Leg-Up Operation People Power with Dave Myers

We Brits are brilliant at volunteering.

One in four of us regularly give up our time to help others,

putting something back into the community.

I want to tap into that spirit

to make good things happen.

CHEERING

I'm on a mission to discover the positive effects of volunteering,

from the volunteers themselves

to the individuals and the communities that they help.

Every day, people donate their time, expertise,

imagination and elbow grease for others.

They were in need of carpenters and volunteers

so I just grabbed my tools and came down for the afternoon.

I never thought at the end of my life I'd be helping others.

I think volunteering is the lifeblood of what it is to be human.

Yes!

It's modest, ordinary people who are making such amazing difference

to people's lives.

The world, to me, is a beautiful place now.

It's 360 degrees from where I've come from.

I'm better than what I was.

I couldn't do this a year ago.

My team is exploring inspiring schemes throughout the UK...

..and tackling projects of our own.

This is about communities at their best.

People giving to help others.

This is about the incredible things we can achieve together.

This is Operation People Power.

One, two, three.

We're using an army of locals, willing to give their time to help

a community centre called Baggator in the Easton area of Bristol.

A sanctuary in the neighbourhood,

a place where residents can come together and help one another.

All communities need a centre and, when you're in a poor area,

as we are here, one of the poorest in the country,

that centre becomes more valuable and more...

more needed.

Already, we have made great progress.

We created a beautiful new garden,

demolished the old condemned structures,

replacing them with new storage containers,

and started repainting the outside of the building.

But none of this would have been possible

without the amazing hard work of the local volunteers,

whose spirit to chip in and help others has been truly inspirational.

MAN CHEERS

Yes!

Cheers, mate.

Mark Millar, who has overseen all the work,

is a driving force and a crucial member of my team.

Wow, these guys haven't stopped.

They're amazing, these guys. They're absolutely brilliant.

Yes, guys!

It looks amazing!

HE LAUGHS

It's not just Mark who's loving the work of our artists.

The local community seem to like it, too.

I really love all the bright colours in Bristol, and especially Easton.

I think it sort of represents the type of community we are.

Lots of different people from different places.

I don't think that you could miss it, really.

Three street artists have so far spent a week working for free

on the front of the building.

And out the back, local craftsman Simon,

who originally helped to transform the far end of the garden,

seems, well, not to have gone home. He's still here!

Having demolished a condemned building,

we can now make the garden bigger.

This is all your domain.

-Beautiful.

-Well, all right, it WILL be beautiful.

We're extending the garden

and building a pergola with a hard base for seats and a fire pit.

It's kind of being made up as we go along,

everyone bringing their own ideas and energy.

Getting on with it. Dug all our holes, just waiting for our timber

delivery and then we can start building the pergola structure.

We've got a rotavator coming so we can start cleaning up all this area

around here. We're going to put some wild flower seed down and then turf

the rest of the areas with the turf that we've been given.

Lovely. People power, see?

That's what it's all about - people like Simon and his team.

Thanks, yeah.

It's great cos right up to now everything has been very hard

materials, but now what we're doing is we're getting some structure into

the building and starting to see things take shape a bit.

That's lovely.

One of the most involved volunteers on the project is local builder Rob,

who Mark has tasked with creating an exciting new feature

for the local kids.

Mark was really keen to get this wall done with ply

so that the young people that use the youth centre

can use it as a graffiti wall.

So if we get enough volunteers turn up tomorrow

we're going to put the whole wall up with ply and

if we get that done then that's everything on our list achieved.

So that's the goal but it all comes down to the volunteers, as always.

But alongside the huge transformation of Baggator...

Yes!

..my team have been helping me with other projects in the area.

Nicki Chapman has been a driving force,

finding volunteers willing to give their time up to help others.

Hello, yes. My name's Nicki Chapman. I hope you CAN help.

We are good at that in Britain, you know?

Nearly one in three of us, in fact, do it, one way or another.

So far this week,

Nicki has found us gardeners for our community garden...

..cooks to help a singing group out...

