Fourteen volunteers from Keep Abergavenny Tidy braved the wet weather and helped to spruce up the town for the New Year in the monthly group litter pick.

They collected two bags of recyclables, six orange bags – and a dumped traffic cone – from the session covering Castle Meadows, Bailey Park, the Castle area, Merthyr Road, the central car parks and the streets leading to St John’s Square. Three new volunteers – Claire, Kerry and Kevin – were also welcomed to the group.

Helen Trevor Davies, KAT coordinator, praised the work of the volunteers, saying: “Although the group litter picks are held in Abergavenny there are KAT litter pickers in Llanfoist, Govilon, on the Blorenge up to Keepers Pond, Mardy and in Llanvetherine. There are also those of you who litter pick round the Hardwick roundabout and in the laybys off the A465.

“There is huge support to keep our town and the area around tidy and clear. We have over 70 supporters on our books.”

The next group litter pick will be on Tuesday, February 7 at 10am, meeting up as usual in St Johns Square. Litter picking kits are available to borrow. Please book with [email protected] and then collect from Abergavenny Community Centre. For updates, please contact the coordinator by email on [email protected].

Furhter to this, an appeal has gone out for volunteers in Abergavenny to take part in an initiative looking at new ways of reducing the amount of dumped rubbish despoiling the lovely town.

KAT is working with Monmouthshire County Council, Abergavenny Town Council and Gwent Police to create a litter policy. The initiative would involve pooling resources and planning effective interventions to reduce littering by creating a new anti-litter strategy and policy.

“The data would be a starting point to be able to assess what interventions might work,” said Helen, “guidance and support will be offered. If you are interested to learn more, please contact [email protected].”