Two engineers called out to repair a gas pipe deep below a school playground in Hulme have built a new cycle track for the pupils.
Pete Young and Brad Cullen were completing the complex repair at St Philip’s CE Primary School when the caretaker mentioned, in passing, that he had a tough job ahead to dig out the track by hand over the summer.
Realising they could help, the pair – who work for local gas network Cadent – brought in a five-ton mini digger and had the track dug out within a few hours, complete with curves and bumps, and weaving around trees.
They then returned at the weekend to add in stones, before arranging for a tarmac surface to be laid – and, just like that, the cycle track was complete, within days.
Sandra Jamieson, Head of School, wrote in to Cadent to praise Pete and Brad and offer her thanks for “the wonderful job” they did.
Mrs Jamieson said: “It was a very generous offer and will make a great deal of difference to our children, many of whom live in flats and have limited exposure to parks and outdoor green spaces. It looks fantastic.”
“For us, it was just really nice to be able to do something for the kids,” said Pete.
“The gas escape was underneath some gym equipment that they’d just put in – two metres below, so quite a deep main to get to and fix.
“We were chatting to the caretaker and he explained that they wanted to create this track. If he’d done that himself, by hand, it would have taken the whole summer, so I had a chat with my manager and we just made it happen.
“It feels really good to have done it.”
