CAMPAIGNING for their peers must run in the Ratcliffe family.

Emma Ratcliffe hopes to emulate her grandmother Mildred by speaking up for her generation as the youngest member of the National Children's Bureau (NCB).

The 11-year-old, originally from Stockton Heath, and now living in Styal, Cheshire, was chosen from hundreds of other young people to join the board of 16 members to represent the views of the country's children.

Emma said: "I saw the article and I was quite interested in it so I looked it up on the web. About six months later they were voting in new board members and I applied."

The NCB is a sounding board for MPs and civil servants to obtain the views of young people on Government policies.

Emma, who has just won a place at Withington Girls School in Manchester, will be helping to shape Government guidelines in the future; a dream role for the youngster who would like to become a politician.

Her grandmother, Mildred Ratcliffe, led a crusade to fend off the closure of her beloved Capesthorne Community Centre.

As the chairman of Blackbrook Senior Citizens' Association, she led the campaign against the council who wanted to shut her community centre down.

She died in November after a long battle against cancer before she could see her granddaughter follow in her footsteps.

Vincent Ratcliffe, Emma's grandfather, said: "Her grandma always told Emma she can do whatever she wants if she puts her mind to it. With the NCB she gets involved in visiting Parliament and meeting people in Government. Mildred would be very proud of her."

vicki.stockman@guardiangrp.co.uk