Burnley schoolboy thrilled to receive gift of thanks from England player Marcus Rashford for 'always doing the right thing'

A brand new pair of Beats Buds earphones arrived in the post for Alfie Smith from the player from Beats by Dre UK as a 'reward for those who are always doing the right thing.'

The company tweeted that the top player had noticed eight-year-old Alfie's fundraising work and wanted to send him a 'thankyou.'

Alfie's proud mum, Lauren Hughes, said: "Alfie was so happy, he loves Marcus Rashford, he calls him his mate."

This is not the first time the player has recognised the inspirational Brunshaw Primary School pupil for his efforts to help people.

He sent a 'well done' message on Twitter and retweeted a photograph of Alfie handing over 200 Easter eggs to Burnley Community Kitchen with the tagline 'Bless him, well done Alfie.'

The player, who was awarded an MBE for a campaign he spearheaded to urge the government to extend its provision of free school meals, responded to a tweet put out by Lauren.

Rashford became a national hero when he campaigned for free school meals for more than 1.7M children.

And the campaign stirred Alfie into action when he heard that some children were going hungry during the pandemic.

He asked his family what he could do to help so they came up with the idea of walking the eqiuivalent of a marathon. Alfie raised the magnificent total of £900 by clocking up an average of three miles a day around his home in Brunshaw with his mum and dad, Jonathon Smith.

Once the challenge was completed the family went on a shopping spree and the organisations that benefitted from a mixture of cash and food donations from Alfie were: St Matthew's and St Stephen's churches in Burnley, Charter House Resource Centre in Morse Street, Burnley, Burnley Community Kitchen and Todmorden Foodbank.

Impressed by Alfie's efforts Unite North West 64 branch, where his grandad works, donated a further £200 which Alfie put towards buying 200 Easter eggs for the Burnley Community Kitchen Easter appeal.

Clarets' fan Alfie has also received a letter of commendation from his favourite club and a personal letter of thanks from Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjær thanking him for his 'amazing efforts.'

And last year Alfie sent a moving and heart warming letter to Rashford when he was subjected to a tirade of racist abuse on social media after his missed penalty in the Euro 2020 final.

Upset by the criticism that Rashford and his team mates, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, received for failing to score in the shoot-out Alfie decided to put pen to paper and write the letter to cheer them up.

Alfie said he hoped they were not 'too sad' and praised Rashford for being his inspiration to raise money for local foodbanks. And movingly Alfie said to the talented player: "I bet your mummy is very proud of you."