PRAISE has been heaped on a Meldon man whose fundraising efforts have benefitted local charities this year to the tune of £3,000.

Farmer Ivor Pellow's regular whist drives have boosted the funds of the Okehampton Multiple Sclerosis Support Group, Meldon Village Hall and the Devon Air Ambulance.

On top of this Mr Pellow has been the highest collector at Hatherleigh Carnival for ten years on the trot and is regularly seen at Okehampton Carnival and Okehampton Show with a collecting tin.

His serious fundraising drive began five years ago when he began holding whist drives in Meldon Village Hall for the MS group.

With his wife Sue being an MS sufferer, this was one of the ways in which Mr Pellow could help.

'I am very grateful to the charities who have helped my wife and if people did not support events like the ones I put on there would not be any charities,' he said.

The Devon Air Ambulance was something equally worthwhile, he added.

'You never know when you might need it one day,' he said. 'This service saves people's lives and has got to be kept going.'

Mr Pellow said each year the money he raised increased.

'When I first started the whist drives I had never organised anything for charity before,' he said. 'People used to come to the hall and see just five or six tables and they would say it was a shame it was not better supported when we had such beautiful prizes.

'I knew if I kept it up we would get more people and now we have 20 tables and 80 people coming along each month.'

The Meldon whist drives are so popular that people come from as far as Plymouth, Barnstaple, Exeter and Crediton.

Mr Pellow said he enjoyed fundraising but it took a particular type of person to continually ask people to put their hands in their pockets.

He has expressed thanks to the businesses and people who donate prizes, the public who support the events and his helpers including Ken Vile from Spreyton and the ladies who make the tea.

Treasurer of the Okehampton MS Support Group Lesley Goddard said Mr Pellow was 'absolutely marvellous'.

'Mr Pellow and his wife make a magnificent effort for us,' she said.

'We really need people like them because without public donations we would have a much bigger struggle.

'A certain amount of Government funding is given to MS research but everything for the comfort of the sufferers comes from public funding.'

The picture shows Mr Pellow with a certificate from the Devon Air Ambulance which he received recently for his fundraising efforts.