Community News

YelverCare – could you help?

The YelverCare good neighbour scheme will be celebrating its 24th birthday this year and looking back on its busiest period since it was set up in 1998. During the height of the pandemic the Yelverton based charity provided support for medical appointments, shopping, telephone befriending and delivery of prescriptions, with deliveries to over 600 people during the initial lockdown. YelverCare chair Mike Pike said: “It’s a service YelverCare has always provided to the residents of Buckland Monachorum and Burrator parishes, but obviously the need grew considerably during the pandemic, though we were lucky enough to have an existing team, plus new volunteers, willing to take on the challenge.” YelverCare is run entirely by volunteers and in 2012 it received The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. Its aim has always been to provide the type of help a good neighbour would do, such as transport to medical appointments, shops, hairdressers etc. Volunteers offer extra services such as befriending, dog walking and other practical support too. They also run the Lunch Club at St Paul’s Church Hall on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, with transport if necessary. The Lunch Club organises a few trips during the year as well. YelverCare operates using the charity’s own mobile phone which can be contacted for help on weekdays, 10am to 1pm - a volunteer will take relevant details and determine if and who can help. Volunteers choose dates on the rota to be on call, and when they are on duty, they receive the ‘Bag’ containing the phone and all the necessary volunteer contact information. Full training and support are provided for this role. Mike explained: “Most requests are for transport, so we always need a lot of volunteers to take people to and from various destinations using their own vehicles. Passengers pay fixed amounts for each journey and drivers can claim their milage costs. We also provide free parking permits for Derriford.”

YelverCare is entirely dependent on its volunteers who give so generously of their time and help and is always keen to recruit new people. It is a very rewarding activity, bringing you into contact with a lot of people in the community, who are always very appreciative and invariably keen to talk about their life and experiences; during the lockdown some volunteers became good friends with people they helped. If you might be interested in volunteering, please contact YelverCare on 07775 695864 (weekdays 10am1pm) with your details. One of the YelverCare team will be in contact to provide more information and discuss your possible involvement. As part of the recruitment process, we must conduct an enhanced DBS check, as volunteers can be involved in helping a vulnerable person. YelverCare is part of Yelverton Community Projects and further details can be found at yelvertoncommunityprojects.org

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A busy time for Tavistock

The town is in bloom again and we are looking forward to the summer months. There has been a notable return of foreign visitors to the town, which is great to see and very welcome. We have also seen an upturn in those visiting from other parts of the UK, with COVID changing the way we view travel and encouraging us to explore our own backyard. With all this in mind, we have turned our focus to growing the Visit Tavistock brand and are engaged in a number of projects to increase visits from different groups and demographics. We believe that Tavistock has so much to offer and is also perfectly situated for exploring Dartmoor, West Devon and Cornwall. We are working on developing official town merchandise, producing new interpretation signage for visitors at entry points into the town, creating a food & drink booklet and a new Green Spaces trail. COVID has made people more aware of the need for space and, here in Tavistock, we are blessed to have lots of green, open areas to enjoy. There is plenty happening in the town over the coming months. Starting off June will be our Platinum Jubilee celebrations – the Jubilee Gala Day on 2 June is set to be a wonderful day for all the family, followed by a town Jubilee Picnic in The Meadows on 5 June. Tavistock’s first ever Pride festival will be happening on 25 June and Tavistock Carnival is set to return on 16 July with the theme ‘We Are The World’. Along with the much-loved Steam & Vintage Fair on 5 June, street food festivals, guided walks from the Guildhall Gateway Centre, craft markets and a summer fair in Butchers’ Hall, it looks set to be a busy and vibrant few months in town. For more details on all the upcoming events visit www.visittavistock.co.uk/whats-on

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From Devon to Ukraine

On 23 March, seven West Devon residents set off with four vans and a trailer loaded with donations for the people of Ukraine - including medications, long-life food, personal hygiene products and supplies for babies. Princetown and Horrabridge residents, Zuzana Hlincikova, Neil Francis, Marcus Allen, Madison David, Jan Hayes, Richard Staniland and John Rogers travelled for 65 hours to complete the 2866-mile round trip to Lviv.

