A DEVELOPMENT company is supporting schools in areas of South Lakeland where it is building houses.

Russell Armer Homes has contributed towards community projects supporting people facing disadvantage being carried out at schools in Kendal and Grange-over-Sands.

The Queen Katherine School (QKS) Association received funding to install a compost toilet with full disabled access at the Appleby Road Community Garden. The new facility will be used by volunteers, plot holders, students from QKS and Sandgate School, and children from Meadow View nursery as well as groups and individuals visiting the site.

The toilet has full disabled access, is waterless and environmentally friendly. ‘Humanure’ is collected and used to enrich the soil around comfrey plants, which are in turn used to make a liquid plant food to use in the garden.

And Friends and Relatives of Grange Priamary School has been awarded £1,000 to install two fixed basketball hoops in the grounds of the school. The grounds are used by the students during school hours and are widely used by the local community, especially young people and families.

A Russell Armer spokesperson said: "The basketball hoops will also improve sporting facilities within Grange, which are very limited at present, as well as reducing antisocial behaviour in the evening as local teenagers will have an activity to direct their energy into."