A BEAUTIFUL horse-drawn baker’s van was found rotting beneath an earth mound – but Trainees at Redditch Skill Centre have restored it to its former glory.

Men at the Middlemore Road Skill Centre re-built the body of the van – the shafts and wheels had collapsed and so had the canopy.

Once that was done to the van, built by Hovis in the 1920s, it was transported to Redditch where it received seven coats of paint and varnish.

Engineering manager Trevor Tunley said the van was in a sorry state when it was unearthed from a field near Birmingham Airport more than 12 months ago.

“We stripped it down to the shell and started from scratch.

“It proved an ideal training exercise because of the variety of work involved and certainly aroused considerable interest,” he said.