When war broke out in Ukraine, Zuzana was visiting her family in the Czech Republic and immediately wanted to do something to help the Ukranian people. She launched an appeal at Princetown Pre-school where she works, then other local residents got involved and the project snowballed into the idea of a convoy team taking the donations out to Poland. They made contact with Anna Vynnyk, the co-ordinator of Volonter Liga, a Lviv charity working to help Ukrainians affected by the war, and she sent lists of required items. Donations of supplies and money flooded in from local residents and businesses, and there were also a number of fundraising events such as a charity Zumba organised by Janine Hodge. Marcus’s partner Toni helped to organise fundraising and every day they came home more donations had been left outside their house. The journey to Ukraine was not without its challenges, as the group only got a few hours’ sleep on the way there and experienced difficulties at the border to Ukraine, until a Polish man intervened on their behalf. They then only had a few hours to reach Lviv, drop off the goods and get back to Poland before the curfew came into force. Their memories of Lviv are made up of sand bunkers, tank traps, young soldiers trying to keep warm and people attempting to get on with their lives as news filtered in of more bombings in cities where loved ones had stayed behind. The team crossed back into Poland shortly before the curfew, and when they checked into a hotel at 10pm they were overwhelmed with the welcome, as well as homemade soup and home-brewed beer. They even managed to find a mechanic to replace a brake pad on a Sunday! As long as they continue to receive sponsorship and donations, the group intends to keep transporting them to Ukraine. You can follow their progress at Facebook: UKkyi Bear. Devon to Ukraine, and find out what supplies are required or donate via the link to the crowdfunder at justgiving.com - Princetown#Devo n#Ukraine#NeedYourHelp. Drop-off points include Morrisons, Travis Perkins and Ron’s Pets in Tavistock, The Game Larder, Drake Vets and The Rock Inn in Yelverton, The Burrator Inn in Dousland, The White Thorn Inn in Shaugh Prior, The Prince of Wales in Princetown.

Join Mad Dog Mcrea & Tom Baker on Friday 17 June from 6:30pm in aid of the Ukraine appeal at Higher Bughill Farm, Shaugh Prior, PL7 5EW. Tickets on eventbrite.co.uk - 331684265567 or call 07387 152125.

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Help for Horrabridge hedgehogs

Damian Warne has lived in Horrabridge for about five years and like others he started to notice the amount of roadkill around the village, but especially on the A386 main road – including in particular, Britain’s favourite wild mammal, the hedgehog. A couple of years ago he started keeping a record of the number of deaths on the A386 - and discovered it was approximately 30 per year. The State of Britain’s Hedgehogs 2022 report revealed that rural hedgehogs have declined by between 30% – 75% since 2000, varying across different areas of the countryside. Damian talked to other locals about the problem and found most people were concerned about both the deaths, and also the general speed of travel along the A386, especially at night. However, no-one was sure what could be done to help the hedgehogs. West Devon Borough Council advised that it wasn’t possible to put signs on the roadside or on current street furniture, so Damian attended a few Horrabridge council meetings to gauge further opinion and came up with a plan to have signage made to stand on private land. Councillor Steve Roche and Horrabridge Parish Council were very helpful in getting the project off the ground, making a donation towards the costs involved in having signs produced by Colourbridge South West. After scouting out locations on private, but very prominent land, and discussing the situation with a number of homeowners, Damian managed to get agreement to place signs on their ground, near areas of the main road with the highest hedgehog accident rate. Once frames and posts have been made, the signs will be erected, helping hedgehogs in the breeding season, the most dangerous time for pregnant female hedgehogs crossing the road.

You can find more details about how to help hedgehogs in your garden at devonwildlifetrust.org/take-action/ garden-wildlife/help-hog

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