A COMMUNITY initiative aimed at getting neighbours to help each other has been launched in Southampton.

From gardening, shopping, DIY or baking, Time Bank members will be encouraged to help each other for free and in return they can ask someone to help them with something they can’t or don’t want to do.

Under the scheme, which has been launched in Millbrook, members register and state their skills and hobbies and they can also volunteer to help when a job is advertised.

In return for helping, the person will be rewarded with an hour’s worth of credits which they can then claim when they want some help themselves.

The scheme has already proved a success in Freemantle and Woolston where more than 100 people have signed up to each.

As well as swapping skills and helping each other, members take part in events, craft groups and coffee mornings and get involved with “upcycling” where people swap items they no longer want.

Lynda Barnes Woolston Time Bank broker said: “The whole point is that people get to know each other in the community. It is a social thing and everybody has a skill.”

For more information, ring Gwyneth Baker on 07795 050294