Brothers use summer holiday to bring a shine to street signs

Meet the young brothers hoping to give their seaside village the shiniest street signs in Northern Ireland.

Schoolboys Jonah and Eli have been spending their summer holiday scrubbing signs, all in the name of civic pride.

Armed with rubber gloves, cleaning cloths, sponges and soapy water, the pair have been removing years of dirt and grime on the street signs of Millisle, County Down, to make them clearer and more visible.

While working with family isn't always easy, Jonah and Eli are scrubbing their way through their own challenge of cleaning 50 street signs before they go back to school.

"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," 10-year-old Jonah told BBC News NI.

So, along with his younger brother Eli, who is nine, they decided they wanted to "make Millisle shine".

Situated on the Ards Peninsula, the village is a popular spot in the summer for caravanners and day trippers alike.

Being able to give back to their community has made the brothers so proud.

"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."

For Eli, cleaning the signs would be no fun without Jonah, even if they do have the odd disagreement.

So far, they have cleaned 36 street signs out of the 50 they have on their list.

"We'll keep going until we get the job done, whatever the weather but so far it's been warm," said Eli.

Jonah hopes their efforts can inspire other young people to help improve their communities in the future.

"It's very important to take pride in your village.

"Doing something small can make a big difference," Jonah said.

Their efforts have attracted praise from local residents.

Jemma Hutchinson said the signs "looked brilliant – you can actually see the names of the streets now" and added that the boys have been setting an example for all.

"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 keeping a close eye on their efforts.

School secretary, Carole McAvoy, said the boys were a credit to themselves with the social enterprise "absolutely wonderful to see".

The boys' proud mum, Shelley, is their number one cheerleader though and has been seen "maybe once or twice helping to dry the signs", according to Eli.

While a summer spent cleaning street signs wasn't exactly what she had planned, Shelley wouldn't have it any other way.

"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."