STAFF from Nottingham City Homes have been lending a hand to repair a church garden after it was trashed by thieves.
The head gardener of St Leodegarius in Basford, Mick Stafford, was horrified to discover that more than 50 concrete slabs had been stolen from the garden last month.
Members of the church had worked tirelessly all through last year to raise £20,000 for a number of improvements – but their hard work was undone overnight.
After reading of the church's plight in the Post, Nottingham City Homes' chief executive, Nick Murphy, offered help restore the garden.
He said: "As soon as I read in the Nottingham Post about the garden at St Leodegarius we knew we could help them.
"We very quickly had a team of volunteers willing and able to make the garden accessible again for its users.
"We employ local people and have strong roots across Nottingham's communities. As a successful company we are keen to support our staff who want to volunteer and to help make Nottingham a better place to live.
"Criminals and vandals need to be sent a strong message that Nottingham's communities will not tolerate this sort of behaviour and we will pull together to overcome it."
Before the thieves struck, the outdoor space had been revamped to make it more accessible for disabled users, but the stolen paving slabs left the pathway in a dangerous state.
Some of the slabs were recovered – and yesterday tues, NCH staff began putting them back in place.
Bricklayer Mark Hind, 50, of Nottingham Road in Nuthall, said: "It's nice to know we are doing something that will make a difference in the community.
"We have the skills for this so it's good to put them to good use for the benefit of others."
Driver and labourer Shaun Kelley, 45, of Oakland Street in Alfreton, added: "I wanted to help as it's a good cause. It's upsetting that this can happen in this day and age, so it's nice to be able to help put it right."
Mr Stafford said: "We very much appreciate the response from Nottingham City Homes to help us. Everybody at the church is really grateful."
Church warden Bruce Pink added: "I'd like to say a big thank you to NCH. A lot of people in the community come into the garden for some quiet reflection and a lot of hard work went into transforming it, so this will make a huge difference to a lot of people."
