PC Ben Eynon, a youth engagement officer in Harrow, arranged the week of activities from 23 to 27 August for children, aged six to 16 years old, whose parents could not afford to send them to organised sports training in the summer holidays.

PC Eynon worked with the charity My Yard Harrow, who run a local food bank, to identify the children and Harrow School, who agreed to open up their facilities to run the course.

Officers from the Met’s Territorial Support Group (TSG) and the firearms unit also carried out workshops with the children as well as representatives from the army and RAF.

The summer camp was run thanks to a grant from the John Lyon’s Charity School Holiday Activity Fund.

PC Eynon said: “It was an absolutely amazing week. All the kids started off a bit tentative a first, some of the older ones made it quite obvious they weren’t fans of the police, but, after a few days, all the kids were loving the different sports.

“The whole idea of the camp is to try and break down barriers between police and people on the local estate and see officers as a positive force.

“One young man said to us after a couple of days ‘the police are actually alright’ and he has almost become best friends with a couple of the officers.”

Due to the success of the summer camp, PC Eynon is hoping to run a similar event next year