SPRING came to Tavistock last weekend when judging of the town’s garlands took place for the annual Paint The Town event.

Local schools and community groups revealed their creations in shop windows around the town centre. Organised by the Tavistock Improvement District (BID), the event is designed to bring spring colour, joy and a sense of optimism to traders and shoppers alike.

Town mayor Cllr Paul Ward said: ‘The mayoress and I had a wonderful time judging the fabulous garlands prepared by local children and displayed in the windows of some of our shops and businesses. It was also a great pleasure to meet some of the children before we started judging. The standard this year was very high which made it very difficult to choose the winners. It was obvious that the children had spent a lot of time preparing their garlands and we would have liked to have awarded prizes to them all. Three garlands particularly stood out for us with one receiving the Mayor’s Special Award this year. I would like to thank all the children and community groups that took part in this event. They did a great job!’

BID manager Janna Sanders said: ‘Paint The Town this year has seen some wonderful creations by all our participants and the town is looking cheerful and feeling positive. We are so grateful to all those who took part and thank them for their contribution to the business community.’

In the Schools Category, Joint First Prize was won by Whitchurch Community Primary School, for the Allan Dolan window and Horrabridge Primary School who created the window at Flapjackery. Runners-up in the schools category were St Peter’s CofE Primary School, at Roots & Vines. Meanwhile, the Mayor’s Special Award went to Tavistock Primary School for the spectacular duck montage at Hansford Bell. Also highly commended were Mary Tavy & Brentor Primary School, St Rumon’s CofE Primary School and Mount Kelly Prep.
In the separate community category, first place went to 3rd Tavistock Brownies for the display at Coffee & Cream, second place to 1st Tavistock Rainbows at Dot-Teas and third place to 4th Tavistock Guides.