..and carpenters for an adventure playground build.

They're all people willing to get stuck in and lend a hand.

Research shows that volunteering

can actually be good for those who do it,

so I'm keen to do as much as we can this week.

I've heard of another project nearby

that would benefit from a helping hand, too.

Cafe Connect is a fully functioning charity-run cafe open to the public.

The profits feed into Bristol Reconnect,

a charity designed to help those in the community with complex needs

to fit back into society.

I'm going to meet the man behind the project, Jonathan.

-Jonathan.

-Hello there, Dave.

Well, I've heard a lot about you.

Oh, good. Great, thank you. Lovely to meet you.

Crikey. So this is the cafe that's far more than a cafe, isn't it?

It is indeed, yes.

This is where we base ourselves and where some of our work takes place.

Jonathan, tell me about Cafe Connect.

The main thing about what we're doing with the charity

is to give people who've faced some really big challenges in life

-a chance to give something back...

-Right.

..and a chance to contribute to the wider community.

If you've gone to that whole experience of being right out

on the edges of society,

having that chance to make something and create something together,

that's actually... It's really important.

It's part of belonging again.

It's part of reconnecting with the wider community.

I suppose as well, it's just getting a huge, big taste of normality

-and not being judged.

-Yeah, absolutely.

So I mean, this is like, you know, everybody's welcome here.

A lot of people come here,

they've been through all sorts of life experiences.

OK, that's how it's been.

But now what have you got to give and how can you contribute to this

and what role can you play in this?

Jonathan, how important are volunteers to your project?

The volunteers make it possible.

Almost all of the work that happens here is done by volunteers

and that's at every level of the organisation.

So without volunteers, there would be nothing here.

-Right.

-There would be nothing at all.

Some of the people the charity helps

go on to become volunteers at the cafe, too.

Others find it a valuable place to drop into when they need help

or someone to talk to.

Volunteers don't just help serving food in the cafe,

they also help to maintain the building.

One of the helpers, Daniel,

is decorating a room above the cafe

that's going to be used for careers advice.

But there's another space that's really caught my eye,

and that's at the back of the building.

Is this all yours?

Yes, this is all our space, here.

And, well, as you can see,

there's quite a lot of work to be done with it but it's a huge space.

I think there's a huge potential.

Great potential, hasn't it?

-Would you use this?

-Yes, we would use this outdoor.

And we have permission to do that,

we've got planning permission from the council to be able to do that.

So we can have people sat out here.

That'd be lovely.

Yes. And there are very, very few of these kinds of spaces

in this area of Bristol, in Easton.

Very few green, open spaces.

I mean, it's not green yet.

You could landscape it, you could make a wonderful space.

Your kitchen is in the middle, you could service this area

-and that area.

-Exactly, yeah, yeah.

It seems like the potential is boundless, isn't it?

It is.

You know, I can really see how projects like Cafe Connect and

inspirational people like Jonathan can really make a difference.

I want to help him and would love to transform the yard

so that even more people can benefit from the charity.

Mark is really up against it at Baggator,

but he's got a good heart and a builder's appetite.

So offer him a bacon sandwich and he'll say yes to anything.

You seem to be full of all these ideas at the moment.

What's going on?

What do you think?

-Oh, this is lovely.

-It is lovely, isn't it?

No, no, this is done all by volunteers.

But there is more. Come on, I want to show you upstairs.

Yeah, but what about the counter?

Cos it's that time of day. Shouldn't we be...?

Later, later, this is too exciting.

I'm worried about your excitement.

Upstairs in the cafe, Daniel is still hard at work.

-I'd like to introduce you to Daniel.

-Hello, Daniel. How are you doing?

-All right?

-He's a volunteer here.

He's got his work cut out with this wall.

-What's going on?

-So we've had leaks and we've got a bit of a problem.

So I've had to take it right back.

That must be galling after all the work you've put into it already,

-having to redo it?

-Yeah, starting all over again, story of my life,

to be honest. I've got some overalls if you want to borrow them.

