RESIDENTS are being encouraged to help a team of people with mental health problems transform a piece of overgrown land into a working allotment.

The team of 12 people, with occupational therapy staff from east Cleveland, meet every Wednesday to clear the overgrown ground at North Skelton, near Guisborough.

They hope to create a rural haven on the eighth of an acre site and fill it with colour and produce.

The land has been given rent free for one year by North Skelton Allotment Association.

Hazel Parker, senior occupational therapist with Tees and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust, said: "Gardening is a great way of either enjoying an old hobby or starting a new one, as well as providing the opportunity to increase the patient's confidence and self-esteem and can even reduce symptoms of mental illness."

The group aims to support people with mental health problems by reducing symptoms of illness and providing the opportunity to redevelop or gain new skills, giving a better quality of life.

Organisers welcome donations, large or small, from pavement slabs, fence posts, old gates or doors and corrugated steel to gardening tools and watering cans.

Anyone who can help is asked to contact Hazel or Wilma at Whitecliffe community mental health team, on (01287) 677766.