A COMMUNITY litter-pick and bulb-planting event organised by Bovey Tracey Town Council has been hailed a success with scores of volunteers turning up on the day.

The willing army gathered in Mill Marsh Park and wasted no time getting stuck in.

Some donned hi-vis jackets and cleaned the town’s streets while others got down on their hands and knees to plant more than 1,500 native bulbs including daffodils, snowdrops, bluebells and fritillaries

The group included 10-year-old Myri Hearthwood, a pupil at Bovey Tracey Primary School.

She was getting stuck in as part of her Civic Award activities.

‘It’s basically when you do stuff for the environment and charities for four months,’ she said.

‘You also have a physical and non-physical hobby, then you get an award if you’ve done well enough.’

Mayor Cllr Sheila Brooke was on hand to oversee the action which had been prompted both by an idea from the Friends of Mill Marsh Park and a desire to achieve even better results at the South West in Bloom Competition.

It was funded by donations from the Craft Festival’s Sarah James and Cllr Sally Morgan’s Save Bonds Meadow fighting fund.

‘The sun shone, people came and were really keen,’ said Cllr Brooke.

‘We must have had 50 join us for either bulb-planting or litter-picking, the children in particular were wonderful, they really enjoyed it and will join us again in a couple of weeks to scatter wild flower seeds.

‘The display might take a year or two to really shine but I’m hopeful everyone, not least the children, will soon be able to walk past and say “I planted that”.

‘The day was a great success and it was so good to see the community of Bovey Tracey rise to the occasion and really enjoying themselves in the process, I can’t thank them enough.'

The next improvement planned for the park is the creation of a wild flower bed, courtesy of Brimley Women’s Institute