CALDICOT Library received some additional help when volunteers picked up their shovels and spades and got stuck in to help in the garden.

Chairman of Caldicot Library Friends, Bernard John said: “Monmouth­shire Council was unable to prepare and seed the beds outside the library building in Caldicot this year. Instead they supplied wild flower seed and the library friends carried out the work. As many friends as could make it gathered together with garden forks, spades, hoes and stout gloves.

“One of our members arranged for four refugee Eritrean farmers to come and help. They were more accustomed to ploughing with oxen I’m told, but they handled our spades and forks with great ease. As a result the task took us half the time of previous years.”

Caldicot resident, Peter Strong helped. He said: “The young men live in Cardiff and volunteer with iNEED, a local group supporting refu­gees, while they wait for their asylum claims to be processed. They are very keen to give back to the community.

“Posting a photo of the volunteers on our community Facebook page sparked a debate about human rights in Eritrea and why people are leaving to seek refuge here in the UK. It’s probably not something many people were aware of before and most people in Caldicot were very appreciative of the work the volunteers did.

Bernard added: “One woman stopped to say she was so pleased at what we were doing that she wanted to help. An hour later she returned in gardening clothes and got stuck in with the rest of us. In a couple of weeks the seedlings should emerge and we hope they will give us the magnificent display of previous years and encourage bees and other insects.”

Library manager Rich­ard Drinkwater said: “The friends challenged us to provide the tools and the seeds so that they could do they work. They battled inclement weather on the day but this was a fantastic example of a voluntary group using their own networks in partnership with us to champion one of our services.”