We recently teamed up with volunteers to give Wor Hoose, a local community centre a DIY SOS style makeover.

The Wor Hoose project supports people who live in Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne and was set up by residents in 2001 to help local people overcome social exclusion and improve their lives.

As part of Wor Hoose’s community clean-up day Lee Bailey from Riverside recruited volunteers to decorate the community centre inside and out. He contacted Dulux who agreed to donate all the paint and equipment needed, including brushes, rollers, overalls and sandpaper.

Lee said “We are allocated two volunteering days per year which we can use on work related projects and I am so pleased that my colleagues used one of their days to help out at Wor Hoose. It shows how passionate we are about supporting and improving our local neighbourhoods.”

The day was a huge success and included an estate-wide litter pick and Newcastle City Council providing skips and caged vans to take away bulky waste. Building Futures East also lent a hand to clear the overgrown garden.

Bud Russell from Wor Hoose said: ” The event was fantastic, we were astounded at the turn out, over 50 people rolled up their sleeves and came together to help tidy up our neighbourhood. The sense of community spirt was inspiring.

We would like to say a big thank you to Riverside, YHN, Dulux, Building Futures East and Newcastle City Council. This clean up day brought the community together and we are hoping to hold more events like this in the future”.