Please note that the Widecombe website is currently not publishing the monthly extracts from the Parish Link because of non-availability of the copy in a machine-readable form. Hopefully we will be able to rectify this situation soon. What you see in the Parish Link pages from the Site Contents are therefore out-of-date. The page below has however been recently updated.

This page has some general information about the Link together with contact details for the Team Ministry.

• Team Ministry Details

• From the Editor

• Parish Link Sponsors

There is usually a Vicar resident in the Widecombe-in-the-Moor Vicarage but at the moment the temporary resident priest pending a permanent appointment is

Fr Graham Sawyer.

The Vicarage,

Widecombe-in-the-Moor,

Newton Abbot TQ13 7TF

Tel: 01364 621 334

From the Editor

The Parish Link aims to be a Church and Community magazine. Sponsorship, commercial advertising and individual donations ensure that the Link continues to be provided free of charge throughout the Moorland area. Sponsors who have supported the Parish Link are shown here.

Please mention The Parish Link to our Advertisers when you use them and that you saw them here first!!

Editor of the Parish Link and advertising
Mrs. Marion Kaye
4 Buckfast Close
Buckfast
TQ11 OEW
Tel: 01364 643330

Copy date for each new edition is usually in the second Saturday of the month.

The Parish Link thanks all sponsors for their valuable support of this Magazine. If you would like to become a sponsor, please ask the Editor for details. We are most grateful to the following that have sponsored The Parish Link since March 2005:

• Holne Social Group
• High Moorland Women’s Institute
• Mr. & Mrs. R. Hurt
• Princetown History Group
• Michael Cooke
• Mrs. P. Bell
• Rev. J. Brown
• Holne Fete Committee
• Morris Bros.
• Widecombe Parish Council
• J.Southcombe
• Mrs.M.Wigram
• Widecombe History Group
• Mike & Jenny Pascoe
• Leusdon Memorial Hall
• Leusdon Short Mat Bowling
• Widecombe & District Sports Group
• Friends of Widecombe School
• Dartmoor Forest Parish Council
• South West Films
• Widecombe Pre-School

Where did the name “Parish Link” come from? The Rev. John Brown tells us about the history of The Parish Link (its original title)

I arrived in Widecombe and Leusdon at Easter 1961, two parishes running very well but different in outlook. There was a gap and the idea of a news-sheet found favour, it was to be free to every household. It was typed on stencils and printed on a hand-driven duplicating machine. In due course Holne, Princetown, Huccaby and Postbridge were included and an electric duplicator was presented by Princetown...

The Parish Link has gathered strength and has become a necessity, I’m afraid I’m quite proud of it. After about 44 years it is a contribution by the church to parish life and it helps to binds the six churches together.

This is really interesting. Thank you Reverend and Mrs. Brown who have been so helpful in Supplying the answer to this question. Revered Brown tells us that when he arrived at Widecombe there wasn't even a news-sheet. Curiosity raises yet another question: - Was there ever a magazine or news - letter before the Brown family arrived in Widecombe?

The next person I asked was Mrs. Bessie French, who has lived in the locality all of her life. Mrs. French recalls, a period of a year or so when there was no publication from the church. Prior to this period there had a magazine called: - The Journal of St.Pancras and St. John the Baptist. Mrs. French also had a copy of the magazine, date April 1956, which she has kindly loaned to me, in order for me to share it with the readers of the Link. It makes fascinating reading and this month, you will see a reproduction of the cover. On page 28

This is History. All of the Link Parishes have their own history, Please tell the other readers about your Parish History. Thank you very much Mrs. French for valued contribution.

(Sheila)

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