This isn't your department, this is Daniel's.

I've got something downstairs for you.

I'm quite happy to help Daniel in here.

-No, you're going to love it.

-So am I.

You've got something else, have you?

-OK.

-See you later.

-See you, Daniel. Bye.

Here we go, Mark.

-Oh, Dave.

-Ta-da.

You are an artist, and this is your palette.

Good, solid floor, no leaks. There's a skip or two.

There's a skip or two, yeah, you're right, yeah.

You could put a skip the other side of that wall.

Have we got any money to do this with?

No. We'll be fine.

-Volunteers.

-Volunteers again.

Volunteers. In all seriousness, Mark,

I've had some long talks with Jonathan.

I've met Daniel and met some other volunteers here.

It's such a worthwhile project.

If we can make this a viable proposition to raise money,

if this and the front cafe can cover the rent, then all the other rooms

upstairs can be used as meeting rooms,

and you've got a self-sufficient charity that really could snowball.

It's an opportunity to do so much good.

All right, you've sold it to me, I'm with you. And...

-Good people.

-..I'm sure we can pull this together as well.

Any ideas, any themes?

-Well, there seems to be a lot of sunshine, doesn't there?

-Yeah.

We could clear that area up there, get the walls painted out,

get more light in here, some tables in here, bit of vine.

-You see?

-Yeah, cheers, Dave.

-You see?

You know, at first, he seems reticent but he always comes round.

He's just a little kind of... He's a little hotbed of ideas.

It's brilliant. It's like going mining for inspiration with him.

Good lad.

Brilliant. Mark's up for the job and full of ideas.

But we're going to need lots of volunteers...

..and Nicki has been deploying her powers of persuasion

to galvanise the locals.

If you could put that up in halls of residence or somewhere,

-that would be fantastic.

-OK.

From putting flyers in shops...

..going on local radio...

My extra bonus guest is Nicki Chapman.

Thank you for coming in, Nicki.

Well, thank you. What a lovely warm welcome.

..asking people in the street...

There's a community centre, cafe,

that really helps people in this area that need help.

We just want as many people as possible.

-Yeah, of course, no worries.

-That's great. Thank you very much.

No worries. Good luck.

..and tapping into existing volunteer groups,

Nicki has found us hundreds of people.

But now she's turning her attention to local business.

She may look like she's on a jolly to Bristol Zoo

but there's a method behind her strategy.

A growing trend in volunteering has come through corporate volunteering

with companies recognising the health, wellbeing and productivity

benefits it can give both to their staff and local communities.

Like many of the country's top businesses,

Bristol Zoo actively encourages its staff to volunteer elsewhere.

This is the Butterfly Forest, is that right?

Yeah, this is basically a Costa Rican and Asian exhibit

which has about 12 species of different butterfly.

They are so beautiful.

Literally flying so close to us.

Tom, I see you've got some volunteers working in here today,

the Butterfly Forest. But do you have them throughout the zoo?

We do. We have over 300 volunteers actually work on and off for us

throughout the season,

and they provide absolutely

just invaluable sort of support to the zoo.

The volunteers do so much for us as an organisation,

when an opportunity comes up where we can go and help somebody else

we'll jump on that, because we understand and appreciate

and empathise with people's situations.

And then we like to actually go and support people out in the community

-as well.

-You're receptive to other community projects, are you?

-Absolutely, yeah.

-Well, I'm so pleased you said that, Tom.

We're very passionate cos we're trying to recruit as many volunteers

as possible to help us with some of our projects.

I think we can help you out there. Absolutely. Sounds great.

Nicki may be getting positive responses to her volunteer drive...

..but now we really need them to turn up.

Mark's on his way back to our garden build at the cafe.

I'm just worried that we do have enough volunteers and time

to actually get it done, because we're going to clear the garden,

we're going to...

..paint it all out, so it's...

Oh, I've got to go down there. I'm in the wrong street. Hang on.

With Mark having a difficult morning and getting lost,

there's some good news at the cafe.

The volunteers from the zoo have arrived.

