Park School pupil Marco Prynn may only be six years of age but he set himself a big challenge to help NHS staff during the pandemic.

Whilst children across the region have had to cope with all the challenges of lockdown and home schooling, Marco showed incredible positivity, resilience and care at an incredibly young age.

His father Nigel said: "It was during last half term, Marco was aware of all of the great work being undertaken by all the doctors, nurses, patients and other staff and  decided he wanted to raise money for the hospital to help!

"He loves riding his bike, so together we came up with the ‘50 miles for £50’ challenge and started the Justgiving page together."

When his friends and family started to see the pictures of his bike riding fundraiser, it  all escalated and  Marco quickly raised £400 for the hospital.

Asked why he came up with he idea and why he chose to ride his bike,  Marco said:

"I wanted to help the NHS by raising money and wondered how. But then I thought about cycling because it’s one of my favourite things to do."

And even now, Marco is thinking about what he can do to help the NHS when he is older.

"In the future I'd like to design a computer game to make even more money for the NHS."

He added: "I chose Bournemouth Hospital because they’ve cured a lot of people so they were the obvious choice, I think."

Park school supported Marco, who is in Year 2, by sharing his progress in assembly each week which really inspired him, he said.

In addition, Marco also did separate rides with his grandad, Nono Bob, and his Mum, Melinda Pappalardo, as well as his dad - all of which he really enjoyed.

Hoping to inspire others, Marco's JustGiving page states: Marco Prynn is raising money for Bournemouth hospitals and would love you to join him! He is  cumulatively cycling 5 miles per week to reach 50 miles in 10 weeks , and asking 10 members of his friends/family to sponsor £5 each! Perhaps you could do the same. It could be 5 miles spread over a weekend or week. To give an example , Westbourne to sandbanks, one way , is 3.5 miles and is within the covid regulations.

Bournemouth Hospital Charity say:We aim to make a difference to every patient that is treated at our hospitals above and beyond that which can be provided through NHS funding. Through your support we can speed up patient treatment, reduce patient anxiety, aid quicker recovery and provide less intrusive treatment for patients.