The Royal Terrace Gardens (known as the Rock Wall) in Torquay

Ian Williams, Torbay Council’s Rock Wall Project Manager, updated us on the restoration of these historic Victorian Gardens. We learnt how stunningly beautiful they will be and how they will literally light up the cliff face.  Sadly, however, there will be no access for wheelchair users.

The Royal Terraced Gardens were built in 1893 to provide a beautiful area to stroll whilst enjoying the health giving sea air and sunshine of Torbay surrounded by strange new sub tropical plants from around the world.

But by 2007 the limestone rocks of the cliff had become weathered and unstable, the plants and trees had over grown and vandals had damaged the bridges, which meant the Gardens had to be closed.

During 2008 300 tons of rock, trees and vegetation were removed and a geological survey revealed the full extent of the restoration work that was required to return them to their former glory.

A specialist team of engineers have secured the cliff face with long bolts drilled into the rock and netting. New pathways and viewing areas are being built amongst suitable plants for the location. Local artists have been involved using the local stone to form walls and natural sculptures to good effect. At night the steps and tall columns will be illuminated with low energy lighting to produce a fine display across Torbay.

But the group were dismayed when they learnt that there would be no access for wheelchair users to enjoy this public feature. We accept that the gardens are built on a steep cliff and access would be restricted but is there truly nowhere that wheelchair users could view the gardens and the bay from this point?

The Gardens will be safe this time as they will be patrolled by the police and security staff.

Charcoal Sketching with Marta Killey

Marta Killey Joined us this morning to demonstrate how to use charcoal to create our own interpretations of artwork.

She demonstrated how using the charcoal in different ways creates a variety of effects. The group all experimented with thick and thin charcoal sticks to produce individual works. Everyone was encouraged to show their designs and exchange creative techniques.

 

We all completed portraits of the person opposite us and many were very good likenesses of the subject. We viewed the completed pictures and tried to identify correctly the members of the group.  Later we progressed onto drawing still life from memory by creating a picture that included as the focal point a tree.

Various designs of trees were made from bushy leaf laden trees to more wintery effect branches with little foliage.  Many people included animals and landscape features from rolling hills to calm country scenery.

In all we had a very entertaining morning developing our skills. It would have been interesting to have seen some of Marta’s art work to give us inspiration and show what an experienced artist can do.

Click here to see photos of  our works of art!!

Working with Numbers can be Fun!

Inspirational teachers, like Marie Hubbard, make learning fun and very enjoyable.

Marie is the numeracy teacher at Brixham’s Adult and Community Learning Centre and an hour with her, working with numbers, was great fun.  We first considered how much our lives depend on a good understanding of numeracy. Then we constructed a bingo score card, writing and recognising numbers and played a game for prizes.  A game of ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire?’ really tested our grasp of this subject and left us asking for more.

Paul Labistour: Brixham’s Harbour Master

Paul is responsible for the safe, efficient management of Brixham Harbour. “It is very much like my role as a ship’s captain” he said, when he came to give us an insight into the workings of this busy port.

The photograph was taken after Paul had received his bottle of wine as a thankyou present from the group.

Paul is a Yorkshire man who spent 15 years at sea on a wide variety of merchant vessels. He came ashore in 1998 to become Brixham’s harbour master as an employee of Torbay Council.

As a sea captain he was responsible for the safe and efficient management of his ship, his crew and for the collection, safe keeping and delivery of his cargo any where the world’s seas. Now he has similar responsibilities, but for a fixed location, within the legislation that governs harbours of the UK.

Before he arrived to talk to us today he described how he had been dealing with a situation where a boat had been forfeited and then dismantled in the harbour because the owner was unable to pay his bills or keep his boat sea worthy. The metal work had been stripped out and they had just completed the difficult task of craning the wooden hull on shore to be dealt with. Enforcement of the many rules and regulations is an important part of his role.

He regulates the safe passage of boats in and out of the harbour and their safe anchorage.

