A team of volunteers from the research and development department of 3M at Loughborough left their laboratories and offices for the day to wield spades and sledgehammers to help with the Yew Trail.

They were erecting a new fence to extend the trail’s classroom area ready for the start of the new school term in September.

Some 26 volunteers from 3M lent their muscle-power to the cause and between them put up a 550m stretch of wooden posts and wire-mesh fencing to keep cattle from straying into the extended area.

The project was organised as part of the diversified technology company’s 3M 4Good programme, which gives every employee the chance to do a day’s community work on company time.

Alan Norman, chief executive of the Shuttlewood Clarke Foundation, said: “They all worked exceptionally hard and we greatly appreciate everything they’ve done,”

The volunteer project was organised by Jim Lister, group leader with 3M Drug Delivery Systems. “It was certainly quite a change from our normal working day in research and development,” Jim commented. “Everyone enjoyed it and it was very rewarding to feel we had achieved so much between us.”