THE army has been drafted in to help with a major clean-up operation in Oakenshaw on Saturday.

Several hundred people are expected to turn out for the tidy-up, which has been expanded from the cleaning up of a small wooded spinney to the entire area.

The police, Redditch Council, The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints and the town's MP, Jacqui Smith, are all helping.

Tools have been donated from Redditch firms and people taking part will be treated to a barbecue.

The one-day event, which runs from 10am until 1pm has been organised as part of the national Make a Difference Day.

Resident Paul Isherwood, who has helped organise the event, said: "The idea of the clean-up operation in Oakenshaw is tidy the whole area up, remove all the shopping trolleys, cut back all the foliage and just make everywhere spick and span."