THE third Tidy Tavy litter pick day took place recently with many regular and many new community spirited individuals donning gloves and bin bags to tackle some problem areas around Tavistock.

Four groups homed in on areas such as Pixon Lane, Bannawell Street and Battery Lane.

The volunteers collected 39 large sacks of litter and two compost bags of brambles in just over two hours.

Although a well organised morning of litter picking was planned by Jane Miller, some volunteers expressed an interest simply to participate by going off on their own routes and mixing a nice walk with a purpose.

Jane said: 'That's what I love about Tavistock, people who are happy to just get things done.'

Local businessman Phil Jarman assisted the volunteers by collecting heavy bags of rubbish in his 4-wheel drive and taking them to the collection point. Thanks were expressed to Phil for all his help.

Regular volunteer Hilary Davie took along a photo taken during a litter pick organised by Friends of the Earth back in 1974.

A spokesperson for Tidy Tavy said: 'Although litter seems to be an ever present problem, the encouraging knowledge that people are still happy to band together and help tackle the problem is still strong.

'A point raised was that we are seeing common areas where litter is dropped, and even a common type of litter. This might mean that only a select amount of people are dropping litter. Naturally, the most difficult aspect of clearing litter is for it not to be dropped in the first place.

'With interest growing in the community to band together to help keep Tavistock a great place to live, several members of the public expressed their interest on seeing us picking litter and said they would be keen to help next time.

'As a community our strongest card is ourselves and if people can let us know when and where something needs doing, with your support we can keep Tavistock tidy.'

The Tidy Tavy group welcomes any and all help and advice and would like to hear from anyone who feels there may be a certain area of Tavistock that needs to be tackled.

Future Tidy Tavy days are to be held on the first Saturday of every month, the next being Saturday February 4, meeting at the Wharf at 10am.

For more information or to contact the group visit http://www.tidytavy.co.uk">www.tidytavy.co.uk or email [email protected]">[email protected]