A CARING schoolboy covered a box in acorns for his great-grandparents' diamond wedding anniversary and used it to collect £300 for a Worcester charity from party guests.

Nathan Prout, aged eight, hunted around Warndon's Cranham Primary School playground for acorns to stick on the box.

He then presented it to his great-grandparents at their anniversary party and used it to collect donations for Acorns Children's Hospice Trust.

"It was all his idea. He's very quiet but he thinks a lot," said his great-grandmother Marjorie Lakes, from Pershore.

"It was a shoe box that his mum found for him. He covered it in coloured paper and painted the lid green. They sealed it round and wrote "Acorns" on it.

"When he was at school, he went around the playground and picked up a bag full of acorns from the ground.

"He stuck all of them on to the lid and left a little slot for people to put a donation in.

Mrs Lakes, who celebrated 60-years of marriage to 80-year-old husband Arthur on Thursday, September 26, asked party-goers not to buy presents for the couple.

"I said to give the money to a good cause," added the 86-year-old.

"I have been involved in working with children since I left school so I thought it would be really nice to give it to the charity because it does so much good work.

"We didn't want presents because we have been married for 60 years now and would only put things in the cupboard.

"I can't speak highly enough of Nathan. He's a real darling and we are both really proud of him.

"He's absolutely divine and I know he will do more fund-raising for Acorns now. He's such a lovely little lad."

Fran Winterbourn, Acorns' community fund-raising co-ordinator, said Nathan's actions were "heart-warming".

"Mr and Mrs Lake must be so proud of Nathan and his very imaginative fund-raising idea," she said.