HUNDREDS of Mormon volunteers descended on Woodrow High House for an event to mark Helping Hands Day.

More than 250 Christians from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave 1,000 man hours and 500 helping hands to the project on Saturday, September 23.

Woodrow High House, in Cherry Lane, Amersham, is part of the London Youth charity which supports teenagers from disabled and disadvantaged backgrounds.

Roy Hickman, Woodrow's charity director, said: "I am very grateful to Helping Hands, without them this fantastic day would not have been possible. It was very encouraging to see youth and families, all working together to give us something that will serve the youth who attend the centre and to beautify this Cromwellian estate."

Helping Hands Day, was a world-wide project supported by church members and friends to find needs in their community and offer help.

Mormons in other parts of the world repaired homes wrecked by Hurricane Katrina, assembled medical kits for Indonesian earthquake victims and provided relief supplies for those caught in the conflict between Israeli and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon and Israel.

In Amersham, church members and friends from High Wycombe volunteered their time helping with two large projects.

They tore down an old 200m fence and later replaced it with 200m of native hedgerow. Volunteers also cleared nettle patches, levelled hundreds of metres of ground ready for planting.

The second project was to renovate a derelict outbuilding and turn it into an environmental room.

Bishop Harris of the High Wycombe congregation said: "It is following the example of Jesus Christ that motivates us. We want to give something back to our community and this project is a way of saying thank you."

Adults and children worked together to demolish old sheds, clear nettle ground, remove old furniture and whitewash the building inside and out. For the finishing touches, a mural of the tree of life' was painted on the outside of the newly painted environmental room to create interest and pleasure for the children to enjoy.

B&Q, Homebase, Jewsons, Hillards, Biffa and others donated the materials for the project.