A CHARITY which gives adults with disabilities the chance to learn new skills has teamed up with a community pub and refugees living in Richmondshire on an environmental project.

Just The Job, an environmental and social enterprise empowering adults with disabilities to achieve their potential through meaningful work, was approached by the committee behind the community-run George and Dragon pub in Hudswell about helping clear an overgrown field to make space for a community orchard.

Steve Biggs, manager at Just The Job, said: "We had agreed to help out and then we were also contacted by the Job Centre in Richmond to see if we could help a group of refugees living in Richmond and Colburn get some work experience.

"We were glad to help, so a group of six refugees from Syria, Iran and Sudan joined us to clear the field in Hudswell, next to the existing community allotment.

"They loved it – at the moment the refugees are taking courses and English lessons so it was good for them to get out and do some physical work.

"We will hopefully work with them again if they ever need to. It was a good way of helping them to integrate with the local community."

Mr Biggs said the team of ten cleared three large piles of brambles, and will be planting fruit trees over the next couple of months.