RESIDENTS and traders in Callington are being asked to support their town by joining a 'Callington in Bloom' campaign.

The move to make Callington more welcoming is being spearheaded by the Town Forum — but some traders are yet to be convinced.

There are concerns that vandals will wreck the displays and that attempts to make the town attractive will be in vain, because once Tesco is built on the edge of Callington next year, some fear that town centre shopping will be affected.

But town forum member Gail Buttery said this attitude was very negative.

She said: 'If we do nothing, the vandals will have won and we cannot just sit back and die once Tesco is open.

'We need to change what we do and make an effort to get people to shop here.

'As a town forum we have been coming up with ideas to try and improve the look of the town, and making it attractive with flowers is a quick way of doing that.

'There is a group of very enthusiastic people who will get this off the ground, but we do need a lot of support.'

She said with CCTV and the recent ASBO on a local 19-year-old, anti-social behaviour in Callington would be less of a problem.

'Do we want to start boarding up our windows just in case someone breaks them? If we always look for a reason not to do something then we will never do anything.

'A lot of people are proud of being in Callington and are prepared to get things going.'

Active groups like the Lions Club and Rotary Club are joining in the campaign and businesses are being asked if they might sponsor or maintain their own displays.

Letters have been sent to Callington's allotment holders to ask them if they would grow some extra plants to fill the baskets and tubs.

'Instead of a little group of people doing everything, we want to get everybody involved, like the WI and the community college,' added Gail. 'The work can be shared out then.'

Owner of Hindles newsagents Rodney Hindle said Callington did really need a boost and putting up floral displays 'certainly would not do any harm' but he said litter and anti social behaviour was not helping the town.

'I would like to see the drunks off the streets every evening,' he said.

'They have not got anything to do and lot of time to do nothing in, so they smash things up. The streets are full of cans when I walk into work at 4.30am.'

Chris Saunders from the antique shop in Fore Street said it was hard to get Callington motivated.

The town once had a very strong chamber of trade, but it disbanded more than 15 years ago because there was a lack of support.

He said Callington as a town centre was not well supported by local residents and he did not feel a few hanging baskets would make them come into town, especially once Tesco was built.