AN EIGHT-year-old boy has donated over £100 to a homeless charity after he asked for his friends to give him cash instead of presents for his birthday.

Layton Bluck chose to help Maggs Day Centre after he was inundated with gifts at his party last year.

The head of the Worcester homeless charity has praised Layton for his selflessness.

His mum, Alicia, aged 40, from Inkberrow, Worcestershire, said: "He thought he was going to be able to buy them [rough sleepers] a house.

"He is quite worried about people that are poor. He was worried that people wouldn't be fed or didn't have enough food. There's a lot about foodbanks in the news."

Mrs Bluck asked her son if he wanted to raise money for Maggs Day Centre after finding out about the charity on Facebook.

The office administrator said she made an agreement with him that they would collect cash for charity after he received 30 presents at his last party.

She added: "Half of them he didn't want and some of them got broken.

"I thought 'this is a real waste of money'."

This year, he invited his friends to watch The Greatest Showman at Vue Cinema, in Redditch.

Layton and his mum put out two plastic bottles in the foyer, one of which collected money for his phone, while the other raised funds for Maggs Day Centre.

44 children went to the party, raising a total of £105 for the charity.

Layton, who studies at Inkberrow First School, was able to see where his money was going when he went on a tour of Maggs Clothing Project on July 29.

He said: "I asked them lots of questions. They showed me the clothes that they wear and where they get them from.

"I plan to give away money again in the future. I want to help the poor again."

He was accompanied on the tour by the charity's chief executive, Mel Kirk, who said: "For an eight-year-old to be that altruistic and thinking about homeless people instead of toys is amazing.

"Because he's such a special boy we chatted for about half-an-hour and explained what Maggs did and where his money will go."

Ms Kirk added that the money would be spent on the day-to-day costs of the day centre, which Layton was not allowed to visit because of his age.