A Monmouth-based Army regiment have helped create new parking spaces at Bridges Community Centre.

Last weekend, after several months of preparation and planning, the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia) set to work to create two much-needed disabled parking bays and three standard car parking bays in front of Drybridge House.

They also carried out repairs to other areas of the car park. This was the culmination of an idea discussed between WO1 Andy Hamilton, the RSM at Monmouth Castle, and Haydn Cullen-Jones a trustee at Bridges.

QMSI Hayes RMonRE then took over the co-ordination of the regiment's contribution as it provided valuable training for his Territorial Army colleagues both in planning and executing the project.

Monmouthshire County Council also contributed with planning advice and the fencing to ensure site safety.

Fortunately, Saturday dawned fine and the excavation of the site, which had previously been checked to ensure no cables or pipe work would be damaged, began promptly.

By Saturday afternoon the 300mm excavation was complete and the hard core base was being laid.

On Sunday the 100mm surface layer from Clearwell Quarries was laid and compacted and the bricks to mark out the parking bays put in place.

Bridges' patrons will have use of the new bays at the start of next week once the surface has had chance to harden.

Trustees would like to express their gratitude on behalf of all the centre users to both the RMonRE team and Monmouthshire County Council for their action and assistance in completing the project.