The Dartmouth Together event attracted nearly 200 people and showcased a range of community organisations and groups, all in one place.

More than 35 groups and organisations from across Dartmouth and the surrounding villages attended the Dartmouth Together Community event last weekend, alongside nearly 200 visitors.

Co-ordinator of Dartmouth Together, Nick Hindmarsh spoke to the exhibitors in the Flavel about Dartmouth Together’s hope for the day.

He thanked the many groups participating on the day and said: “Evidence across rural communities in the UK and overseas is that we thrive where we support ourselves - we know how Dartmouth has lost services, banks, garages, shops and our hospital.

“We cannot control some of those things, we can lobby but we cannot control them, however, how we support one another we can determine - we can ‘control the controllable’.

“To achieve this, we need to be better connected, both formally and informally and today is a significant step on this path.”

Dr James Mottram, a GP from Kingsbridge and the leader of South Hams Area Wellbeing spoke about the group’s journey. SHAW strives to deliver similar opportunities as Dartmouth Together, for people in Kingsbridge and the surrounding villages. It is about a year ahead of Dartmouth Together.

He said: “The critical part of making this work is the buy-in from the community and the new community connectors who are the glue that hold this together.

James’ comments were supported by Sandy Gilbert who works closely with Quayside Leisure Centre in Kingsbridge and is responsible for running many of the exercise classes which people can refer themselves or be referred to by medical professionals.

Craig Davidson, a governor at the local NHS Trust and a trustee at the Indoor Swimming Pool in Dartmouth spoke about the Swim4Health programme. This has been running in Dartmouth since September last year.

He said it was great to see Fusion at the event and added: “Essentially, active people have fewer physical and mental health issues; boosting activity improves both, while socialising is an important protector from anxiety and depression-and opportunities to make this easier for local people to access is what we are all about.”

Some informal feedback has been received since the event highlighting the success of the community event on Saturday, April 27.

The comments include: “Well done for today - very worthwhile I think, so much was gained from the organisations liaising with each other particularly those working with the physically and mentally handicapped.”