A LITTER pick by volunteers, which took place in Crediton on a cold and miserable, Wednesday, January 30, has been hailed as a huge success, resulting in discussions about making town litter picks a regular occurrence.

The litter pick, which took place behind Crediton’s Tesco store at Wellparks and in the area around Crediton Railway Station, was organised by The Turning Tides Project in conjunction with Crediton resident Matt Hulland, the Material Reclamation Facility manager at Exeter City Council.

Taking part were representatives from the Tesco store, Mole Avon and The Red Deer.

A briefing was held at 11am at the Station Tea Rooms and equipment was handed out, including bags and litter pickers, equipment kindly supplied by Keep Britain Tidy, Mid Devon District Council and Exeter City Council, who also supported the event with insurance, First Aid cover and outlets for waste and recycling.

Matt explained: “Amazing response from the businesses around Wellparks to assist The Turning Tides Project clean up an area that obviously needed it.

“Hopefully more action will be taken to keep it in better order.

“It was great to see Peter Beale get some well-deserved support. Peter has volunteered for more than three years selflessly trying unaided to make a difference and now he’ll receive greater support whenever he needs it. Well done folks and thank you so much.”

Dominic Palfreman from The Turning Tides Project said: “Thank you volunteers! I half expected no-one to turn-up, and you all did.

“I’m really proud of us all - hopefully this is the start of new relationships, the growing of old ones and will encourage the rest of town to do the same!

Rob from The Red Deer, said: “It was an eye opening experience and with teamwork anything is possible.

“The Red Deer would like to support this in the future.”

Andrew Drayton, Crediton Tesco community champion, said: “It was splendid to be part of the team. Thank you to The Turning Tides Project for their organisation and for the coffee and cake at the end of the day. Lovely stuff!

“Well done to all of our business neighbours that were part of it.

“We’d love to be involved in any future efforts that do this again on a regular basis and maybe there’s an opportunity for volunteers of ’hit squads’ to operate in other parts of the town, like Newcombes Meadow, around the Leisure Centre or People’s Park, etc.”

Lauren Cook, on behalf of Mole Avon, said: “On behalf of Mole Avon and the team I would just like to say it was an absolute pleasure working together with everyone.

“Thank you all for your help and time and thank you to The Turning Tides Project for having us and organising such a great event.”