Coronation Street star Jennie McAlpine played an earthy part in Manchester's Mitzvah Day events.

The actress, who portrays Fiz in the ITV soap, got her hands dirty planting flowers donated from garden centres into wellington boots at South Manchester Synagogue in Bowdon. She was joined by 30 Jewish children and members of the Muslim community.

Mitzvah Day will have joint responsibility for a national Year of Service in 2012, when each of the country's major faiths will hold their own day of social action.

Founder Laura Marks said Communities Secretary Eric Pickles had been impressed by Mitzvah Day and similar initiatives and wanted the government to get on board.

Boris Johnson and Tony Blair have lauded the interfaith aspect of Mitzvah Day.

Mitzvah Day marks the start of the national Interfaith Week and Mr Blair praised the notion of "Jews working with Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Baha'is to go out into their communities to help clean up the area".

Mr Johnson said such co-operation was a "fantastic example of what can happen when people put

The Chief Rabbi was joined by dignitaries from several faiths in marking the start of the annual Interfaith Week at a ceremony in London on Tuesday.

The party political leaders are the latest public figures to throw their weight behind this year's Mitzvah Day, the community's national day of volunteering.

David Cameron said: "National Mitzvah Day is a great example of how faith communities across the country are contributing to furthering social responsibility."

Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "Mitzvah Day volunteers will show that the a

'Now is the winter of our discontent", proclaimed Shakespeare's Richard III. Our rabbis agreed. Moving from an intense period of festivals and fasts, packed with commandments, to the first month of the winter which has no festivals at all, they felt deprived. They called this period Marcheshvan or "the bitter month of Cheshvan".

Now Cheshvan has had a makeover.