VOLUNTEERS have banded together to give a disabled man’s house a makeover.

Peter Hatt, 46, of Barrington, is currently in hospital recovering from an operation.

While he has been away a team of seven volunteers have been tidying his house, removing old clothes and other items from two rooms which had become inaccessible, as well as tackling his overgrown garden.

Mr Hatt suffers from spina bifida and is wheelchairbound, and as a result has been unable to carry out the work himself.

His sister, Selina Fowler-Hatt, has been leading the clear-up operation.

She said: “I feel so blessed to have had all this help, I didn’t realise so many people cared.

“We’ve tried over the years to do what we could at the house, but we were fighting a losing battle.

“I put it on Facebook and loads of people came forward to help. We’re making real progress.”

So far the team have filled five skips with rubbish, including tins of food that were over 20 years old.

Mrs Fowler-Hatt said her brother is set to stay in hospital for another four weeks, but that she has been keeping him up to date with the progress.

“I’ve shown him a few pictures, but he hasn’t seen everything yet, I want to keep a few surprises for when he comes home,” she said.

“I’m making a photo album so that he will be able to see everything we’ve been doing when he gets back.”

Campaigner Terry Hutt has been part of the team for the last two weeks, and said he was was hopeful the work would be complete by the weekend.

“It’s been a big job, we’ve been amazed by the amount of work, but it’s looking good at the moment,” he said.