WHEN she leaves the office, Purnima Tanuku likes to do something completely different.

"I don't believe in working all the time," she explained. "You end up getting drowned in it."

So in a complete break from office life, Purnima changes out of her smart suits, dons traditional Indian costumes and tours the country as a dancer with performing arts group Kalasangan.

"I do a classical Indian style of dance called pharata natyan," said Purnima. "I enjoy all kinds of performing arts and I love getting involved in things that are completely different to my work."

During the rest of the week Purnima is managing director of Groundwork Blackburn, a charitable trust and trading company with a £3 million turnover and a 60-strong staff.

"It's not a job for the faint-hearted," smiled Purnima. "It has its difficulties. But I love my work. The whole idea behind it is to get people to look after their own backyard."

The Groundwork trust sets about this ambition by helping residents make derelict plots of wasteland into community gardens, assisting schools with transforming their grounds and creating new parkland and cycleways. However, more recently the trust's remit has expanded to deal with social and economic regeneration, with a focus on education and youth disorder.

Purnima explained: "People say, 'Groundwork? They plant trees.' But now that's only half the story.

"We work with disaffected young people on estates in Blackburn and Darwen, and with communities and schools.

"We bring classes into our centre and run workshops to raise young people's awareness about the future of our planet."

Purnima is all too used to facing difficult challenges. After growing up in southern India, she moved to Wakefield with her GP husband and worked for Doncaster Council as head of children's services and prisons, where she set up services for country's first private prison.

She said: "I was involved in the rehabilitation of offenders and it was very demanding work. But I believe there's a little bit of potential in every person. Just how that's developed is the key thing."

Five years ago Purnima, a mother of two, moved to Blackburn and took up a post as operations director at Groundwork -- a move she describes as "pure coincidence", adding: "I liked the sound of the job and I thought the work was interesting."

Since then she's become Groundwork's first Asian female MD and, in 2002, she was invited to meet Tony Blair as a result of Groundwork's award-winning environmental work.

Now she aims to spread the word about Groundwork, which is based in a renovated textile mill on Bolton Road, Blackburn.

She said: "People have this image of a small charity, based in a dingy little office somewhere. My vision is that we will be recognised for the professionally-managed organisation that we are and engage more Asian communities with our work. I also want to break down the stereotypes of the kinds of jobs that can be done by Asian people.

"When somebody sees me they assume I'm a nurse or a doctor. Never in their mind do they think I work in the environment sector."