THE White Horse at Osmington has been given a good grooming by volunteers from BAE systems.

A group of 24 members of staff from the company's Dorchester office spent a day of hard work sprucing up the chalk figure.

West Dorset coastal ranger John Hayes said: "It was mainly weeding the vegetation growing on the surface of the figure.

"We try to keep its appearance as decent as we can for the start of the summer season and they did an absolutely cracking job.

"It's the second largest figure in the country and because of the slope it makes it very difficult to work on."

The day was organised by Dorset County Council's ranger service and Richard Smith, BAE's community and local charity representative, is hoping to make it an annual event.

He said: "BAE has got a long history of doing charity work and we also try and do as much as we can for the local community.

"We thought it was a fantastic opportunity to get the guys out of the office - they sit in front of their computers all day and it was a great chance to get out and do something.

"We are now going to continue the partnership with John and the Dorset rangers so the whole outline of the horse is really well defined for the Olympics in 2012."