THE Okement Rivers Improvement Group (ORIG) held their first monthly litter pick in two months on Saturday, January 28, meeting as usual in the back of the Waitrose car park at 10am.

Armed with litter pickers and sturdy black plastic sacks, their route took them along the river banks, leats and car parks in Okehampton. As there was no litter picking session on the last Saturday in December, this falling on New Year’s Eve, it meant that quite a bit of rubbish had accumulated.

Member Rob Flexman said: ‘We had a good turnout and it was cold but dry. They were all in great humour and we had a very successful clean up. We didn’t meet up on New Year’s Eve so there was a bit of a gap. When we went out last Saturday we needed to get rid of some of the muddy litter that had accumulated over the weeks.’

He added: ‘We had a couple of new members and we are always looking for more to join us.

‘Generally our remit is to look after the banks and the river but we do also go further afield.’

He paid tribute to stalwart members Bill and Olive Hennessey, who as the ORIG ‘senior team’ regularly patrol and pick litter in the Mill Street car park and were out collecting on the day. ‘Our senior team, average age 91.5, did their usual long haul route, amazing, thank you Bill and Olive!’

He also applauded the efforts of Jenny Denison Smith along with everyone else. ‘As you can see, they collected a big haul of rubbish – and were still smiling when they had finished!’

If you would like to help out with the litter picking and trimming back riverside trees and bushes ORIG will be meeting again on Saturday, January 25 at 10am by the recycling bins in Waitrose car park. Find out more on ORIG’s Facebook page or email [email protected]