Two AUCHINLECK men have been going out of their way to help elderly people by donating benches to local care homes and cutting residents’ grass free of charge.

Scott Palmer, 31, and Derek Monaghan, 28, were in the middle of carrying out the kind gardening gesture when Scott’s hut got broken into and his hedge cutter was stolen.

Locals rallied round him by starting a fundraiser to help him buy him a replacement, which ended up raising a fantastic £600. The hedge cutter was soon recovered but Scott and Derek decided to use the money to continue with what they set out to do – helping the elderly.

The men have so far donated benches to Glennie House, Nightingale House and Berryknowe.

Scott said: “We’ve had no work during lockdown so decided that instead of sitting in the house, we’d help older people out with their gardens. We worked our way round old folk’s gardens and spent about six week’s solid tidying them up for nothing.

“We thought the best thing to do with the money that was raised from the fundraiser was to put it back into the village so we bought benches for the three care homes in Auchinleck. We wanted to pass on the good deed.

“The residents were over the moon. I’ve had messages through from care homes and we’ve had loads of comments on Facebook thanking us, that’s when it makes you proud. People are calling us heroes but we’re just spending a couple of hours each day helping people.”

Scott and Derek have now started S&D landscapes which they hope will help more locals with their landscaping needs in the future.

Derek said: “The elderly deserve it because they’ve been locked up during this time. Everything slowed down for me work-wise so it gave me something to focus on. A lot of people prefer us doing their gardens because they know us now.”

Ann-Marie, co-ordinator at Glennie House, said: “It’s a lovely, solid bench and really well made. The residents will get a lot of use out of it and it’s good for social distancing as it’s a large bench so staff can sit on one side and residents on the other.

“It’s located outside reception so residents can see staff coming in and out, but it’s quiet too so it’s good if residents want time to themselves.”

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