River Dart Rotary Weed Monkeys

‘The Weed Monkeys’ are affiliated to River Dart Rotary and were born in the summer of 2022 after some meetings of like minds between members of Rotary and their ‘Friends’.  These discussions focused on the steady decline in appearance of many areas of Dartmouth, caused primarily by overgrown, untreated weeds on pavements, kerbs, steps and other areas of the built environment.

Recognising that the situation was only likely to worsen in the short and probably medium terms, and concerned to do something immediately to improve the look of our beautiful town, a few intrepid volunteers picked up some tools and started weeding. Since then, both volunteer numbers and weeding sessions have steadily increased, enabling us to tackle more areas of the town.

However weeds, of course, keep growing and the challenge of keeping on top of them is enormous.  Regardless of politics, (The Weed Monkeys are apolitical) the effects of local authority cutbacks, rewilding trends and the non-acceptability of glyphosate weedkillers have all contributed to a situation that results in pavements and thoroughfares not being weeded for months or even years.

We understand that the beauty of Dartmouth is one of the main reasons why many of us chose to live here, but it’s also the reason why thousands of people choose to visit the town every year, bringing significant and vital income to our retail, hospitality and other businesses.  We believe that the current shabby state of the town jeopardises this tourism income in the immediate future.

The Weed Monkeys think that this town should and could look a lot better than it currently does. Not being political, although working wherever feasible with local authorities, we are making a start towards this objective.. by getting out there and weeding.

WHY THE NAME ‘WEED MONKEYS’?….AND WHAT WE DO

One of our volunteers coined the phrase soon after we had started and it just stuck.

For some reason it seems to work and people like it, so The Weed Monkeys are here to stay!

We concentrate on weeding and sweeping pedestrianised areas of the built environment in the highest visibility areas of the town.  This includes pavements, flights of steps and other pedestrianised areas e.g. the embankment. Where safe and logical, it might also include some roadside kerbs, but this is not the norm.

Currently,  we aim to carry out one 2 hour weeding session per week during the Spring, Summer and Autumn seasons, weather permitting.  No-one wants to weed in the rain!

We work on weekday mornings from 9-11 am, as there are fewer people around at that time, and on warmer days it’s a bit cooler.  Days vary according to weather forecast and team leader’s availability.

We weed and sweep the designated area, bag up the green waste and notify SHDC of the location of the bags for collection.

Weed Monkeys are all volunteers.  Most have joined after seeing us out and about doing what we do. We currently have over twenty volunteers and have plans to grow this number significantly.  Doing so will enable us to carry out increasingly more sessions.

Volunteers are not required to commit to a minimum number of sessions. They come along as and when they are able to do so.

We try to deal with areas that are most urgently in need of attention in the highest areas of visibility. We know that there are pressing needs in the top part of the town too and intend to address these as and when we are able. It is often difficult to prioritise where to go first, but we welcome requests, so please contact us if you have any. (see below)

Our volunteers are the backbone of our operations, and their dedication is matched by the generosity of our supporters. Together, we can ensure that Dartmouth remains a clean and welcoming place for everyone. Thank you for your continued support.

You don’t need to join Rotary to help us