OKEHAMPTON mayor Cllr the Rev Mike Davies 'could not believe' the amazing community spirit shown at the first ever Keep Okehampton Tidy day.

Children and parents from the primary school, the town's Chamber of Trade, town police, OCRA and the Okement Rivers Improvement Group were among those who turned out on Saturday to help 'Keep Okehampton Tidy' and pick up litter.

The idea of uniting the town's organisations and voluntary groups to do a big litter clear up was formed after pupils of Kes Tor Class wrote individual letters to the mayor about the overuse of plastic shopping bags and the state of littering in the town.

After visiting the school and talking the idea through with pupils and staff, the litter picking event was created.

As the event drew closer, more and more organisations showed their community spirit and pledged to get involved.

Cllr Rev Davies said: 'I could not believe it. Once I had cleaned my designated area I went to different parts of the town, and you could see people collecting litter everywhere you went. I drove down the entire length of Exeter Road late on Saturday afternoon and there was no litter at all. A great community event and a great day of fun.'

Following the great success of the first tidy day, it is planned that further litter collection days will be held to keep Okehampton tidy.

Cllr Rev Davies said: 'We don't necessarily need to have designated days to collect litter.

'Residents can do their bit any time they like.'

After the litter collection, there was a community event held to thank all those involved at Okehampton Police Station organised by the Okehampton Neighbourhood Policing Team.