Not only that...

..there are more local helpers, too.

Ah, and Mark's finally turned up.

Oh, well, maybe he'll use the sat nav next time, eh?

But as the volunteers arrive and the work starts...

We'll have to get rid of you again.

Back that way.

..it's time to Jonathan to make himself scarce.

Fingers crossed, next time Jonathan sees the garden,

Mark and his helpers will have transformed it

from a dump to a brilliant community space.

Oh, but they're going to have their work cut out.

I think what we need to do is get some sort of order

and get all the sheet material into one pile,

get all the rubbish into some sort of order

so that when the skips arrive here

we can stack them and maximise the space in the skips.

So it's over to you guys, now.

All right? Scratch your heads, see what you're going to do with it,

get it sorted. Thank you very, very much indeed.

You know it really gladdens my heart to see what's going on here.

You know, to see all these people working so hard

for the benefit of other people.

But you know, everybody's benefiting from this.

It's going to double Jonathan's cafe,

the whole project of Cafe Connect. It's wonderful.

People have got good energy, good heart, making new friends.

This is what volunteering is about, you know?

This really shows what you can do.

Where there's a will, there's certainly a way.

Like Jonathan at the cafe, all across the country,

people are doing incredible things to keep much-needed projects afloat.

Martyn Ashton has been visiting some of them to see what can happen when

we give a little bit of our time.

This feels awesome.

HE LAUGHS

Today he's heading north to Leeds

to meet two truly inspiring people

who are dedicated to helping others.

I've heard there's some guys here doing incredible work,

helping ex-offenders get back into society

through getting a step on the ladder to employment -

a crucial part of life on the straight and narrow.

And it's all thanks to volunteers.

Martyn is meeting up with Val and Steve,

two ex-prison officers who set up Tempus Novo

after seeing the same people coming back into the prison system

time and time again.

They realised that this was very often due to the difficulty

of getting that all-important first leg up back into employment

and breaking that reoffending cycle.

Why Tempus Novo? Why did you...?

How did you come to that idea?

I guess the thing that really made us want to do this was the need for

employment for offenders.

Cos nationally it's very difficult for them to get employment.

I went out into the community and engaged with local businesses

and other support groups to bring them into the prison so they could

actually see that, actually, prisoners are people,

and the majority don't offend because they want to offend,

they actually offend to put food on the table.

I've said to them, "Why do you keep coming back to prison?"

"I can't get a job, Val. I cannot get a job.

"There's nobody who'll touch me."

The prison service is good at helping them with education,

getting their literacy and numeracy levels up.

One thing that's missing is an actual job.

So how many people did you say you've helped

and got back into work?

We've actually placed into work 64, is it?

-64.

-So 64 people back in work

and you guys do this absolutely voluntary.

Yeah, it's total voluntary.

We're that passionate about what we do,

it's something that drives us on.

And the feeling that you get from helping someone,

I would recommend it to anybody, volunteering.

Martyn's meeting up with Paul,

an ex-offender who Val and Steve have successfully matched

with a local engineering firm.

-Hi, Paul.

-Hi, Martyn. How are you?

I'm good, man. So what's going on here?

-What are you up to?

-I'm building a coil for one of the transformers.

It's been a big year for you.

Coming out of prison,

you were inside for a long time, and a big change.

I got an 18-year sentence.

I served half of that, nine years.

Yeah. So what do you think about the people who've helped you get

to this point, the volunteers that have got you here?

Martyn, when I first came out of prison and I was

desperate to work and desperate to get myself a job.

When I was in prison, I did a lot of courses

to make myself more employable when I left prison.

I did all that and when I came out, I spent two or three weeks

e-mailing and sending off applications for jobs

and never got any. So I was talking to my probation officer

and she suggested that I maybe phone up Tempus Novo

and basically we hit it off straightaway.

We had a great chat with them and they are two lovely guys.

Seeing someone actually change their lives from being someone who is...

-In the gutter.

-..in the gutter, basically, to now going out,

he's got money in his pocket.

