AN ALLOA teen has had his garden transformed thanks to a wonderful gesture by staff at Stirling's Thistle Centre.

Ross Davison, who suffers from autism, was blown away by the kindness of staff and management from the shopping centre.

The shopping centre was initially approached by Ross' support workers from Scottish Autism with a request for a raffle prize to raise funds to buy items for the 19-year-old's garden.

However, the Thistles team, led by centre director Gary Turnbull, decided to volunteer to transform the space.

The centre committed £2,500 and over the course of one action-packed day created a fantastic adult swing and new seating area along with new lighting, vegetable and flower planters and an outdoor bean bag.

Lisa Campbell, marketing manager for Scottish Autism, said: "Overjoyed is an understatement. Thistles has provided Ross with access to something that will bring him such joy and it means the fundraising monies can now be used to put together a sensory room as well.

"We no longer have to choose between one or the other. They have been so kind and generous and it means the world not only to Ross, but to his family and his support team – we can't thank them enough."

Ross' parents Fiona and Andy Davison added: "This is a fantastic gesture by Thistles for which we are really grateful.

"Ross will greatly enjoy using the swing in his garden. Many thanks to all involved for making this happen."

Gary said he and his staff were happy to help and seeing how pleased it made Ross made their efforts all worthwhile.

He said: "Thistles is delighted to support Scottish Autism and when the request came in about the fundraiser for Ross we were very happy to put together a team of volunteers to help transform his garden.

"It was a busy day and hugely rewarding for everyone involved to see the end result. We hope Ross gets great enjoyment from the new features and everyone at Thistles sends him and his parents our very best wishes."