A TEAM of volunteers have helped the family of a paralysed father.

Cotswold District Council has helped the BBC to provide support to a 'DIY SOS' team that has been working on a project in Avening.

The project saw volunteer craftsmen adapt the Wernham family’s home in the village, enabling them to cope better with the consequences of a holiday accident last year that resulted in father, Ben Wernham, becoming paralysed from the neck down.

Commenting on the CDC contribution, deputy leader and cabinet lead for property and asset management, Cllr Nick Parsons, said: “We are very proud of the many local craftsmen who loaned their time and skills to the BBC team to complete this admirable project on schedule.

"In contrast, the council’s contribution went on mostly behind the scenes, but it involved a considerable amount of extra effort on the part of several officers who rose to the challenge and made sure that there were no annoying bureaucratic delays.”

Officers from the council negotiated the use of council-owned land at Jubilee Gardens to facilitate the project, and granted a temporary licence for the BBC team to occupy the area around the site.

Other officers helped to install a security fence around the site to protect trees, and arranged special waste collections to cope with the extra demand for clean-up services.

CDC was invited to the ‘project reveal’ and joined the many volunteers in welcoming the Wernham family to their newly refurbished home.