Gives him self worth, respect,

and obviously there's other things that come from this.

There's a reduction in crime, there's a reduction in victims.

There's a huge saving to the taxpayer.

-Massive.

-And hopefully less demand on prisoner places.

It's so far-reaching, it's incredible.

Thanks, guys. Been a pleasure.

Thank you very much.

Take care.

I've learnt a lesson today. Steve and Val are sharing

life experience with others so they can make a massive difference

and we can all do that.

We could all give some time to share some life experience.

That's something we could maybe be doing at Baggator.

Back at Baggator, our community centre build,

it's not so much life experience we need, as muscle.

And we have people from so many walks of life here

prepared to get their hands dirty. It's amazing!

I've been slightly worried about it, but how can I be worried?

Look what's going on. The place is just alive with people.

All the jobs are happening,

all the clearing, all the planting is going to go on.

So they've taken all my worries and shifted them,

because the local community is just putting this one to bed

and what a brilliant job they're doing.

I was very worried about Baggator because of the scale of it

and the very, very short time that we had to do it as well,

but they've proved me wrong.

It's brilliant.

Have you been involved with volunteering before, have you?

-Er, kind of, but more international work really.

-Oh, right.

I'm an architect so we try to do some development work abroad,

but nothing like this.

You've been doing international stuff,

now you're doing stuff just around the corner.

-What's your name?

-Kev.

-Kev, how're you doing, Kev?

-Nice to meet you.

-Yeah, you, too.

-Thank you.

-Cheers.

-Brilliant.

There's people from all walks of life joining in in this one.

There is loads of skills that completely go untapped

in local communities, but if you look around you,

you've got people in there telling me stories

that are just blowing my mind.

They're just young, creative people who want to get in and join in.

We've got an architect out the back, we've got the university guys

shovelling soil and moving stone and filling skips.

Others are painting walls and making this incredible graffiti

on the outside of the building. It's not just the skills

that we need, we need the skills, we need the positivity,

we need the energy and the love

that all these people are prepared to put into this building,

and that's what's going to make Baggator brilliant.

While Mark is making good progress

with his army of helpers at Baggator...

..it's worth remembering just how important community projects can be.

Daniel, who volunteered to paint the upstairs at Cafe Connect,

does so because the charity has helped him to deal with difficulties

in his own life.

Daniel, can you describe your life to us,

what it was like before things started to go wrong?

I mean, I would say I was one of the lucky ones really.

I grew up in a working-class family,

I had good morals instilled in me,

I left school and I got a job and, you know,

seemingly on the outside everything was going well.

I had a nice girlfriend who worked for British Airways,

but the inside of me was screaming.

My life would be I'd go out on a Thursday

and I wouldn't come home till Sunday, you know,

and I'd just about make it to work.

So already I was taking it too far.

How far down that road did you go, Daniel.

For me, it took me from, you could say, being...

paying my taxes and being reasonably responsible to being homeless...

..in jail and I would make all the promises.

You know, I've been in jail and I've wrote my family letters saying,

"I swear to you," and I meant every word, you know,

I had tears running down my face,

"I will never do this again,"

and then I'd get to the prison gate and the first thing that would

come into my mind was, "Where can I get some drugs?"

I was powerless over drugs and alcohol.

Now 30, Daniel's past 16 years

have been torn apart by drugs and alcohol,

but, through volunteering, he's started to turn his life around.

With a record, a prison record and with that behind you,

how do you start getting back into life again?

You know, someone asked me,

"What was the happiest when you were in recovery last time?"

And the honest answer was when I was getting the bus

to the Salvation Army to serve food to the homeless.

That's when I was at my happiest,

not when I had lots of money coming in...

Was that when you started to volunteer?

Did you volunteer at the Salvation Army?

That's where my voluntary work started, yeah,

at the Salvation Army.

Jonathan and Cafe Connect

now play a crucial role in helping Daniel on the road to recovery.

It is so valuable in communities to have people like Jonathan

who do this stuff, because it enabled me to realise

that I can be a responsible person again

and I've got something to offer, you know?

