Marion Cook has been looking after Callum and Jaxson since their mother Laura Newland died aged 30 of an undiagnosed blood clot just seven weeks after giving birth to Jaxson in 2016.
Marion’s neighbours Sarah and James Thomas decided to help Marion Cook build a play space for the boys.
Thanks to their efforts, a local construction company lent a worker to help clear the garden, and a councillor helped find the family a skip.
Marion said: “I’m so grateful to all involved in this. It will make a huge difference to the boys when finished.”
Sarah said: “This was a great community effort and I was proud of the different companies and people all coming together to make this happen.”
Cllr Atkinson said: “It was wonderful to see businesses playing their part in this and then a privilege being able to work with Sarah, David, Ann and Jack to clear the space for the next stage of work.”
James’s employer, Sackville Construction, got one of their staff members, Jack Thomas, to break up the concrete surface of the back garden and dismantle various fences.
Sarah contacted Councillor Peter Atkinson to ask if he could get a skip to take it all away.
Cllr Atkinson then got in touch with Rabbit Skips who he said showed “enormous community spirit” by providing a skip free of charge.
Sarah’s employer, OneFamily, gave her a day’s leave as a volunteer day to help with the project.
Her parents, David and Ann Sykes, also joined in and between them they filled a large skip with all the rubble and waste from Marion’s back garden.
The community effort means that work can now start on providing a proper play area for Jaxson and Callum.