The harbour provides the facilities to land and sell by auction fish, crabs, lobsters and shell fish. In Brixham the annual value of the fish landed is in the region of £20 million, which places it in the top five harbours in the country. The fishing fleet provides 50% of the harbour’s income and 70% of the catch is exported. The landing facilities and the fish market are presently being regenerated with the assistance of objective 2 European funding.  It will provide new offices to support the fishing fleet, a new harbour office with an access lift, modern hygienic facilities to land and auction the fish with processing facilities, a fish mongers and a training restaurant.

The harbour also provides Channel pilots as far as Holland and transport and security services for the ships anchored in the bay.

Paul related the events of the huge easterly gale in January 1866 that killed100 people and wrecked many boats. So aghast where the people of Exeter that they raised the money to finance a life boat in Brixham and the Torbay Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) continues that service today. The present Victoria breakwater was built to guard against such easterly storms and a Northerly arm that would completely enclose the harbour continues to be discussed.

He also spoke about the types of fishing boats that operate from the bay and the types of fish stock caught.

We ended our discussions talking about pirates: old and new.

Click here to see more photos of Brixham Harbour

Anne Frank and Oskar Schindler

Richard Bass, as a coach courier, has visited the sites relevant to Anne Frank, Oskar Schindler and the holocaust. We must never forget the information he related to us.

The Frank family of Otto and Edith, with daughters Margot and Anne were German Jews living in Frankfurt in 1933 when Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party came to power in Germany and the rights of Jews started to be restricted. As a result, in May 1940, they moved to Amsterdam in Holland where Otto, who was a decorated German officer in World War 1, started a business extracting pectin from fruit, some of which he supplied to the German army.

 In 1942 the Nazis decided that the Jews and others would form a labour force and would be detained in concentration camps under the control of the SS. The SS consisted of two sections: one of highly professional German soldiers and the other of prisoners of war given the alternative of prison or join the SS. It was this second group, which often included criminals, who managed the concentration camps. A model concentration camp was built in Berlin to train the guards, which included shooting people when practising for escapees. These concentration or labour camps were situated in industrial areas and extermination was not initially intended. But as the war progressed, the prison population grew and only those fit for work were detained and the others  sent to the gas chambers. They believed they were going for a shower but the ‘shower heads’ sprayed deadly cyanide not cleansing water.

In July 1942, when Margot received a letter requiring her to report for transportation to a labour camp that the Frank and val Pel families decided to go into hiding in an annex above Otto’s factory.

The entrance was hidden behind a bookcase and they had to be especially quiet whilst the factory workers where present down stairs. Otto left false evidence in their home suggesting that they had escaped to Switzerland. On Anne’s 13^th birthday, 12 June 1942, she received a red and white autograph book that she had pointed out to her father days before in which she recorded their life in hiding. The diary survived the war and Otto had it published.

Sadly, on 4 August 1944, the families were betrayed and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, where they all became slave labour, including Anne as she had just passed her 15^th birthday.

When the Russian forces however were closing in on Germany the inmates where marched to Bergen Belsen, which was not an extermination camp, but one to house rich Jews to be used to bargain for German prisoners. But with the over whelming numbers of prisoners arriving from Poland the camp was unable to cope and neglect and disease, mainly Typhus, resulted in unbelievable living conditions and multiple deaths.

Margot and Anne Frank died in March 1995 one month before the camp was liberated. Edith was left in Auschwitz, where she presumably died, only Otto survived. Josef Kramer the camp commandant took the blame and was soon hung by the British.

Oskar Schindler was a catholic German business man with factories in Poland making enamel ware and munitions. He befriended Nazi officials to obtain a Jewish work force that he protected by bribing the inspectors and was able to rescued 1200 Jews. He was honoured by Israel and buried in Jerusalem in 1974.

Rose Coleman, our President, thanked Richard for an enlightening talk on a sad time in our history that we must never forget and it must never be allowed to happen again. 

Visit to the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust (WWT) at Slimbridge, Gloucestershire.

