A NINE-YEAR-OLD boy was so upset at the thought of his local community centre closing down that he wrote to the Queen — and received a reply from the Palace.

Charlie Warrender is a regular at the Burnley Wood Community Centre in Glebe Street, and was unhappy at Keepmoat Housing plans to demolish it and build 132 homes.

Off his own back, the St Mary’s Primary School pupil penned a hand-written letter, asking for the Queen to step in and save the centre.

And a few weeks later, Her Majesty wrote back to the youngster, saying she had passed his concerns on to Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

Charlie’s mum Deborah said: “I was making tea one day and Charlie had a piece of A4 paper and as I walked in he said, ‘can you get me the Queen’s address?’.

“I was stunned. He had done it totally by himself.

“He had said in the letter ‘why can’t they build houses somewhere else’ and that if it closed he was going to ‘miss his friends and all the activities they do’.

“The centre has youth activities every Thursday and Friday and Charlie loves going.

“He is worried he will lose all his friends if the centre closes. We only live round the corner from the centre and the whole family use it.”

Last week, more than 1,000 letters in protest at the plans to bulldoze the centre were handed to local county councillor Jeff Sumner.

Deborah, who also has a six-year-old son called Frank, said: “A couple of weeks after we sent the letter, Charlie got a reply.

“He was grinning like a Cheshire cat when he saw the stamp mark on the envelope.

“The letter said that the Queen can’t get involved, but she has passed it on to Eric Pickles and wished us good luck in the campaign.

“He took the letter to school assembly and showed people at the centre.

“We’ve now had it framed and it’s hanging in his bedroom.”