A WEST Devon community centre has had a spruce up, thanks to a group of volunteers.

A team of lighting engineers from SSE Contracting popped into Hatherleigh Community Centre last month, spending a day completing a variety of DIY maintenance and painting jobs in and around the centre.

The team of seven undertook the work as part of SSE's Community at Heart scheme, which gives every member of staff a day away from work to carry out voluntary work for a local organisation or charity.

Andy Gilbert , who organised the group, said: 'The centre is run by trustees and volunteers, so it relies on help like this to carry out tasks when they need doing. It was built some time ago, and some parts were beginning to need a bit of TLC.

'My wife works there, and she mentioned what needed doing, so we decided to spend our voluntary day there.'

The first job for the volunteers was to sweep the centre, before varnishing the windows on the front of the building.

They also painted the bar area, mended gutters, located a water leak, created drainage for the children's area, strimmed the grass, fixed some indoor seating and tidied the car park area.

Andy said: 'It was a very enjoyable day, and was especially good to see the centre looking like new again after we'd finished. We relished the opportunity to work together in a group so it was very good for team building.'

Chair of trustees at the centre Liz Abell said: 'The team from SSE Contracting worked tirelessly through the day to complete a long list of tasks we had prepared, and the quality of what they achieved was fantastic.

'The centre is looking much improved as a result of their efforts and this is invaluable to us.

'Without the volunteers, it would take us a very long time and a lot of money to get many of these jobs done.'