Tidy Tavi ...... The First Anniversary By Jane Miller


traders who put up our posters. Many people, whether they have


On a glorious Saturday morning, on the first day of October 2011, 25 volunteers and a dog met near the underpass in the Meadows. Most of them were strangers to each other. Even the three organizers had met only two months before. They were brought together by articles in the Tavistock Times Gazette and Tavistock & West Devon Diary, a strong dislike of litter and determination to do something about it. Over the last twelve months there


have been eleven Tidy Tavi days when between 19 and 25 volunteers have come along, collecting a total of 297 large bin bags full of rubbish as well as miscellaneous items like a child’s car seat, a car alternator and worse! On Tidy Tavi Days, having assembled at the Wharf, volunteers register, then collect a litter picker, a hoop and some rubbish bags. Groups are formed of four or five people, each with a leader, and they go off on a pre-determined route, leaving full bags where they will not cause a problem, and returning to the Wharf after up to two hours where they replace the equipment and maybe enjoy a well-earned cup of coffee. Because we have Phil Jarman and his big 4x4, we often clear up Anderton layby, notorious for litter, and are able to bring full sacks from where they have been left along each route


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(thank goodness for mobile phones!) to Bedford Car Park, from where they are collected by West Devon Borough Council later in the afternoon.


Other collections have been done in the grounds of Tavistock College, (12 bags) throughout the shrubberies at Morrisons and the adjacent West Devon Business Park off Brook Lane, (30 bulging sacks and large items of junk). We were able to help in a small way at the Son-Rise Cup, run by Allen Lewis, who himself keeps the area around the Football Club clean. We have given talks to the 11 and 12 year olds at Tavistock College, been interviewed on Radio Devon and are given generous publicity by the local press and


any connection with Tidy Tavi or not, pick up litter. I used to do this before the group was formed but always felt very isolated and rather odd doing it. I think that Tidy Tavi has given litter pickers a sort of acceptance in the community, so that the comment ‘The Council should be doing that’ is rare now. It’s not all hard work! Valentine’s Day saw sentimental ladies wearing hearts, whereas on Easter Saturday several volunteers appeared charmingly arrayed in Easter bonnets, some with the traditional flowers and eggs, others in constructions of reasonably clean litter. Prizes were given to a man and a woman for the best headgear. We were getting so many


volunteers on Tidy Tavi Days that we were unable to provide litter pickers (lent to us by West Devon) for everyone. Debo Sellis, the County Councillor for Tavistock, arranged for Devon CC to buy 20 for us to use. South West Water gave us enough money to buy 20 hoops to hold the bags open and stamp our tabards with our logo. The Co-op gave us £50 in store vouchers that will be used to give prizes in our Anniversary Quiz. Otherwise we don’t normally attempt to raise funds and try to keep the organisation as simple as possible and in the hands of the people who take part. We have


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