A GROUP of volunteers had “a very successful weekend” as they carried out tree maintenance around Ilminster.

The Green Ilminster group was out near Eames Mill to make sure trees had the right space to grow, and to plant new ones.

A message shared by the group through their Facebook page read: “A very successful weekend for Green Ilminster.

“Saturday, we performed some tree maintenance near Eames Mill, making sure our young trees have the space to grow and planted a few more for good measure.

“A great time was also had at the jumble sale, many of your kindly donated items found new homes and new uses instead of ending up in a landfill.

“Sunday, we held our quarterly litter pick. Our volunteers took another load of rubbish off our streets and away from wildlife.

“The sun shone for us, making a nice Sunday walk a great side benefit.

“Keep your eyes peeled on our page for future events and volunteer opportunities.”

Information published on the group’s website read: “Green Ilminster started in Feb 2022 in Silver Street.

“We have a team of shop volunteers and repairers working to stop things going unnecessarily to landfill, offering a repair service for items such as vacuum cleaners, lamps, clothes, lawn mowers, musical boxes, irons, power tools, etc.

“We also accept items as donations to sell at the shop with the aim of becoming self-sustaining, and finally we are aiming to stock items for local people to borrow.

“We want to make the most of the emerging ‘circular economy’ to benefit us all.”

So far, the Tree Group has planted more than 3500 trees in and around Ilminster and given away many more with the help of local businesses.

The group’s litter picking activities usually take place every three months, involving volunteers of all ages clearing tons of rubbish from in and round town, which in turn helps reduce the amount of microplastics in the environment, washing into local water courses.