Whether it's a kind word or just to give an hour of my time,

it fills my heart with hope

to know that one day I can get a job and I can do all the things

that normal people, a lot of people take for granted,

you know, and that's what Jonathan is giving to this community.

It's helping people on a day-to-day basis.

Thanks to the support from Jonathan and Cafe Connect,

Daniel can now walk through his neighbourhood a changed man.

So what's it like walking down the streets now,

now things have changed you? How does it seem?

The world to me is a beautiful place now whereas before all I would be

doing would be walking through these streets with my head down,

just consumed by want for a substance.

Now I walk around and I see the beauty.

I see kids laughing and I see the trees in bloom and the sky and

the colours, you know?

Walking past people who'll just give you a smile in the street

and thinking... Simple things most people, I guess, take for granted.

Yeah.

That's how different it is for me, you know?

It's 360 degrees from where I've come from

and I think the world is full of decent people.

More people than not are decent.

Cafe Connect is in the very area where you used to score drugs.

Is that...?

Directly opposite is where I used to spend hours in cars

waiting for the acquirement of drugs.

Now I'm in a building opposite,

doing voluntary work for other people.

-That's how far I've come.

-It's great, isn't it?

-It's amazing.

It's amazing, yeah.

It's so heartening to hear from Daniel what a difference

dedicated people like Jonathan can make to an individual

and it feels more important than ever that we give the cafe

the new garden it really deserves.

And it's good news -

Nicki's volunteer drive is making a big impact.

There's loads of them out there!

I tell you what, I think I've been framed.

Oh, dear.

It's chaos. You know, there's so much rubbish and junk here.

That can be quite daunting, that can knock you right back,

but it hasn't bothered this lot, has it?

They're just getting on with it. Getting it painted.

Getting themselves painted.

Getting the floor painted.

We'll get YOU painted in a minute.

Oh, oh. I better get out of here.

She's threatening me with paint.

We're doing community building projects in the neighbourhood

in Easton and we're just trying to seeing how can we bring about,

like, a positive community atmosphere,

really vibrant community life?

My name's Jake. I used to be a carpenter

working in specialist oak frame construction.

Came down here earlier on today

and they were in need of carpenters and volunteers,

so I just grabbed my tools and came down for the afternoon,

sort of chuck in as much experience as I could, I suppose.

The volunteers are doing a brilliant job,

but I want to understand more about the long-term benefits that Jonathan

and the cafe bring to those who use it day-to-day,

so I'm on my way to meet Darren.

Darren, you've had your problems with addiction.

How are places like the cafe

and the work that Jonathan's doing helping?

Me being part of the cafe gives me so much.

It's really helped me be part of the community.

What is it you get out of that?

Just knowing I can go there any time

and there's going to be that companionship.

-You know, the people that go there, it's like a family.

-Yeah.

That was something I didn't have as a child.

You know, that's probably part of the reason I ran out looking for

something and found it in drugs.

Now I've had to learn to deal with my emotions without doing that and

Jonathan and my friends and, you know...

Can they give you a leg up when you need it?

Support and love, you know,

care. Cafe Connect has been that

-all the way through this part of my recovery.

-Yes.

Jonathan will help me in whatever way he can, even when I relapse.

-Right.

-And that's really important to me,

that I'm not going to get rejected for behaving or doing...

-So he's not judgmental?

-No, no.

I love the cafe, I love the people, I love the environment,

I love being part of the community and, if I can give to that,

-you know, I feel good.

-Yeah.

It's brilliant how much Darren gets out of the cafe,

but the cafe isn't the only job we've got on today.

Mark Millar is the busiest man in town

and he and his helpers are all so hard at it

at the community centre nearby,

which, with the help of our volunteers,

we're hoping to transform into a buzzing resource

for the entire neighbourhood.

The graffiti is almost finished...

..and Simon has made a beautiful pergola.

There's still loads to do, though,

and Mark has only one day left to do it.

