TRADITIONALLY, Ashburton’s portreeve selects two charities to support during their year in office.

The current portreeve, Karen Turner fundraised for the Ashburton Rainbows during the first half of her year tallying an impressive £1,143, and between now and November when her term concludes she will be raising money for Moorland Community Caring.

Once again, the Dartmoor Lodge is offering their support.

On the restaurant’s menu are items which, if bought, will pass on a percentage of the receipt on to the portreeve’s charity.

Moorland Community Caring (MCC), formed in 2016, is a small, but effective team of five part-time staff and a team of volunteers. They support people in Ashburton, Bovey Tracey and Buckfastleigh and surrounding villages.

Their work includes collecting medicines, shopping, visiting people in their homes, driving people to moor social events or occasionally to hospital appointments or taking part in a weekly befriending call.

They also have a group of Digital Champions who help people to learn entry level IT, who, in turn, can start to connect with their families and friends online, order their shopping, submit meter readings or read/listen to books.

The charity is part of the South Devon Well-being Partnership, delivering well-being programmes, individually tailored to a patient’s needs. Working in collaboration with NHS agencies they engage with patients for up to five months, helping them to improve their well-being. This may be addressing their loneliness, their anxiety, budgeting, advocacy and much more.

MCC manager Jayne Edwards said: ‘Bringing people together in the community is our purpose and we rely heavily upon donations to keep these events going.

‘MCC puts people at the heart of what we do. It’s a great place to work and make a difference to people’s wellbeing within our communities.’

Portreeve Karen added: ‘I chose MCC because I myself am a volunteer. Among other things I help out at our fortnightly get togethers at Ashburton Town Hall on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month. These can include refreshments, quizzes, musical entertainment or talks.

‘For many people it’s the only time they get out and meet someone.’

The next social meeting is on Wednesday June 14 from 1.30pm to 3pm. All are welcome. The next get together is a trip out on June 28.

PICTURED: Portreeve Karen Turner, Di Crouchen of The Dartmoor Lodge, and master bailiff and next year’s portreeve Katherine Pugh.