Little gardeners from Bright Sparks Nursery were over the moon when volunteers revealed the improvements they had made to their allotment.

Kind-hearted installation engineers from Sky banded together with Capeling Fencing and Gardening to build a new fence, create new growing beds and install a greenhouse.

It was co-ordinated by Sean Couzens and Kevin Biddle as part of a volunteering in the community scheme endorsed by their employer, Sky.

Thanks to donations of materials from Travis Perkins and Hutchings Timber, the team of 10 engineers were joined by Simon Capeling, who donated his expertise erecting the fencing. The men worked hard all day and were fuelled by bacon sandwiches, delivered by grateful youngsters who attend the nursery, in Birdwood Avenue.

Nursery manager Diane Emptage said: “We are really grateful for all their hard work. They did a great job. It was really lovely of them”

Mr Biddle said: “Their faces were a picture when it was done and to see them with their little wheelbarrows and forks was great. They started work straight away, picking out weeds and worms.

“We would like to say thanks to everyone who donated and to Simon Capeling. Without him we wouldn’t have been able to do it because we don’t know how to put fencing up.”

Bright Sparks’ allotment plot is off Church Lane and is kindly gifted to them for free by the Sholden Hall Allotment Committee. Last year, the charity nursery was given a grant from Deal fire station from the firefighters’ collections in the High Street before Christmas 2014.

The cash, topped up with extra fundraising, bought the new greenhouse, which was installed by the volunteers on Thursday last week. The youngsters can now propagate and grow heat-loving plants like tomatoes when the weather improves.

Mrs Emptage said the pre-school children dig, sow, grow and harvest. She said: “Last year they harvested sweetcorn, potatoes, carrots and onions.

“They are only diddy but they’ve got to learn where their food comes from and it’s so good for them to be outside. On the way to the allotment they learn about road safety, too.

The people who have plots are really nice and friendly and some have chickens and ducks. That might be a project for us some time in the future, to build a chicken ark.”