Teenage boys often make newspaper headlines for all the wrong reasons, so it makes a refreshing change to be able to report on the good deeds of one such lad. A 15-year-old Guiseley School pupil has made his family proud this week after standing up to a mugger who attacked an elderly woman.

The boy confronted the mugger, who had stolen a purse from the woman, and managed to get it back without a thought for his own safety. He even walked her home and made sure she was not hurt before going home to tell his family what he had done.

When his proud grandmother rang the Wharfedale Observer, she said that she wanted people to know that not all teenagers are bad. Unfortunately when teenagers appear in the paper, it is often for crime rather than for their achievements.

There are plenty of teenagers in our area who achieve a lot without their efforts being reported. However, the teenagers who do good deeds,or achieve great things are often worried about being in the paper, like the brave Guiseley School pupil.

Modest Jonathan did not want to be quoted in the newspaper, nor have his picture taken. Understandably, he is probably worried what his friends at school will think.

But surely if his counterparts have a problem with what he did, it will reflect badly on them, and not on him. Jonathan himself said that the woman could have been his own grandmother and he hoped that somebody would have helped her had she been attacked.

So any teenagers who ridicule Jonathan should consider the fact the woman mugged could so easily have been one of their elderly relatives. The mugger could have been armed, or returned with a gang of friends, but Jonathan never gave that a thought.

His family are pleased, and his friends should also be proud of what Jonathan did. And the person who will be most pleased by what he did is the woman who was mugged in the middle of Guiseley.