Christmas came early for children at a Weston-super-Mare primary school after their bicycles were repaired for free.

Bournville Primary School has plenty of outdoor space for children to enjoy riding their bikes, but Derek Forbes, quality and compliance manager at travel firm Bakers Dolphin, became aware of many of the bikes falling into disrepair.

“I know many of the children don’t have their own bikes, so get a huge amount of enjoyment from using the bikes at the school," he said.

“But like so many schools, Bournville Primary has to work very hard to manage its budget, so it struggles to keep on top of small jobs like bike repairs.

“When I realised this, I thought it would be nice if we could help out, so we contacted the school and brought eight bikes to our workshops just off Winterstoke Road and repaired them.

“It made a nice change for our engineer Dan Moore to work on something other than keeping our coaches in top working order, and he said it was a pleasure doing it, knowing how much enjoyment it would bring to some local children.”

Nicola Cherry, EYFS leader at Bournville Primary School, said: "We are extremely grateful for Baker Dolphin’s time and expertise.

"They have enabled our children to continue developing their physical skills which is so important for our children in the early years. We have a nursery, pre-school and two reception classes who are all benefiting from this kind gesture.

“The children were really excited to have their bikes back repaired. We look forward to continuing this partnership with a local business.”