TAVISTOCK and Villages Development Forum (TaVi) is a partnership of community representatives aiming to make Tavistock and its surrounding villages an even better place to live — and can help by distributing small grants. 

Anyone interested in TaVi's activities is welcome to attend the monthly open forum which encourages people to discuss and raise those issues and ideas which concern them.

 The next forum is on Tuesday, December 9, from 2pm until 4 pm, in the town council chamber in Drake Road.  

Sarah Berry, a volunteer with Westden, will be giving a short talk about the Transition Town movement and how Tavistock can join a national initiative which helps communities find ways of addressing oil-dependency and climate change.

 TaVi chairman, Christopher Kirwin, said: 'TaVi has a funding pot available to our communities to develop projects for local people and we would welcome applications to support community projects from Tavistock and its surrounding parishes.' 

A grant of up to a £1,000 is available for projects which fall within the key areas which people have identified as important to them:  economy, employment and training; culture, sport and leisure; the built environment and environmental issues; older people; travel and transport and young people.

 Anyone interested in applying for funding can contact Dawn Padley on 01822 618715 or [email protected]">[email protected]