London young people to hold litter-picking flash mob

The 11- to 20-year-olds, some of whom are part of LifeLine Youth Consultancy, which gives youth workers advice on engaging young people, will wear high-visibility vests at the Switch ID event in Dagenham on 31 January. They will pick up litter, distribute leaflets for a local youth club and survey local residents on potential improvements to the area, supported by local youth workers.

A flash mob is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse. The young people are promoting the event through word-of-mouth and social networking sites.

Nathan Singleton, director of young people and families at charity LifeLine  said he wasn't sure how many young people would turn up but he was ordering 50 high-visibility vests.

He said: "The young people were talking about flash mobs and wondered how they could use that to change the negative perception of young people. It is the first in a series of steps which will start on a very local basis but hopefully will expand out."

For a video of the young consultants click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeKwhKdxQ1A