DESPITE the strong winds and rain, team work paid off on Wednesday, February 14 when a group from Conservative MP Scott Mann’s office organised a Community Action Day on the Ridgegrove estate in Launceston.

Queen Elizabeth Road and the steps leading down to the bottom of the estate were the focus of the work, where a significant area of overgrown brambles was removed. Town councillor Val Bugden-Cawsey had asked the town council ground staff to help with the large area of brambles that needed removing, and Cllr Bugden-Cawsey said they did ‘a fantastic job’, working with their heavy duty equipment to cut down and remove a massive pile of undergrowth. They will return and spray the area to prevent the brambles growing back in future.

As soon as the brambles were cut down this enabled Mr Mann, volunteers, staff from Mr Mann’s office and the Clean Cornwall team from Biffa to clear the multitude of rubbish that had been hiding in the undergrowth for some time. Among the array of rubbish was a discarded printer, two children’s scooters, two sets of roller skates, a hibernating hedgehog, which was rescued from the undergrowth and kindly re-housed by Trystam, one of the hard working Biffa operatives. The ‘litter pick’ saw over 30 bags of rubbish collected. Steps and paths were cleared of rubbish and weeds and swept, one of the residents worked really hard clearing the moss off the pavement that ran along Queen Elizabeth Road.

They also filled four dumpy bags with garden waste, this equipment was supplied by CORMAC’S new Community Tool Trailer, which is filled with gloves, garden tools wheel barrows and dumpy bags that you fill and CORMAC collects.

Thanks were expressed to the volunteers who still came out despite the weather, Biffa and Clean Cornwall for supplying the equipment for the litter and CORMAC for the tool trailer. In addition heartfelt thanks were expressed to Mr and Mrs Sanders, who supplied everyone with hot drinks and homemade biscuits, buns and snacks throughout the day.

Mr Mann said: “My office and I have done a number of these events around North Cornwall which are making a real difference to local communities.

“We even had children coming to help to tidy and clean their estate, and they seem to be very much more aware of the environment than we were when we were their age.”

If you know of an area near you where that would benefit from a Community project contact Rachel Beadle or Cllr Bugden-Cawsey at Mr Mann’s Bodmin office on 01208 74337 or email [email protected]

If you are interested in registering a litter pick contact Clean Cornwall on 01872 243533 and discuss it with Jill or Will and if you would like to loan the Community Tool Trailer call 0300 1234222 and ask for Rebecca Dickson for the east of the county and Jackie Mace for the west of the county.