The founder of a charity which helps poor communities across Eastern Europe has declared its first summer camp a success.

Evolve, based in Buckingham Avenue, Whetstone took eight 15-year-olds from across Barnet to Mukachevo, in Ukraine, last month to run the children’s camp.

The teenagers, who had been given nine months’ leadership training, organised and ran activities, which included a mini-Olympics, for 30 Ukrainian children aged between four and 13 over six days.

Jason Bennett, 46, who founded the charity in 2012 with his wife Nikki in their Whetstone home, said: “It was superb, so much so we are going back next year. The youth we took out, they grew immensely as people. You don’t often get the chance to run something at that age, so they got a lot out of it as well as learning the culture of another country.

“Everyone absolutely loved it. The children out there were crying when camp finished, they didn’t want it to end. We are already starting planning for next year’s camp. We are definitely going back.”

His daughter Dawn, 15, who helped run the camp, said: "Seeing the local children cry on the last day and asking us to come back - I don't think I will ever forget that.”