DOZENS of eager volunteers rolled-up their sleeves to help at four charity projects in Bournemouth and Poole.

Over a two-week period, 80 volunteers clocked-up a total of 560 man hours renovating gardens, encouraging young people to find work and painting a school as part of Nationwide’s Side by Side initiative.

Stephen Uden, head of citizenship at Nationwide, said: “We’re extremely pleased how our first ever customer and employee joint volunteering project has gone.

“The volunteers have made a real difference to the charities they have helped and many are looking to return to help them on a regular basis.”

The volunteers, which included a mix of Nationwide staff and customers, helped create a pets corner in the garden at the Victoria Education Centre in Poole and renovated the gardens at James Burns House, a care home for disabled people run by Leonard Cheshire Disability.

Others designed and delivered an employability workshop for young people on behalf of BCHA to help them improve their chances of finding employment.

The final project to benefit from the scheme was Portfield School, which offers specialist education for children with autism. The volunteers helped spruce-up the corridors by giving the walls a fresh coat of paint.