Teams of volunteers signed up to the new Community Benefit programme by Wheatley Group.

UK organisations, including Shell, Aviva, and Jewson, joined legal firms, architects, security, engineering, website developers, and more, to give up their time to help keep communities clean and green.

They joined Wheatley’s Neighbourhood Environmental Teams for their ‘Week of Action’ to make a difference to neighbourhoods.

Around 120 volunteers helped litter pick, spruce up communal gardens, plant new trees and create colourful planters in communities where Wheatley Homes operates.

Over the course of the week, the 120 volunteers donated 464 hours, played a part in preventing seven tonnes of waste going to landfill, collected two tonnes of litter and planted 3400 plants and 500 trees.

Mark Carroll, key account manager at Shell, took part in a day of gardening activities at a Livingwell complex, a Wheatley Care service for people aged 55 and over, in the north east of Glasgow.

Mark said: “It was great and a lot of fun, actually. There were quite a few people taking part and we all mucked in. We cut the lawns around the gardens. It was a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be when I started.

“I think it’s a great way to just give back and it’s, yeah, what is it, a day out your life?”

Hugh McFarlane, 78, stays at the Livingwell service in Carntyne, said: “It was smashing to see all the volunteers take part. We need to all help we can get, because people in here’s in their eighties and nineties now, so they like to come out back in the summer and hopefully once it’s all finished, it’ll look nice.”

Steven Gray, director of environmental services at Wheatley Group, said: “We are really pleased that so many volunteers were able to join our Week of Action thanks to the new Community Benefits programme.

“The energy and dedication of the volunteers was really inspiring. It’s not just about making our neighbourhoods look better - it’s about fostering a sense of community pride and ownership and demonstrating what can be achieved when we all work together.

“We are grateful that so many partner organisations were able to join us over the course of the week and play their part in making our communities look greener and cleaner.”