STAFF, volunteers and visitors to the two Tavistock Oxfam shops, had a special guest recently.

People gathered at the Oxfam Bookshop to greet editor of Resurgence and Ecologist Magazine Satish Kumar, who gave a talk to staff and volunteers about his support for the charity and his experiences in peace and environmental activism.

Satish, who was born in India but now lives in Hartland, has featured articles about Oxfam in the Resurgence and Ecologist Magazine.

He talked about his experience as a Jain monk, accomplishing a 'peace walk' of more than 8,000 miles from India to the capitals of four of the nuclear-armed countries and setting up a school in Hartland.

Tina Head, an Oxfam bookshop volunteer, asked questions on behalf of the audience.

Satish said: 'As an organisation Oxfam takes care of those at the bottom of the ladder, whether it be natural disasters or poverty, Oxfam helps those in need.

'I admire how Tavistock is able to counter-economise by not throwing things away and reusing them in the town's local charity shops.

'The community of Tavistock is very generous in what they give to Oxfam — not only with things that are donated, but some also give their time to volunteer too. Without volunteers, there would be no Oxfam.'

Satish also talked about how to change the views of world leaders on tackling poverty and environmental issues by changing minds and appealing to other like-minded people to support more organisations such as Oxfam to demonstrate decision makers.

Oxfam Shop manager Jacky Theobald, who organised the event along with bookshop manager Val Sharpe, said: 'Satish Kumar's presentation was very inspirational and thought provoking. It was great for both Oxfam shop teams in Tavistock to attend an event that creates an optimistic outlook of Oxfam's work.'