VOLUNTEERS from York workplaces took a break from their day jobs to help on a major overhaul of a much-loved community centre garden.

This year's York Cares Big Community Challenge is taking on the transformation of the under-used play area at Foxwood Community Centre, and more than 200 volunteers will join the effort during the three day challenge.

The project is running over two sessions each day, with about 40 volunteers on site in each. Yesterday saw staff from Yorkshire Bank, Aviva and other companies making a start by laying a new path through the garden, putting up a pergola, and beginning work on a brick built barbecue.

York Cares Volunteering Project Officer Helen Jackson said: "The project is going great so far. We had a bit of a damp start but we still managed to get a lot of work done."

This year's Big Community Challenge follows the 2013 event which saw the Bell Farm Adventure Playground transformed to make it more accessible to families with young children, and the 2012 project to create an outdoor classroom and community garden the Greenfields site off Haxby Road.

Helen added: "We were looking for a space that needed an input of effort to make it manageable in the future.

"We know the council is pulling out of funding community centres, and Foxwood among others is being run by volunteers.

"The volunteers at Foxwood wanted us to help them by making a garden can then maintain themselves, and which can create an income for them by being hired out."

The work is happening in a former play area, which had fallen out of use since a new play area was created down the road, she added.

The new garden and seating area will provide a space for the community - particularly older residents - to enjoy the outdoors and socialise in a part of town where few homes have their own garden.

The work also includes cutting back, weeding and replanting flower beds, removing tree guards and cutting back undergrowth, and painting new handrails and railings as well as new office space.