 

ACE members are very grateful to the Torbay Disabled Fellowship for their generous donation that enabled us to enjoy a long awaited visit to the Slimbridge WWT. We felt privileged to share a lovely afternoon, together as a group, close to this beautiful array of wildfowl from across the world.

 

We walked in the footsteps of Sir Peter Scott, who the founded the WWT. As a young man he established himself as a leading wildlife artist and his scientific interest developed in parallel. He recognised, at an early stage, the threat that human activity posed to the environment and he foresaw that conservation of wildlife depends on safeguarding habitats and, crucially, on involving and inspiring people. He set up the wetland centres to provide a sanctuary where people can get close to wildlife to enjoy and learn about them. In 1973 he became the first person to be knighted for his services to conservation and his legacy continues to break new ground. Sir Peter’s home at Slimbridge, the first wetland centre, became famous for the TV Programme ‘Look’ where the wildfowl was filmed from his front room.

Our journey to Slimbridge started early and took us through some heavy rain in Somerset, but once in Gloucestershire it turned dry and over cast. On our arrival we received our prearranged wheelchairs and scooters and enjoyed a delicious lunch in the restaurant. Then it was time to explore the intricate pattern of ponds and streams served by disabled friendly pathways amongst the trees.

The waters were home to fine collections of beautiful wildfowl from all parts of the world in a multitude of different settings. The natural variations of shapes, colours and behaviours of the birds is fascinating and we spent hours just watching close up as Sir Peter planned.

It was a very relaxing, enjoyable day in a bird lover’s sanctuary. 

Click here to see more Slimbridge photos  

The Original Brixham Ghost Walk

‘Deadly David’, our guest speaker, is, as we soon discovered, a persuasive, purveyor of ghoulish tales that enthralled us all, even our resident sceptics. Dressed in a long black coat and tall top hat he described the walks through the narrow, ancient streets of Brixham and thrilled us with mysterious, unexplained tales that triggers your powers of reasoning and wonderment. Please follow your curiosity and read more.

Brixham Ghost Walks

David, accompanied by his cronies Madam Noir and Treacherous Tracey, leads regular walks of 90 minutes throughout the year especially at Halloween. They meet beside the statue of Prince William as the sun goes down and together they wander the streets of Brixham’s historic fishing port; stopping only to listen to tales of mysterious voices and unexplained goings on, both good and evil.

During his ACE visit, Deadly David must have brought some help with him, for in the middle of an enthralling tale some mugs unexpectedly fell over causing some frightened screams.

We were sorry we only had an hour for this talk, but are glad that in the future we will be able to join a regular walk, where wheelchair users are catered for.

Visit to Berry Head

Visit Berry Head and witness the regeneration of Brixham’s National Nature Reserve, thanks to a £1.8 million Heritage Lottery Grant and the Sea Change match funding. Enjoy the hospitality of the new cafe, whilst enjoying fine views of the sea from inside the glass or from the terrace. The cafe fits neatly behind the original Guard House of 1804 that now houses a very modern visitors’ centre. It tells the history of Berry Head from 400 million years ago through its violent, geological upheavals to the more tranquil present day. It is home of endangered plants, rare Horseshoe bats and the largest colony of Guillemots on the south coast.

Where once large guns were positioned to repel French and German invasions this headland is the place to watch the graceful movements of surfing Harbour Porpoises, gilding Fulmars and diving Gannets.

Berry Head, with its forts and quarries of yester year, is now in 2010 a beautiful place for families to stroll, fish, learn of our past or just relax close to nature.

Berry Head’s new visitor’s centre and cafe was opened on 19 March 2010 by Nick Bye, Torbay’s Elected Mayor. The regeneration of Brixham’s National Nature Reserve has been made possible after 5 years of hard work to secure a £1.8 million Heritage Lottery Grant and match funding of £200,000 from Sea Change. The funding will ensure the preservation of the site for its long term future.

