Keep Abergavenny Tidy (KAT)

Please tell us about your relaunch in 2019.

A small group of members decided to come together, as concerned about the growing problem of litter in Abergavenny and the surrounding areas.

KAT quickly set up a Facebook page and hosted a public meeting to gauge the interest in the wider community. Our hope was that some volunteers would step up to look after their own patch, their own street or a section of it, whilst others would help to clean up their favourite beauty spots.

Following this meeting, we hosted a community clean-up that was attended by more than 10 volunteers, and we haven’t stopped since!

Our monthly litter picks attract an average of 14 to 24 volunteers, depending on the time of year and weather conditions. We have also set up litter prevention projects and have nearly 900+ followers on Facebook.

What challenges have you faced since your relaunch?

Like so many community groups, we’ve been a little too reliant on one or two individuals in the past, which put the group in a precarious position!

We sought advice and support from our local Keep Wales Tidy Project Officer who helped us take a step back, review our priorities and change how we organised the group.

What changes have you made to ensure the smooth running and sustainability of the group?

Thanks to the support from Keep Wales Tidy, we’ve learnt what’s worked for other groups in Monmouthshire and further afield.

We’ve developed new roles that different people can do, such as a social media lead and membership secretary. We’ve also showed more group members how to leader litter picks and carry out safety briefings which now includes vapes. This also helps us adapt to any future changes to personnel.

With nearly 100 members, how do you communicate with your volunteers?

In the past, the responsibility for communicating with members largely fell to one person. To help ease this pressure, we have set up a new email account that can be accessed by several people. We’ve also found WhatsApp to be an incredibly useful tool that has reduced the need for internal emails.

Celebrating our accomplishments is always important in keeping up morale. Using the eCount Cymru recording system and viewing the accumulated statistics on the Community Impact Map, has really helped with this.

What support did you receive from the local community?

We’ve always maintained a strong relationship with the Town Council. We’ve also been supported by Monmouthshire County Council, particularly their Green Infrastructure and Litter Education and Awareness Officer, who regularly attends meetings, links to council resources and has worked with us on specific projects.

To find out more about Keep Abergavenny Tidy, follow them on Facebook.