WHEN a literal ‘DIY SOS’ was thrown out asking companies to aid London’s devastated Grenfell Tower community, two Lye firms jumped in alongside Prince William to help.

BBC renovation show DIY SOS, fronted by Nick Knowles, is embarking on a project, with the Prince's backing, to rebuild a boxing club and community hub that were destroyed by the Grenfell fire last year.

The West London tragedy cost 71 lives and obliterated buildings including the Dale Youth Boxing Academy and community hub – and DIY SOS aims to rebuild both just metres from Grenfell Tower.

However, the show was struggling to find a firm able to provide the materials needed for a special ‘Heroes’ Wall’ – and that was where Lye company ATB Systems answered the call.

Sharon Freeman, commercial director at the Brook Street firm, revealed their involvement stemmed from one of their employees seeing the appeal on television.

She explained: “One of our colleagues, Gina Fackrell, from the accounts department, was watching The One Show and the DIY SOS presenter was on.

“He said they had all the tools needed to do the job – other than needing an aluminium door and window fabricator.

“Gina came in on the Monday and told us about it, we emailed the BBC and didn’t think anything would come of it because of the distance but they got back to us.”

ATB were able to provide the aluminium screens and sliding door needed for the project but needed someone to take it down to London – and that’s where fellow Lye firm Andyfreight stepped in.

The haulage specialist company, run by Stourbridge FC chairman Andy Pountney, delivered the screens last Friday to enable work on the project to get underway this week.

Mr Pountney said: “It was chaos because there were so many suppliers delivering things and so many people wanting to help.

“We were delighted to support the project and we wish everyone down there well.

“We do quite a bit for different causes and it’s important for local businesses to put something back into the community – obviously this is in London but the distance doesn’t detract from the importance of it.”

ATB’s suppliers of metal, coating, powdering and glass from around the Midlands and beyond also pitched in for free and Mrs Freeman added: “People have been absolutely golden.

“When the Grenfell disaster was mentioned and we found out who this was all for, there was really no option – we had to get involved.

File photo dated 14/06/17 of the fire at Grenfell Tower in west London as police are investigating eight cases of fraud involving people who claimed money following the Grenfell disaster and four possible thefts from flats on the lower levels of the Tower File photo dated 14/06/17 of the fire at Grenfell Tower in west London as police are investigating eight cases of fraud involving people who claimed money following the Grenfell disaster and four possible thefts from flats on the lower levels of the Tower

“We were really delighted to help and Damion (Freeman – technical manager at ATB) has found out the show is looking for help for a project in Bromsgrove so we are contemplating asking them about that too.”

DIY SOS has been running for 17 years and regularly attracts five million viewers watching Knowles and his team of industry experts take on mammoth construction tasks for deserving communities and individuals.

The boxing club – which is renowned nationally and has produced world champions in James DeGale and George Groves – was based on Grenfell’s first floor but was destroyed by last June’s inferno, which took days to extinguish.

Knowles has said of the rebuild ‘it is the biggest and morally most important project we have done in a long time’ – and Prince William, who previously worked on a DIY SOS effort in Manchester, has vowed to pitch in too.