We were welcomed by Ranger Chris Smallbone with refreshments in the cafe and an introductory talk high lighting the new audiovisual facilities in the visitors’ centre, the conservation of the historic buildings and the management of the site’s ecology.

The newly built cafe fits neatly behind the original guard house of 1804 and provides beautiful views of the ever changing sky, the rugged coast line and the English Channel in all its moods. They are surrounded by the defensive walls of the Northern Fort built with a smaller Southern Fort, to protect the fleet and repel the expected French invasion during the war of 1793 to 1815. Fortunately the guns were never needed.

The limestone peninsular that forms Berry Head today was formed 400million years ago in warm tropical seas just south of the equator during the Devonian Period. Then, after a life time of enormous geological movements and collisions of the tectonic plates, it settled at the southern edge of Torbay 200’ or 60m above the sea. Now the peaceful, carefully managed limestone grass lands provide homes for rare plants and a host of invertebrates.

The cliff ledges are home to the largest colony of Guillemots on the south coast, 1250 at the last daily count, which they share with shags and kittiwakes. Such numbers of successfully breeding birds are indicators of a good, stable food source and a healthy sea state.

Housed in cliff caves are a breeding population of Greater Horseshoe bats that depend on the local insect population, especially beetles from the dung of Rudy Red cattle that graze on headland pastures. Soon the whole site will be grazed by cattle, goats and Soay sheep to manage the grass and invasive scrub in a natural, low maintenance

Sports Day

Today was very different. Instead of sitting and listening to a visiting speaker our care workers, Sharon, Chrissie and Sally organised and led a really fun morning of exercises to music and well known songs. There was lots of laughter as we gamely battled with some of the exercises and Ian’s dog thought the throwing of bean bags was just for him. We finished with a well contested game of skittles.

Click here to to see sports day photos

A Journey to Antarctica

Tim Adams and his wife Sally visited ACE with a fascinating tale about the centenary expedition undertaken by three enthusiasts, including their son Henry, to commemorate Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition to Antarctica.

 

 

The British Antarctic Expeditions in the early part of the 20^th Century were named after their leaders and their boats:

1901 - 1904	Robert Falcon Scott	Discovery
1907 - 1909	Ernest Shackleton	Nimrod
1910 - 1913	Robert Falcon Scott	Terra Nova
1914 - 1917	Ernest Shackleton	Endurance

 

Shackleton accompanied Scott on his first expedition and then raised his own expedition to reach the South Pole, which he and a team of three nearly managed on 9^th January 1909. Of this 900 mile journey they fell short by 97 miles; forced to turn back due to extreme exhaustion and lack of food. The fact that they accomplished the return journey is quite amazing.

The Centenary team consisting of Henry Worsley, Will Gow and Henry Adams were motivated to celebrate this heroic journey by reaching this same point 100 years later for these reasons: Henry Worsley is a former member of the Special Air Services (SAS) and a great admirer of Shackleton, Will Gow is related to Shackleton’s wife’s family and Henry Adams is the great grandson of Jameson Adams one of the original team members, who had a mountain named after him.

The Nimrod expedition travelled via Cape Town, South Africa to New Zealand before being towed to Antarctica, in atrocious weather, to save coal. They built their cabin at Cape Royds in McMurdo Sound, 24 miles from Scott’s Hut Point, where they over wintered. They were later the first to climb the nearby Mount Erebus, 3794m/ 12448ft which is an active volcano and part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. They used ponies to pull their sledges, not dogs, but, although they all died during the journey, they provided invaluable food for the journey home.

The Centenary Expedition flew first to Punta Aranos in Chile situated at the southern tip of South America and then by 2 smaller planes to Shackleton’s hut, where they started their journey on 14^th November 2008. Each member pulled a sledge or pulk with their shared equipment reduced to a minimum, but it did include a generator and satellite phone for frequent reports home. They had prepared for three years raising £200,000 and training in Norway, Greenland, Canada and the UK.

