WITH determination and a bit of elbow grease, employees from a Knutsford business have given an Ollerton riding school a sparkling spruce up.

A team of 25 staff members from Ashley and Dumville Ltd spent a day volunteering at New Barn Farm, where the Mid Cheshire Riding for the Disabled Association is based, on November 28.

Armed with paintbrushes, the team got to work redecorating the coffee room reception and 16 jump poles and a jumping gate.

Laura Hothersall, from Ashley and Dumville, said: “It was a fantastic day at the barn. The team worked well together to transform the communal areas.

“We were all able to see lessons in progress demonstrating the fantastic work the volunteer teachers do with the children.”

Ashley and Dumville, a recruitment and publishing company for the oil and energy industry based on Tatton Street, works with a variety of charities in the community, including East Cheshire Hospice and Knutsford GROW.

Once a year, the company closes its office and staff volunteer their services for a day.

Pamela Rigby, chairman of Mid Cheshire Riding for the Disabled Association, said the team’s help was much appreciated.

She added: “It was a huge benefit to the group to have the team here for the day. They were very efficient and made short work of redecorating the coffee room and reception. It had been scheduled to be done during the summer, but it was too big a task to be done in just spare time.

“All the volunteers who have been this week appreciate the smart surroundings, and the riders love the brightly coloured ground poles, that now look like new.”