It's looking like tomorrow is going to be another tough one

for our DIY powerhouse.

But right now Mr Millar has to get round the corner

to our other project, Cafe Connect, and show me what's been achieved.

Every single person has made a difference.

You ready for this? Ready?

-Wow!

-It's good, isn't it?

-Just a bit!

Cor, you got some work and energy going on here.

-Go on, then, in you go.

-This was just, well,

it was such an underused space, but it's fantastic.

In one sense it was underused.

It wasn't underused for collecting rubbish.

No, I know, I know.

But, you know... I can't get over it really.

It's just cleared beautifully, it's looking bright, it's fresh.

-Bit of a splash of colour in there.

-Yeah.

-Hello.

-Hi. How are you doing?

I'm all right. How did you get involved in volunteering for this.

Good question. I, er... Well,

I volunteered as of last night while my wife was checking Facebook

and she said, "You're only decorating the house tomorrow.

"You could do something a lot more interesting

"and pop down and volunteer and help out."

Well thank you very much. Thank you for doing this.

Dave, on every job there's a superstar

and I want you to meet my superstar.

This is Sahar.

Pleased to meet you, Sahar.

Sahar has been here from day one, day and night.

Right to the point where I was going home the other night

and I noticed the side door of the garden was open.

I stuck my head in and they were still painting.

-Still painting.

-Then, they finished the painting,

took all the paint and brushes and rollers,

took them into that little cupboard in there,

spent another half an hour cleaning everything up

-so we didn't throw the stuff away.

-Fantastic.

This girl has been amazing.

I'll tell you what, you have put a lot of energy in here

and a lot of time. Have you really enjoyed volunteering?

-Yes, absolutely.

-What's been so good about it?

I don't know. You just get like a bit of...

It's nice when you're doing something for someone else,

and not really, like, your own interests at heart.

Like, you just feel good at the end of the day.

You feel tired but, like, you've done something with your day.

Gosh, yeah. Thank you so much.

So we can sit down here, have a cup of coffee,

we can have a bit of chat.

-And when the band starts...

-Beds!

-Calm down.

Let me tell you about this bit.

Then when the band starts, if you can't see the band playing,

shorties like me can get up onto the second tier of the seating.

And it's really, really strong.

Yeah, it's lovely. This was all junk that was in the garden.

-Is it dry? Yeah.

-It's nice, isn't it?

It's really nice.

You don't seem to have that any shortage of volunteers here.

This has been a ball of energy, man.

This has been incredible. You know what?

Every time I've come here, it's just lifted me up.

I've had people here from day one that have just been a godsend.

-Isn't it lovely?

-It is lovely. I love the cafe

and I love what Jonathan was doing.

But this, it's just kind of expanding the whole thing.

It's trebling the size of the cafe.

Do you think he's going to like this?

-I think it's going to blow his mind.

-Do you?

-Yeah.

And I love the energy here.

I love the vibrancy of what everybody is doing.

There's only half an hour to go before Jonathan turns up...

..and Mark and the volunteers are giving it a final push

to get the garden ready for the big reveal,

and I can't wait for him to see it.

Over four days, Mark and the volunteers

have transformed the back of the cafe from a rubbish tip

to a beautiful garden oasis for the whole community.

Over 50 volunteers have been involved,

turning old pallets into tables,

building seating and creating plant beds

to bring life to the previously neglected courtyard.

They've poured their hearts into giving Jonathan and the cafe

a new lease of life and the opportunity to expand

and help more people like Daniel and Darren.

It's an amazing transformation

and I just hope Jonathan likes it as much as I do.

-Jonathan, this is a big moment.

-It's exciting. I must say.

It really is exciting.

It's taken four days

and goodness knows how many hundreds of man and woman hours

to get this right.

And I've been really careful

in those four days not to go and have a look!

So I don't know what's happened out there.

I just hope it lives up to expectations

and it's an asset to your project, I really do.

Well, thank you very much. I'm sure it's going to be amazing for us.

It'll be a great boost for us as an organisation,

so I'm really looking forward to seeing it!

