Arthur's quest to keep pool at school

A RARE CONDITION MEANS HE CAN'T SPEAK, BUT 8-YEAR-OLD'S MESSAGE IS LOUD AND CLEAR...

- WILLIAM TELFORD

A PLYMOUTH boy with an extremely rare health condition that means he can't speak is spearheading a campaign to raise £300,000 and overhaul a school swimming pool.

Little Arthur Manners, aged eight, is the face of the 'Arthur's Too Pool for School' campaign, which wants to revamp the outdoor swimming pool at Elburton Primary School, in Plymstock.

The 1970s outdoor pool is unheated and in need of a complete overhaul but the Leaning Academies Trust, which the school belongs to, says it can't afford the work. It is, however, backing the fundraising effort begun by Arthur and his mum Emily StevensWhite.

Arthur has the ultra-rare ETBP1 haploinsufficiency disorder, genetic condition thought to affect only one in 100 million people. Only about 45 people have been described as having the condition and Emily said her son was just the second person in the UK to be diagnosed with the condition.