The first 300 miles was across the Ross Ice Shelf, which is completely flat, totally monotonous and the salty nature of the snow makes pulling the pulks even more difficult. From the ice shelf the route is up the Beardsmore Glacier, named after Shackleton’s main sponsor through a ring of mountains. Here the welcoming snow hides rock hard blue ice and deep, menacing, treacherous crevasses.

We were treated to the few photographs of the original expedition and many modern images. We heard diary extracts of the living and travelling conditions, the beauty and the savagery of the terrain and the environment, the personal emotions and the constant struggle to survive and achieve the goals.

They arrived at the 97 mile point, at 10,000ft to the day and then continued to the South Pole in very poor health. From there they flew home reflecting on their achievements and those of the original team, who managed the long return journey home. Shackleton must have been a truly remarkable leader of remarkable men and I’m sure the Centenary team are proud of their achievements in this recognition.

Primrose Wood; “What it’s like to be on Master Mind”.

Primrose, a retired Chartered Physiotherapist, who worked at Steppes Cross School for special needs children in Torquay, is now an ACE volunteer in our swimming class and Summer Activities. In addition to her valued work as a volunteer, we recently discovered another of her passions - entering quiz shows.

Her first entry was ‘Sale of the Century’ some 25 years ago, recorded in Norwich and hosted by Nicolas Parsons. She won the show and received a clock radio, a black and white television, a large blue teddy bear, that she gave to her nieces and a silver salver and 6 goblets worth at that time at £700.

She then joined Torbay Hospital’s quiz team for an inter-hospital competition that was recorded in Manchester with Jimmy Saville. The team came second in the final winning the hospital some stereo equipment.

In 1984, after watching Master Mind, she decided to answer the programme’s invitation to join the show and to her surprise, I can’t think why, she received an invitation to attend an audition in Exeter. Two groups of four were auditioned, which required each candidate to make the haunting walk to the famous Black Chair and answer twenty general knowledge questions from Magnus Magnusson. They then had to name their two chosen specialist subjects, which for Primrose had were the works of Dorothy L Sayers, the author of Lord Peter Wimsey and the life of Sir Francis Drake.

The show was later recorded in Cardiff University and, having had the nerve racking experience of being the fourth and last contestant, she delighted to win with 31 points. She explained that the candidates sit in a tunnel of light facing the question master without the benefit of seeing the clock click by.

Then, having been sworn to secrecy, she had the difficult task of waiting until it was screened six weeks later on a Sunday evening. The school children were very excited the next day and she had the pleasant surprise of receiving congratulations from her family, friends, some of whom she had lost contact with, the school staff, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, her local MP and many other well wishes.

The second round was held in Norwich and unfortunately she came second. Later she was invited with other contestants to the final staged on HMS Hermes in Portsmouth. Her claim to fame however is the winner was the person who came second to her in the first round.

5 years later she had a second Master Mind attempt hosted by John Humphries at Manchester. She chose British Mammals as her specialist subject but was beaten by a postman on Essex Cricket.

She thoroughly enjoyed her experiences and believes that they have made a naturally shy person more confidence including speaking publically about herself.

She congratulated the ACE members on being such a good audience and enjoyed their involvement.

John ‘Babbacombe’ Lee – ‘The Man They Could Not Hang’

Mike Holgate our guest speaker had a delightfully refreshing style of presentation. He sang and related the eerie tale of John Lee, who became infamous as the Babbacombe murder that they could not hang.

John Lee was born on 15^th August 1864 in Abbotskerswell . On leaving school he joined the Royal Navy but was invalided out after three years. He then had a number of jobs before becoming the butler to Emma Keyse in Glen House situated beside Babbacombe beach.

On 15^th November 1884 Emma’s body was found brutally murdered and set on fire on the beach outside her home. John Lee was later found guilty of this crime by a jury at Exeter on circumstantial evidence and sentenced to hang, although he always professed his innocence.

