Six long-term unemployed people tidied up a churchyard as part of a scheme to reintroduce them to the world of work.

They cleared out land around the sides and front of Holy Trinity Church, Trinity Road, Sheerness.

The Island Partnership has a contract with the government to run the scheme, and Sheerness Enhancement Association for Leisure (Seal) has been helping out on the ground to deliver it.

Paul West, centre manager at the Island Partnership in Trinity Road, Sheerness, said: “If you have been out of work for a long time, it’s not just your skills that go but your confidence and motivation and sometimes your social skills as well.

“So this programme benefits the community, but it also helps to bring people back to a state of job readiness.

“We’re always looking for the next task. At any one time there can be two or three different tasks, whether that’s the church or Blue Town or wherever.

“The feedback we’ve had from residents and people on the scheme has all been positive.

“What a lot of them have done when they finish is carry on volunteering. They really got something out of it.”

Of the 25 people to compete the 26-week programme over the past year, seven have found employment.

Richard Penney spent several months on the scheme and said he found it a “thoroughly rewarding experience”.

Since completing the programme, during he also picked up a first-aid certificate, he has continued as a volunteer supervisor.

The project, which has also been active in Canterbury, Gravesend, Deal and Chalk, could be expanded in the future to carry out gardening at the homes of elderly or disabled people.

Seal vice-president Brian Spoor, who supervised the work at the church, said: “The whole team were fantastic.”