Widecombe-in-the-Moor
Widecombe History Group Minutes

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A Meeting of The Widecombe & District
Local History Group was held at The Church House, Widecombe
on Wednesday 3rd August 2005 at 7.30 p.m.
Apologies:- Michael &
Andrea Veneables, Peter Rennells,
Mary Pascoe, Ruth Parnell, Arthur Johnstone, Rosemary
Mortimore, Sue Booty, Val Watson and Joyce Heath.
Mr Rodney Cruze was in the Chair and 37 people attended.
The Minutes of the July
Meeting were read and signed as correct.
Arising:-
Projects -
Lead: Production of the souvenir
paperweights has commenced. We are using a mold
kindly made by Mr John Hodges of Torquay and the result is very pleasing. Jim Churchward, John Kimber, Rodney Cruze
and Anthony Beard have made 50 so far and Mary Pascoe and Wendy Beard are
packaging them after firstly fixing a felt cushion to the underside and adding
a card which reads:-
‘Widecombe & District Local History Group have produced this souvenir paperweight from LEAD salvaged
from
They
will be sold at £5 each and the proceeds will be divided equally between Widecombe Parochial Church Council and the History Group. Orders being taken now.
Drop
Cloth: Peter Rennells
and Rodney Cruze have permanently fixed the Drop
Cloth used in the year 2000 to seal off the tower during renovation. It is now secure in the Church House.
Ponsworthy:
The collection of photographs and details of Ponsworthy
is continuing.
Widecombe Fair: Research into the history of Widecombe Fair is continuing well with more and more
material becoming available each week and plans are afoot to visit Spreyton, Sticklepath and the
surrounding areas soon. Mr. Fred Daw informed us that in the early 1920s Widecombe
Fair was held in Smooth Meadow (Smooth Moor) the site of the present
The
Heritage Marquee at Widecombe Fair on Tuesday
13th September 2005: Plans for the
staging in the Heritage Marquee are well in hand. Display boards will show the work done
so far in researching Widecombe Fair, Ponsworthy and North Hall. Also on display will be old photographs
relevant to the above, posters, catalogues and other memorabilia concerning the
parish, scrap books showing the activities of the Group, some prehistoric items
found within the parish and much more.
It is to be hoped that visitors to the exhibition will be able to
recognise people in the photographs and will be able to add more information to
that gathered so far. Peter Rennells, John Kimber and Rodney Cruze
intend to man the marquee for most of the day and many other members have
agreed to help at various times during the day, as follows:- Mike Jones, 10.30 a.m., Terry French
10.30/11.00 a.m. Pat Watson 11.30- 12.30 p.m., Roger and Ann Claxton 12.00 -
2.00 p.m., Richard Wells 2.00 p.m., Audrey Mortimore
2.30 p.m., Dawn Nosworthy 3.00 p.m. and
The
History Group will be selling copies of its Books “All Along Down Along Widecombe Way”
and “
The
marquee will be shared with Colin Pearse selling
copies of his book ‘The Whitefaced drift of
The
important thing is that any information offered on the day must be recorded and
the details from whom it is obtained and contact
addresses and telephone numbers must also be recorded so that information can
be followed up.
E-mails: August 05/01: Correspondence from P. Stroud requesting
details of the Fishing Feast.
Replied:
that in the Western Morning News of July 2005 in ‘pages from the past’
it reports that 75 years ago “the annual pilgrimage to Burrator for Ye Ancient Fyshinge Feaste to celebrate Sir Francis Drake’s great
achievement in bringing a water supply from Dartmoor to Plymouth nearly four
hundred years ago was observed on Saturday”.
July
05/01 From
Mary Sawtell passed to Ruth Parnell for her family to deal with. To date they
are still researching a reply.
Guided walks around Widecombe.
Peter
Rennells, Roger Whale and Anthony Beard recently lead
a group of 80 members of The Devon Women’s Farmers Union around the
village and the ladies made a generous donation to the group and also between
them bought 32 copies of our “All Along, Down Along Widecombe Way” books. We have since received from
Wimple History Society a copy of a Whiteways Cider
catalogue of 1934 depicting illustrations regarding Widecombe
Fair. We have sent them a donation to cover their expenses. We shall try and
organise a visit to Whimple to view their museum.
