A mum was "blown away" when she found out her son and his friends had used their school strike day to give something back to their community.
Natalie Noon, 32, said her son Kyle was off school on Friday, July 7 due to ongoing industrial action by teachers across the country. Natalie told the ECHO Kyle, 13, left their Kirkby home at around 10am and just told her he was going out with friends.
The mum-of-two said around an hour later she received a call from her sister asking her if she had seen Facebook. Unbeknown to her, Kyle and his friends Sam and Harry had approached local motor supply shop, Auto Aids, and asked if they could buy some equipment to go and clean cars around their area.
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The three teenagers impressed the shop so much that the owner gave them the cleaning equipment for free and posted about their entrepreneurship to encourage people to give them a go. Within hours the post had been shared and liked thousands of times along with hundreds of comments from people praising the three boys.
Natalie told the ECHO: "I don't know how long the boys had been planning on doing this. Auto Aids posted about it and gave the lads the equipment for free because it is not a usual thing for 13-year-olds to do.
"All the comments online were saying how amazing the lads were. They went and spent the weekend offering to clean cars all around the local community.
"They are not just sitting at home and playing on their games - they have gone out and want to help our community and give something back. The boys have put some of the money aside and want to take it to a local food bank - they want to help as many people as they can."
Natalie said the three boys have grown up together and have known each other since they were at primary school. She said like a lot of boys their age they play football together and go on bike rides around their community.
Natalie said she and all the other parents are "extremely proud" of the three boys. She added: "It touched me massively - they really thought of doing this all off the top of their heads. It has blown me away - they have been getting so many touching messages."
The boys' work has not gone unnoticed. Local TikTok star StillRyan, real name Ryan Hall, has got in touch with the three boys to shine a light on what they are doing.
Since their resounding success on Friday, the boys have created a Facebook page for their new business, called Kirkby Car Cleaning, and are offering £6 car washes around Northwood and Southdene in Kirkby.
Commenters on social media have described the boys as "brilliant" and praised them for wanting to work hard to make some money. Auto Aids has also received significant recognition with one person saying " a helping hand" is sometimes all that is needed.
Natalie told the ECHO: "They are just three incredible kids. It's unbelievable what they have done. I hope shining a light on what they are doing will give them and the community the boost they need."
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