He stood on the scaffold three times with the rope around his neck and on each occasion the trap door failed to open. But when he stood off it, the trap door worked perfectly. After 35 minutes and three failed attempts to hang him he was returned to his cell and his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He was released after 23 years in 1907 when he sold his story to the newspapers.

Some say that it was God who intervened to save an innocent man. Whilst others say that it was the devil after his mother visited the prison grave yard at the witching hour and recited the Lord’s Prayer backwards. Lee tried to blame his half sister, who was a cook at The Glen. He claimed she was covering up for her lover who had visited her on the night of the murder. It was investigated by the police but not proven. It is also said the prisoners sabotaged the scaffold so that the trap door bent under his weight and jammed.

After his released he emigrated and was never traced until his grave was found in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, where he had died in 1945.

Mike’s style of folk singing was a novel way to tell this strange tale of the man who cheated the hang man and lived for 80 years.

He is the author of ‘The Secret of the Babbacombe Murder’ (1995) and the co-author of ‘The Man They Could Not Hang’ with Ian Waugh (2005) both of which can be found in local libraries.

The EST Centre at Ivybridge

Bob Venn, the principal of the Centre gave us a most interesting talk on how it provides donkey riding therapy to children with special needs and disabilities.

Dr Elizabeth Svendsen, having created the Donkey Sanctuary at Sidmouth, combined donkeys with her other great love - children. From there it developed into The Elizabeth Svendsen Trust (EST) with centres in Sidmouth, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Ivybridge.

Each Centre, with both covered and open air riding areas, aims to assist the children to development their balance, confidence, co-ordination, mobility and speech. The children love the donkeys and have great pleasure touching, stroking, grooming and riding them. There is also a sensory room and sensory toys to maximise the pleasure of their visits.

Children must be 7 stone or less and not too tall to ride the donkeys. For those who cannot, for whatever reason, there are specially designed carts available.

School parties attend during term time and families in the holidays and Saturdays.

They very much enjoy dressing up on theme days, Christmas and for birthday parties.

There is no charge for these activities and the Trust raises funds in numerous ways, including ‘adopt a donkey’.

There is also an Outreach Therapy programme, when a small team of staff and donkeys visit adults in nursing homes, residential homes, and hospices, including visits to people in their own rooms if required.

The DVD of the Centres showed how well equipped they are and how much pleasure the children clearly get from being with the donkeys, staff and volunteers.

At the end of the talk the ACE group raised £45.

LINKS (Local Involvement Networks)

Pat Harris and May Harland visited ACE to explain the function of the Torbay LINks.

In 2008 the Government introduced LINks nationally so that people could have a voice in the performance of their local health and social care service.

The Torbay LINks is a network of local people and groups who record the views of local people and pass them to the council and the National Health Service (NHS), who are legally required to respond within 20 days.

Pat explained her role as a development officer and May’s as a volunteer. We discussed such topics as expenditure, surgery opening hours and Doctors’ out of hours service, local hospital services and direct payments. We were then encouraged to write down any other issues of concern regarding our local health and social care service as time did not allow for everyone to be heard and discussed.

Examples of what our LINks is currently working on are car parks, NHS dentistry provision and Podiatry.

We were give leaflets informing us on how we could become involved and the local contact number: 01803 295277.

We all felt LINks is a very positive step in obtaining a good health and social care service and we appreciate the visit.

ACE Christmas Party at Brixham Community College 2009

We all gathered for our annual party to celebrate the end of term and the coming of Christmas. Some wore seasonal headgear others tinsel and flashing badges, all full of joy ready to join together to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

Sharing, caring and giving; laughing, singing, chatting; everyone anticipating a really enjoyable final meeting and special lunch in the bungalow. With lots of surprises, gifts and a promised performance from the children of Brixham Church of England Primary School everyone was primed for an eventful time.

Our first event of the day emerged into the hall giggling, chatting and smiling as the children and their dedicated staff took their place at the top of the room. ACE members were treated to traditional and modern songs with live music from the children. We were encouraged to join in with familiar tunes bringing back happy memories of our own childhood days. Time flew by far too quickly and every face in the room was aglow with happiness and wonderment at the performance by these talented children and the gift of joy they brought to everyone that afternoon.