Come on in, Jonathan.

Oh, wow!

This doesn't look like the yard that I left behind a few days ago.

This is completely, completely so different.

It's really changed a lot.

It's great. This is really great.

It's so big out here.

-This is really big.

-That's because it was full of rubbish before.

-It was full of rubbish!

-There was an awful lot to shift

-once we got stuck in.

-There WAS an awful lot to shift.

But this is a huge space.

What an amazing space, actually.

This is absolutely incredible.

So what will having this additional area mean to you,

the project and the community?

It will mean that there is a whole new space

for people to come and meet,

that there is a new green space here in the local community

which doesn't exist, hasn't existed.

And there are so few of these spaces.

It will mean that the cafe we have got inside

will be able to expand out here,

and we will be able to invite more customers in to join us.

You've got some beds there.

We can start growing some veg for the kitchen.

-Yeah, great.

-Herbs.

-Herbs and stuff.

Lots of planters.

-It's really good, isn't it?

-People have made those.

People from the community have made them.

Yeah, yeah. Look, seating and benches and everything as well.

It's incredible.

They've all been recycled from stuff left in the garden.

The volunteers who came in here said,

"Don't throw that in the skip!"

They pulled them out and they created some new tables for you,

-and bits and pieces.

-That's really in the tradition of

Bristol Reconnect

cos we've done everything through recycling, really.

So it really fits in with the way that we've done the rest of this

building here as well, cos we've recycled so materials here

that have been donated to us.

And that's something we want to promote also in the community,

that we can use the resources that are already here

-to create something new.

-Even the green paint that we see.

-Yes.

-That was found underneath all the rubbish.

-Yeah.

-I wondered where that green paint had gone.

-Oops.

Great, you know, it's wonderful that it's got its use, you know.

Cos it's brightened up the space amazingly.

-Yeah.

-Well, I don't think we could have done it

-for a better guy, really.

-No, I don't think so too.

-That's very kind of you.

-It's a privilege to meet you.

And you, too. It's been really lovely to have you guys around

and contribute in this way, you feel like part of the club now.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much. Thank you.

I'm so glad that Jonathan likes it.

Now it's time to see what the people who depend on the cafe think

and to give the volunteers a chance

to enjoy the fruits of their labours.

Come on, Darren, you lead the way.

Oh, wow, look. This is great.

-In you go!

-Come on in!

Come on, everybody. Well done, yous lot.

Hello, hiya.

-Take them all in.

-How do you do?

Hello. Good to see you.

Hello. Head down there.

In you go. In you go.

So it keeps on going.

-Well done, everybody.

-Well done.

Hello. He's not come in.

-John.

-Come on, John.

-John.

-Mind the paint.

Great stuff.

Well, it's amazing, everybody weighed in here

and turned this round, you know.

-That's what I like about it.

-You happy?

-Ecstatic.

-Hey, Darren, what do you think of it?

-Oh, it's great.

What a transformation, eh?

Yeah, well, you've known it for a long time but it was...

it was a bit of a mess.

It was, it looked like scrapyard.

To this, you know, it's spacious, beautiful...

Do you think it's going to make a difference to the project?

I think it will make a real difference.

There's a lot of families around here,

there's a lot of mums and children around here and I think this is

a really safe space for children to come and play and for

their mothers to be able to relax and talk to each other.

-Yeah.

-It's just great to know that this has been created

-through volunteers.

-Yes.

And, you know, through the love of the community,

creating this for the community, I think that's...

-it's magic.

-Yeah.

-It is.

Well, it seems to be working already.

But this is what it's all about.

It's a bunch of people who get together to do something

for the common good. And it's brilliant.

Everybody benefits.

And, look - that is a big smile.

Next, it's the final push

as we race to complete our rejuvenated community hub...

..Martyn Ashton discovers the healing power of music...

The atmosphere in here is amazing,

and it's all thanks to the power of volunteers.

..and we get inspiration from the work of the local youth centre,

while we create a new space for their young people.

THEY CHEER