Members of a synagogue and a Hindu temple came together to transform the gardens surrounding one of the UK’s leading spinal injury units.

A team made up of worshippers from the Shree Swaminarayan Temple and Stanmore and Canons Park Synagogue carried out the work at the London Spinal Cord Injury Centre at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) in Stanmore.

The volunteers spent several hours renovating the gardens, which had been somewhat neglected in recent years.

With help from nearby garden centres – who provided both materials and advice – they pruned, weeded, cleaned, cleared and scraped to leave the area looking brand new.

Diane Young, who manages volunteer services at RNOH, said: “This was a wonderful opportunity to work with our local community and promote the ethos of volunteering.

“Everyone had a great day with rewards and benefits for all concerned, be they volunteers, staff or patients.

“We very much hope to repeat this event in the future and bring this once beautiful garden back to life.”

The project was part of this year’s Mitzvah Day celebrations – a campaign run by the Jewish community each November to promote social interaction.

As well as helping out a vital medical centre, organisers explained how it was important to promote the message of interfaith volunteering.

Juliette Harris, one of the Stanmore coordinators for Mitzvah Day, said: “Our members of all different ages in partnership with our Hindu neighbours joined together to do something beneficial for our wider community.

“This project has been an extremely rewarding and worthwhile experience. The Mitzvah Day message this year – “L’Dor Vador - from generation to generation” – was certainly pertinent with this project and we are looking forward to the rest of Stanmore’s Mitzvah Day projects continuing this message.”