This could be cleanest ever stag weekend

Traditionally they've involved a flight to Dublin or Prague and a 48-hour pub crawl, ending up with the groom-to-be in a state of undress and tied to a lamppost.

But a group of 28 men from West Sussex and Manchester turned their noses up at the usual stag do activities for the chance to make a lasting difference to a community centre in Bath.

Best man Mike Kimmer, 35, ditched the idea of paintballing or go-karting and looked for activities that would benefit an area instead.

They were keen to come to Bath and Mike trawled the internet where he came across Bath and North East Somerset's website and its information about a community clean-up day.

He said the driving force for doing good had come from groom-to-be Andy Monk.

"He has done a fair amount of community work before and we thought it would be a really good idea.

"We wanted to give something back to Bath after spending the weekend there and thought this would be the perfect thing."

The men still managed to fit in some drinking around their community work.

Mike said: "We had a great time and it kept us out of the pub, although we were quite hung over from the night before.

"I think all the lads would do it again. It was something a bit different and it was nice to get together and work alongside friends.

"It was just a really nice thing to give something back to the community."

The stag party joined volunteers working with the council to clean off graffiti at Southdown Community Centre.

Andy, 38, who works for Coca-Cola Enterprises, said that he had enjoyed a great stag weekend in Bath.

He said: "I think I just wanted to do something different. We have done paintballing before and quad-biking so this was completely new.

"It was nice to do something that other people can benefit from and we all had a great laugh."

He is marrying Lisa Took on December 20 after meeting her three years ago.

Bruce Bennett, the council's community liaison manager, said: "We are keen to work with communities, groups and individuals to get them involved in projects and initiatives that promote a cleaner and safer environment and also give confidence back to local people.

"We are always looking for volunteers to take part in similar projects which we are happy to set up and run."