Our second treat was the traditional Christmas lunch with all the trimmings and wine or fruit juice to enhance the excellent food. It was worthy of any restaurant table prepared by a top class chef. Serviced with a smile, but for the occasional groan at the cracker jokes, released from rolled up hats, by our dedicated carers and volunteers who make everyone feel special within our family group. We also had a visit from a very jolly Santa distributing sweets to all the good ‘boys’ and ‘girls’. [Hopefully *Santa will make a guest appearance next year as s/he will be greatly missed each day as her alter-ego based in the office smiling a welcome to every visitor.] Finally the two cooks from the College, who prepared this tasty lunch and lunches throughout the school term, came in to wish us festive greetings and received our hearty thanks with gifts presented by Maggie.

We drew a close to the day with a raffle of varied gifts ranging from local shop vouchers, toiletries, chocolates and the obligatory cuddly toy.

 

*Janet retired at the end of Term.

Steps

Paul and Sophie gave us a very interesting talk on the work of the Torbay charity Steps, which was formed 18 years ago to provide a free loan service of adapted toys for disabled children within the UK.

They purchase battery operated toys, which they fit with additional electronic switches to enable disabled children to enjoy the developmental benefits and the magic of play.

They also provide work based experiences for marginalised adults.

Steps can be reached by phone: 01803 214124

email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Membership is free.

Investments by Roger Philps

Roger opened our eyes to the workings of the Stock Markets.

He was employed by the Midlands Bank for twenty three years; now he is a self employed taxi driver, who in his spare time successfully buys and sells shares on the London Stock Exchange to enhance his pension.

He started this seemingly dry subject, so he said, with a joke that was well received by his mainly mature, female audience.

Roger explained the meaning of shares and the process of buying and selling them using his own portfolio on a Google spread sheet. He explained the terminology used and how money can be earned and also how it can be lost.

We thanked him for a very interesting talk, which I think we are all happy to leave to the experts.

Kents Cavern with Alan Salisbury

The ACE Thursday Group is a really exciting, interesting place to be. Two weeks ago we were sailing in the Ionian Sea, last week we were enjoying a French Breakfast and today we are exploring the prehistoric Kents Cavern with head guide Alan Salisbury.

Kents Cavern is located within Hopes Nose, a limestone headland of Torbay, which, like its sister Berry Head, was formed 450 million years ago from the remains of marine creatures in warm tropical seas, south of the equator. With time and the movement of the tectonic plates Britain moved northwards to its present position and became subject to the effects of the ice ages and fluctuations in sea levels. Large mammals and early man were now able to cross from mainland Europe, where they were able to find shelter and security in Kents Cavern that had taken 385 million years to form.

Today, Kents Cavern is a privately owned show cave providing visitors with beautiful underground chambers decorated with calcite stalagmites and stalactites. (Remember mites go up and tites come down) The cavern is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a feature of the world’s geoparks.

It is also an ongoing site of archaeological discovery. In September 2009 English Heritage allowed a team from Sheffield and Durham Universities to excavate an area of one square yard for eleven days. After lifting the calcite floor they found an eight inch reindeer antler that had been used as a throwing spear 15,000 years ago. They found rodent incisors, the teeth and a jaw bone of a great Spottered Hyena 25,000 years old, now extinct and much larger than modern day Hyenas from Africa and the bones of the Woolly Rhinoceros 35,000 years old.

From a previous dig a jaw bone with three teeth was found on 24^th March 1927, which has been dated at 31,000 years old and belonging to a Neanderthal man. It is therefore the oldest human remains in the country and can be viewed in Torquay Museum.

Unfortunately the cavern cannot accommodate wheelchairs because the passages are too narrow and too steep, but a film show can be enjoyed in the comfort of the bar.

