BARCLAYCARD staff swapped their desks for tools to help spruce up the playground of a special school in Darlington.

Employees from the bank’s Stockton branch responded to a plea from Beaumont Hill Academy for help improving their worn playground.

The school was awarded a grant from Barclaycard’s community fund and ten staff gave up their time to carry out tasks such as erecting new willow fencing and varnishing outdoor furniture in the play area.

Barclays data analyst Ian Thomas said that they were delighted to be helping out.

He added: “We are over the moon to be out of the office!

“It is about everyone getting stuck in, we don’t have any particular skills but we are enthusiastic amateurs and it’s a nice change from the usual sitting behind a computer tapping away.”

Mr Thomas and his colleagues have previously helped spruce up the grounds of a hospice in Stockton and a school in Middlesbrough.

Jill Scott, health and safety manager at the Education Village which houses Beaumont Hill, said the finished playground would help bring about a “tremendous start” to the new term in September.

It will be used by some of the most vulnerable children in the school with a range of learning disabilities.