A GROUP of green-fingered supermarket colleagues swapped the checkouts for the outdoors to spruce up a community park in the run up to Christmas.

Partners from Marlow’s Waitrose store lent a hand in Riley Park as part of the supermarket’s Community Matters Programme.

The eight-strong working party undertook a painstaking morning of work in the community park, which is looked after by a charitable trust left to the town in 1914.

The Waitrose team carried out a thorough litter pick, and afterwards planted additional saplings and daffodil bulbs.

And they finished their morning’s work with a clean and sweep up in the Trust's car park and by collecting and sawing up all small fallen branches.

The work was overseen by Trust Chairman Tony Shannon, who estimates that in all the team saved around £300 in costs to the Trust by carrying out the work.

He said: "As we are not funded by the taxpayer and have to raise all of our funds ourselves, we are obviously under considerable pressure.

So when someone comes along and says they are going to send eight people to help out we welcomed them with open arms.

Most of them are local people and so are stakeholders in the park trust themselves, and they came along and worked like Trojans, we are very happy."

The Trust recently obtained planning permission to install a ‘Heritage Trail’ around the boundary of the park.

The trail will consist of a series of lectern-style information panels and notice boards which will give an insight into the history of the park and its surroundings.