A HELENSBURGH girl has turned to the Advertiser to send a special lockdown message to her gran – and we're hoping that other young readers might follow suit.

Six-year-old Erin Grieve contacted us with a heart-warming plea this week, telling us how much she's missing not being able to see her gran, Kathleen.

Kathleen is an avid reader and buyer of the paper - and while she is proficient in using the internet, we know there are many Advertiser readers who aren't online, and who rely on reading the paper every Thursday to find out all the latest news.

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And while grandparents and grandchildren are still only a phone call away during the pandemic, Erin decided she wanted to use the Advertiser to say publicly how much she, and other children, are missing their grandparents and how much they're looking forward to being able to see them when the pandemic lockdown is over.

Erin's message to Kathleen will appear in the next print edition of the Advertiser when it goes on sale this Thursday – and if you'd like to help a young person say something similar to their gran or grandpa, all you have to do is email editorial@helensburghadvertiser.co.uk with your message (100 words maximum), upload your contribution to the 'Send us your news' section of our website here, or send it in a message to our Facebook page.

Erin told us: "I know lots of children like me haven’t seen their grannies in a while because we need to keep them safe.

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"My granny is very special to me. Her name is Kathleen. I haven’t seen her properly for three weeks now which is a really long time and I know that she misses me just like I miss her.

"I wanted to send a special message to my granny to say that I love her, and that the two tortoises are doing great. They’re eating everything.

"To all the grannies and grandpas out there, we are thinking of you all the time and we will see you very soon.

"Draw a rainbow and put it in your window so that we can wave to you."

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The cut-off time for messages to appear in the April 9 print edition of the Advertiser is 12 noon on Tuesday, April 7.

Please remember to tell us the name of the young person the message is coming from – and the name of the grandparent(s) they want to say hello to.

We'll also try to publish pictures of as many of the young contributors as we can, subject to space, so feel free to send a picture of the child (or children) the message is coming from, if you like.

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