Jews are so bad at DIY that they have to call in a handyman to change a light bulb. Or so the stereotype would have us believe.

But new figures suggest the community is more than comfortable carrying out jobs around the house.

A survey, commissioned by World Jewish Relief, found that almost half of the respondents had done DIY in the past month, with 33.3 per cent saying they had carried out a task in the last week.

Not small tasks either. Some 38 per cent said they had mended a toilet, while 25 per cent had fixed a leaking tap.

Forty-six per cent said they had put together furniture and 66 per cent had hung pictures, although only 11 per cent had attempted the trickier skill of hanging wallpaper.

Men were more likely to do DIY than women, with 58 per cent tackling home improvements in the past month as opposed to 36 per cent.

DIY fever has gripped Manchester more than London, the survey found, with 35 per cent of Mancunians carrying out domestic repairs in the past seven days against 33 per cent of Jews in the capital.

Some 1,002 people took part in the survey, which was commissioned by WJR. The charity is aiming to help hundreds of Jews in the former Soviet Union by repairing 300 delapidated homes.

Paul Anticoni, WJR's chief executive said: "Our forgotten Jewish family in the former Soviet Union have homes in urgent need of repair. That's why World Jewish Relief is embarking on another urgent round of home repairs this Rosh Hashanah."