Students at Inspire Education Group and Hampton Handy Crafts join Up the Garden Bath to transform overgrown part of Peterborough

Dozens of students have helped transform a neglected part of Peterborough into a blossoming urban garden.

In just a day, the award-winning Up The Garden Bath jointly with the Inspire Education Group and Hampton Handy Crafts, give a new life to an area full of brambles and weeds in Lythmere, in Orton Malbourne.

The work involved installing five upcycled bathtub planters to create a pop-up pollinator park that should attract wildlife to this inner city patch.

The recycled baths were decorated by Peterborough students and the project was funded by Orton Longueville Parish Council.

Co-founder of Up The Garden Bath, Dave Poulton, said: "We love these types of community projects.

"Not only does it give us a chance to collaborate with so many different organisations it also allows us to work one to one with the community.

“These projects make a real difference and it shows that through collaborative actions we can encourage social cohesion."

One of the bathtub planters was decorated by adults with learning disabilities from Hampton Handy Crafts, part of Peterborough City College.

Sarah Lewis, hub co-ordinator at Hampton Handy Crafts, said: “It’s taken over two weeks to decorate with 50 of us. As soon as we said the planter was going to be in the community all of our supported people wanted to have a go with the paint.

“We hosted a fun day where we charged people 20p to put their handprint on the bathtub and we raised £200 for a new laser cutter.”

The other bathtub planters were created by students from schools around Peterborough, including Thomas Deacon Academy, Queen Katharine Academy, City of Peterborough

Academy, St John Fisher and Marshfield School.

Selected students from these schools attended classes held by the Inspire Education Group.

Mo Dhanji, head of technical construction and apprenticeships at Inspire Education, said: “We give the students the tools to build their confidence and autonomy to show them they can do it for themselves.

"But this project has opened up other aspirations where students can look at setting up their own businesses, getting involved in community projects and taking care of areas.”