Croydon Commitment has made the wish of Oasis Shirley Park Centre staff come true by giving the centre's garden a make-over.

Volunteers from John Laing PLC, a long-standing volunteer provider for Croydon Commitment events, cleared the overgrown garden giving it a new lease of life on Thursday, October 6.

One of the organisers, Ian Robinson, said: “I was gobsmacked by the results of Thursday's clean-up event.

“When we went there first thing in the morning most of the weeds were five foot tall. A few hours later it was completely cleared.”

“The John Laing volunteers worked so hard that they finished two hours earlier than planned,” Mr Robinson said.

Manager of the Children's Centre, Helen Craig, said: "The volunteers were fantastic.They really cleared the whole area for us, planted bulbs and shrubs and also cleared the pond area so the children can now use it for frog-dipping.

"We are hoping that we can now continue planting fruit and vegetables in the garden with the nursery children. That would be brilliant."

Staff at the 52-place nursery are hoping the garden will enable local primary school children to carry out wildlife studies.

Croydon Commitment is a corporate-led charity which workes sourcing volunteering projects and bridging the gap between the needs of the local community and businesses in the area.

Mr Robinson said: "We do work that wouldn't ordinarily be possible to complete in such a short space of time by bringing in extra manpower."