CHURCH-GOERS stepped out of the pews last weekend in a city-wide bid to spruce up the area.

In St Mary's, the Flowers estate, Shirley Warren and Millbrook, they performed a Groundforce and Changing Rooms-style exercise.

Fences were fixed, houses repainted, gardens weeded and litter cleared. In Laburnum Road more than 30 people helped replant a piece of scrubland and in St Mary's Derby Road, the Ropewalk Community Garden received a similar makeover.

More than 20 houses were repainted, land in Shirley Warren was cleared ready to be transformed into a spectacular community garden and a car- washing team went out in Portswood. Workers from Christian organisation Southampton City and Region Action to Combat Hardship, as well as the West Itchen Trust, chipped in with their expertise.