MALVERN Town Council is urging residents to support Earth Hour at the end of the month.

The suggestion for supporting the worldwide campaign was made by ten-year-old Josh Flewers, of West Malvern, who wrote proposing it to Mayor Cynthia Palmer.

Josh said that as big cities are taking part in Earth Hour, Malvern could and should too.

Council members were delighted that a young member of the community should raise such an important global issue and voted unanimously to support Earth Hour.

Earth Hour started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia, in 2007 and it has now grown to be a worldwide initiative with more than 187 countries taking part.

Cllr Palmer said: “We would like to encourage all Malvern residents and local businesses to join in and turn off lights and all other unnecessary electrical appliances for one hour from 8.30pm to 9.30pm on Saturday, March 30.

"Please pledge your support to this initiative, which will be a small but important step in raising awareness of the damage that the burning of fossil fuels are doing to the environment, and find out how creative you can be without electrical appliances for an hour.”