A man is putting the "heart and soul" back into his community by beautifying the village he calls home.
Stephen Mousdell started out tending to neglected parts of St Helens during the coronavirus lockdown, adding to rail planters and displays around the town centre. Now the 30-year-old has been at work to overhaul his home village of Haydock, having raised thousands of pounds to help make improvements to the area.
Stephen, who works at a Tesco store in the village, told the ECHO: "I have lived here all my life and my heart and soul is in where I live. Throughout many days and nights, rain and sunshine even snow, I started my next project in trying to get Haydock looking like a rustic village again.
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"I started a fundraising page which ended up turning into thousands of pounds within the months. With the money I started to get high quality planters and revitalise a plain space and make it a little memorial garden in which our community can remember loved ones who have passed. We are a very close community in which many people know each other."
Stephen has been helped with his project by the local community, as well as his partner Kevin Poole. He added: "We have been sharing ideas and we have been supported by my workplace Tesco, local and private businesses, local pubs and the council.
"Recently we have had support from individuals like Paul Tonge who recently installed a fantastic bench in memory of his son who sadly passed away, it was a great asset as we didn't have any benches and we are so happy he has been helping and supporting."
Stephen created a Facebook page to share updates on the project, which now has almost 4,000 members.
The 30-year-old believes the project shows the power the community has in unity. He added: "We love where we live and want to show what a community can do if we join together. We just want to build a better and brighter community in which we love and for future generations to enjoy."
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