EVERY day, Tony Weafer is at his desk by 9am at the latest.

After updating his community pages, he sets out and walks the streets of Shirley, Southampton, to find stories to share with his growing number of followers.

Sometimes it's a good news story about a new restaurant opening or a review of a local business. Often it's photos of flytipping hot spots.

Then, Tony sets about doing something about it.

Tony, 65, who lives in Shirley is retired and registered disabled due to peripheral neuropathy in both feet, but every day, he is hard at work, trying to make Shirley a better place to live in and visit.

And he's succeeding.

His Facebook page, Shirley and Freemantle Watch, has already gained more than 1,300 followers since he set it up in November.

And he already counts a number of successes.

These include having rubbish cleared, getting a late night venue to lock its back door, so that a woman and her children are no longer being frightened by revellers knocking on their door after dark and he is currently putting pressure on a letting agency to mend an old woman's garden gate, where there has been a problem with drunks fighting in her garden.

He has also taken direct action. He and a group of friends tidied up an alleyway near a pre-school, and he also spent his own money to have rubbish cleared from private land, having grown frustrated with trying to get those responsible to take action.

While many of us may grumble about things in our community that we don't like, Tony gets out there every day and does something about it.

He is motivated by a desire to give something to his community, partly as a way of repaying it for the support he has received over the years.

Tony, who has two grown-up daughters,describes his varied career, including working in medical supplies in Southampton, promoting businesses in Africa, importing grain in Cyprus and selling Persian carpets in America.

But his most recent job was at the Society of St James in Southampton, which provides accommodation, care and support to homeless and vulnerable people, as a night manager.

Unfortunately, the stress of work got to him, and Tony turned to drink.

"I lost the plot," says Tony, who describes himself as an alcoholic, who has been dry for ten years.

"One day I was found collapsed in my home. I was taken to hospital and was there for two months, before moving into a MIND home for a month.

"The community mental health team were really good and helped me find a new flat, because the old one had too many difficult memories.

"My landlord thought it would be good for me to get out and invited me to come to his offices once a week. There, I started chatting to a Polish girl, which helped a lot with my recovery.

"Once I was better, I decided I wanted to give something back to the Polish community."

Tony started by volunteering for SOS Polonia, which offers guidance and support to migrant workers.

But, he says, he soon realised that he could help the community just as effectively on his own so, with the help of a friend who is an IT whizz, set up Lighthouse, offering free help and advice to all Eastern European people living in the UK.

He helped people with problems with their landlords, finding schools, completing forms and much more.

Following the referendum to leave the EU, Tony says that many of his clients no longer felt they had a future in the UK and left, while others no longer needed help, and he began to find himself at a loose end.

So he decided to focus on helping the community outside his front door, and set up Shirley and Freemantle Watch, launching the Facebook page with posters in local shops and leaflets.

"During my recovery, something else that helped me was going for a walk up Shirley High Street most days," he says.

"I used to go in all the charity shops, because the people were always friendly and would take the time to have a chat.

"So focusing on helping Shirley was another way of giving back."

He had anticipated helping people with similar issues to the ones he'd assisted in with Lighthouse, but found that while members of the Polish community were very happy to turn to him for support, the wider local community didn't feel the same.

"I found English people didn't want to come to my home to talk about their problems, although that's been beginning to take off more in the last few weeks, but they are happy to raise issues via the Facebook page.

"And because of the size of the Facebook page, which now has 1,300 followers, and because I take photos of things, like dumped rubbish or broken fences, then I can get things done."

Tony has, with his friends, rolled his sleeves up and cleared areas of rubbish himself, and also forked out £400 of his own money to clear rubbish from two sites, where it had been dumped on private land.

And he has put pressure on private landlords, businesses and the council to take action to clear rubbish, fix broken gates, and generally make Shirley a nicer place to live in and visit.

He also uses his pages to promote local businesses, celebrating the good in the area, as well as trying to change the bad.

He leaves his front door armed with his camera and notepad every morning, with the aim of finding four things to write about each day.

His posts generally receive very positive responses, from people wanting to know more about a new shop or restaurant, to giving feedback on a problem.

He counts among his successes highlighting issues with fly tipping at Cannon Street recycling centre, which the council now clears on a weekly basis and a private landlord placing a locked coded gate in front of their bin area, to stop it being used for fly tipping.

Tony explains that people often let him know about issues which he then investigates himself, for instance establishing who the landlord is, contacting the letting agent, making them aware of the issue and encouraging them to take action. He celebrates his victories and highlights ongoing problems with photos and commentary on his page.

"I don't want to be seen as being dictatorial , but sometimes you have to be firm," he says.

"I go and knock on people's doors and let them know that there's an issue, and people mostly respond well. I'm an old bloke, and I;m able to explain myself well. I explain what the problem is and how it's affecting others, and most people want to assist.

"Some don't and then I take it up with the landlord."

Tony says that the group has taken off much more quickly than he expected.

"I didn't expect it to be the kind of issues that I've been dealing with, and neither did I expect to like it so much," he says.

"People are really nice, if you take the time to talk to them properly.

"I've learnt that if you're organised, know the system and are communicative, then one person can get things done, and I'm not shy!

"The council only has limited resources but if the will is there, people can make a difference.

"I've always wanted to give more than I take from the world.

"When you believe that you can get things done and you have the tools, you can make it happen."