The Hartland Project
Roger
and Ann Claxton emphasised that for the Widecombe
History Group to undertake anything similar to the above would create a need to
get considerable financial grants and entail a massive amount of time and
dedication on the part of a small group of people. While it was agreed it would be a
wonderful achievement to record all documents etc. of Widecombe
on to C.D., it could not be entered into without a long term commitment by a
dedicated group of people. This
ideally should be reviewed from time to time.
Projection Screen
This
was used for the first time this evening and will remain in the Church House
for the use of any organisation hiring the Hall. A vote of thanks was recorded to Aileen
and Peter Carrett and their daughter Hilary for their
assistance in obtaining the screen.
A reply to Mrs. O’Kelly’s letter regarding War Memorials needs
attention.
Richard Wells is
continuing the mammoth task of recording the archives.
Local Notices: Saturday 13th August Widecombe
Social and Entertainment’s Group Summer Party for children at 12 noon in Widecombe Fair Field and from 7.30 p.m. for the whole
family, details from 01364 621294.
Aileen
and Peter Carrett have a Coffee Morning at their home
at Liverton at 10.30 a.m. on Thursday 4th August.
Aune Head
Arts have produced a CD of the bells of 32 churches of
The
SIX bell competition is for a cup given in memory of Bill Miners one time
captain of the Widecombe ringers.
Peter Hirst Memorial Walk: Richard
Wells and Mike Jones have organised this for Monday 29th August (Peter’s
birthday). Meet at Brimpts Farm at
5.30 for 6.00 p.m. for cream tea, £4 per head, to be followed by a walk
around Brimpts and a chance to see the water wheel that Peter and his
colleagues erected at Brimpts a few years ago. The Secretary understands that the Peter
Hirst Memorial Stone has not been engraved yet
P.H.
1931 - 2004 and
he will take this up with the
The Walk along the Moorland Erme, lead
by Mike Perriam on Saturday 9th July was a great
success. Mr. Rodney Cruze suggested that a walk from Ivybridge
to Cornwood, along the River Erme
is very worthwhile.
Dipleigh: The visit to Dipleigh was enjoyed by all those who attended and a vote
of thanks was recorded to Miss Sylvia Needham for her hospitality. Sylvia in turn thanked all those who had
contributed to making it such a success. Peter Rennells
and Peter & Aileen Carrett have given Sylvia a
few photographs taken that evening for her to keep.
It
was suggested by Peter and Dilys Harvey that similar
evenings could be arranged at other members homes and
they offered to arrange an evening at their home in the near future.
Freda Wilkinson expressed
sincere thanks to members for their ‘get well’ card after her
recent accident.
2006 Programme:
Ann
Claxton and Wendy Beard will soon be devising a programme of speakers and
outings. Any suggestions by members
would be appreciated.
Peter Carrett brought samples of his collection of bricks from local brick works.
Mention was made of several brickworks of
The next meeting is on Wednesday September 7th when the Speaker will be Helen Harris and her subject
will be “Devon Century of Change”.
The Speaker at the October Meeting on the 5th, will be Commander Charles Crichton and the subject is The History of
Devonport Dockyard. On Saturday 8th
October Ann Claxton has arranged a visit to the Dockyard, leaving Widecombe at 9.30 a.m. arriving home at 5.30 p.m. The cost is £13 which includes
morning coffee/tea. Cream teas can
be pre-booked at £2.50. Light
lunches are available in the cafe on the base, or you can take your own packed
lunch. Names and
money by the September meeting please. Ann will try to get this outing
mentioned in the September Parish Newsletter.
Roger and Ann Claxton showed the
meeting an entertaining video of our trip to Morwellham
(singing in the rain). They also
showed a display of photographs of views around the area and given to the Group
by Ben Knibbs, and, a series of photographs taken in
the 1970’s including Peter Hannaford cutting ‘Vags’,
and the old way of cooking with the ‘Vags’
and given to the Group by Freda Wilkinson.
A vote of thanks was recorded to them all.
The Meeting closed at 10.00 p.m.
The information on this page was last modified on March 18 2013 12:55:26.