TATA employees swapped the office for the great outdoors to help spruce up the woodland at Marbury Park.

A team of 14 employee volunteers from Tata Chemicals Europe removed half a mile of redundant fencing near Ashton’s Flashes and Marbury Lane.

“Teams from Tata’s HR and business services used hacksaws, sledgehammers and claw hammers to rip up wooden fencing which was no longer needed,” said Tata communications manager Richard Redman.

“Trees which were planted a number of years ago have now grown large enough to provide a more natural boundary to the footpaths, rendering the fences redundant.

“We also made sure the timber load was safe by straightening any stray nails, before loading a truck for it to be taken away and reused.

“It was certainly a change of pace from being in an office environment, which most of us are used to most of the time.

“It wasn't a bad workout either - some of the horizontal poles were hefty and buried deep, so it felt like Olympic deadlifting at times.

“It was a great day to do something good for the community, as Marbury Park is very important to a lot of people.

“It was also great from a team-building point of view, because we had fun together - even when the heavens opened.”

Park Ranger David James had been asked if he would like to use the volunteers for a task, and decided on the fencing work.

Tata Chemicals Europe has a policy where all employees receive one extra ‘holiday’ day a year to use to volunteer in the community.

“We encourage everyone to take advantage of this, as community is very important to our company and is ingrained in our ethos,” added Richard.