A pupil from Derbyshire has been dubbed a community hero after he started a business cleaning headstones.
Ben Weldon, 10, set up the business offering headstone cleaning and re-lettering called "Guardians of the Headstones" based in his hometown of Long Eaton.
His business has now gone viral, with the company's social media page picking up hundreds of likes on Facebook.
The idea to start the company came while he was cleaning his grandmother’s headstone, DerbyshireLive reports.
Ben Weldon set up the business cleaning graves
Guardians of the Gravestones
Mum Michelle said: "He looked around and saw that the other headstones looked a bit sad, with no flowers on them. So I said to him: 'Why don’t you open your own little business?'"
To launch the business, Ben decided to offer free cleans to the first five customers, in exchange for an honest review and some recommendations to friends.
Michelle added: "It is all very early days, he had only done a couple of cleans before we made a post on social media... It has gone absolutely crazy. We did not expect this to happen."
She added that the most touching thing for her and Ben were requests to clean the graves of children.
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Ben Weldon has been praised as a hero
Guardians of the Gravestones
The 10-year-old discovered the charity Stevie Stones, which aims to help financially struggling families to afford a headstone for their child. The charity was set up by Barry and Naomi Graham following the loss of their daughter, Stevie.
Now, he has decided to donate 10 per cent of his proceeds to Stevie Stones.
Barry said: "He is an unusual boy. It is such a selfless thing to do at 10 years old, to give some of the things you earn to charity...
"To us, this is a lot more than just financial contribution...We can see a bit of our daughter Stevie in him.
"We fund most of the headstones we provide ourselves and were starting to get overwhelmed - and then Ben showed up."
Michelle added : "It really went hand-in-hand very nicely."
Barry added: "After losing your child, you become an entirely different thing.
"A headstone is a way to keep parenting your child and have a place where you can visit them. I would not be upright if I did not have one for my child.
"Ben is invigorating, energising and amazing. We cannot thank him and his mother enough."
