gave us £5000 from its neighbourhood partnership fund.

We began by going to four local schools, aiming at children between eight and 12.

We went into assemblies and asked what they felt about their communities – what they liked and what they didn't.

Then we told them they had a chance to make a difference, by coming along to one of our junior neighbourhood warden events.

The first event was a litterpick, and about 19 kids turned up to that, supervised by five neighbourhood wardens.

We got them to clean up some graffiti in the local park and I think that made them realise that while it may be easy to write graffiti, someone's got to clean it up – and it's hard work.

For our second event, at Christmas, we went to a local home for elderly people. We baked cakes and made Christmas cards and decorations.

It was a real eye-opener – there can be a breach between kids and the elderly, but everyone enjoyed the day so much that they've asked us to go back. We're going to do an Easter event as well.

Every time we have something on, more kids turn up – we have about 25 now. I'm a governor of one of the schools, and it's really surprised me how enthusiastic the kids are. They come up to me in the playground to ask when the next event is. It's fantastic.