This is what genuine community spirit looks like’: Torquay neighbourhoods praised

For the past decade, Hele, Watcombe and Barton have been “my patch” (as a community builder) - three neighbourhoods that have shown me, time and again, what genuine community spirit looks like.

These are places full of remarkable people, rich social and supportive connections, and green spaces everywhere.

What makes these neighbourhoods special are the people. It’s the everyday interactions, the familiar faces, the way residents look out for one another. It’s the tucked-away play areas in Watcombe, the churches and community centres that open their doors to groups, classes, celebrations and conversations. These are neighbourhoods that don’t just exist—they thrive.

One of my favourite gatherings is the Local History and Reminiscence Group at the Acorn Centre, meeting on the third Wednesday of each month. It’s a doorway into another era. People in their seventies, eighties and nineties share stories of a more rural Hele, Watcombe and Barton: playing in open fields, walking all the way to Newton Abbot at the age of ten to buy a chicken from the livestock market, watching wartime planes overhead, or remembering the farm and pond that once sat on the route from Barton to Watcombe Beach. They recall Hele as a bustling village with a lively shopping street - a reminder of how much the landscape has changed, and how much of its heart remains.

So what comes next for this unassuming but vibrant corner of Torquay?

Community Builders are here to listen. Your ideas, your hopes, your frustrations and your creativity all matter. The local Community Partnership offers a welcoming space to share new ideas and explore ways to make the area even better. And with the Pride of Place funding - £20 million over ten years dedicated to Torquay - there is real opportunity to bring ambitious, community-led projects to life.

Posters and notices will soon appear across the area with dates for upcoming meetings. Everyone is welcome. This is your community, your voice, your future. And if the past ten years have shown me anything, it’s that Hele, Watcombe and Barton are more than ready to shape that future together.