A LITTLE boy was blowing bubbles with shoppers outside Waitrose in Okehampton on Mother’s Day (March 31) to raise money for the Okehampton Foodbank.

The ingenious charity ruse was all five-year-old Ralph Clatworthy-Edwards’ own idea.

He spent Sunday outside the store, charging 20p a go to blow bubbles and raising £170 which Waitrose made up to £200.

He and his family came back to the store a few days later to buy food with the Okehampton Foodbank volunteers.

Dad Jon said: ‘He’s quite an imaginative sort of child and he came back from a children’s birthday party with a pot of bubbles with the idea of setting up a stand so people could blow bubbles and give him some money for charity.

’It was a really nice thought and he went through with it which was good. We went along with it and his brother and sister helped too.’

Ralph had a trial run with his bubble stand outside the family home in Sampford Courtenay, where, as his dad says, ‘there is not a lot of footfall’ but he still managed to raise £10 from passers-by.

He and his family then approached Waitrose in Okehampton who were happy to let him set up outside.

His little stand outside the store drew lots of interest, with many people giving donations far in excess of the suggested 20p.

‘The Waitrose guys helped us out as well. When people were asking “what is the boy doing with the bubbles? they explained what he was doing,’ said Jon.

‘One lady gave us £20 and one of the Waitrose staff donated £10 and a lot of people put in a lot more money than 20p. He did really well.’