French Breakfast with Victoria Gardner

Victoria brought a small piece of France into our classroom. We enjoyed a typical French breakfast and learnt the French names of what we were eating.

We played noughts and crosses in French, did some word searches, a quiz and had an opportunity to practise speaking French, which Bruce and Rose excelled at.

We finished off with a small glass of wine and a good morning had been had by all.

Click here to see more photos of our French morning

 

Sailing Holiday by Ian White

Ian, a member of ACE and an experienced blind sailor, gave us a most interesting talk about his two week sailing holiday, this summer, in the Ionian Sea. He and a blind colleague David flew with 2 enablers and 2 skippers from Gatwick to the Greek mainland where they joined their boats, one for each week.

Ian illustrated his talk with lovely pictures of the calm, blue Mediterranean Sea punctured by numerous islands in the distant haze and the yachts under sail. We saw the group enjoying harbour side meals in local tavernas, gazed at beautiful purple jelly fish, stratified rock formations, watched Ian rowing a dinghy in crystal clear waters and chuckled at him riding a play ground horse.

We saw pictures of Ian and David helming the boat and getting ashore. I was curious to know how they managed it. Ian explained that they steer using a specialist compass that relays sound signals to an ear piece when they deviate left or right of the course. They also feel the wind on their forehead. When getting ashore they moor up stern on to the quayside and walk across a single plank using their stick. It looked very scary to me, but they both manage it very well. Why not? Everyone else does.

Everyone really enjoyed sharing Ian’s adventure holiday, but it wasn’t for everyone.

Ian has a lovely sense of humour.

Click here to see more photos of Ian's holiday

 

Torbay Owl Group

We were fortunate to have a visit from the Torbay Owls and Company.

Visiting us for the morning were Albie, Ellie, Ann, Natalie and Colin with:

‘Herbie’ is a captive bred Great Grey Owl that originates from Northern Canada and Alaska. To aid their ability to hunt and catch rodents in the snow and thick vegetation, they have ear tufts. Don’t be surprised if driving round the bay you find yourself behind a car with an owl looking out of the back window!!! It could be ‘Herbie’!

‘Finley’ is a Bengalese Eagle Owl bred in Cornwall and the species is originally from India.

Like our buzzard - ‘Sky’ hunts in the wild for rabbits and pigeons. Sky is from the USA and is a Red Tailed Hawk. Beware he’ll have you for tea.

Next to appear was ‘Tansy’ a British Tawny Owl. Tansy was found abandoned and then had to be re-homed as the family, who found it, could no longer cope.

Then we were introduced to everyone’s favourite, ‘Whispa’. You may have guessed that Whispa is a very fine example of the British Barn Owl. Captive birds are dependent on their owners for food and are fed day old cockerels, mice and occasionally quails.

Questions were asked about recovering the birds if they took it into their heads to fly off. In reply we were shown a bell and jesses (leather straps) that are fitted on the leg and a radio transmitter tied to the tail feathers. It proved to be a most interest morning and everyone enjoyed the photo opportunity at the end.

Did you know owls don’t go out in the rain...it’s too wet too woo!!

Click here to see photos

Poetry Day

Danny and Brenda traditionally started the Torbay Festival of Poetry by reading their poems to the ACE Thursday Group.

They read 42 poems and the hour went by like 5 minutes. Brenda treated us to subjects like: Intruder, Departing, Love, Tip Toe and Ballet Shoes, whilst Danny chose: Friendship, Crisps, A Lonely Prawn and a Soup recipe. Their beautiful readings were so stimulating and thought provoking that they sent my mind and I’m sure many others into a spin.

They clearly love all the hard work that their poetry writing requires and we love listening to their professional skills.

We thank them for this annual privilege that touches us all.

Phil Page talking on Fungi

Phil lives on the edge of Dartmoor and is a wildlife expert, very knowledgeable on many subjects including fungi: commonly known as mushrooms and toadstools. He leads walks near his home to collect fungi, which, if they are to be eaten, must be carefully identified as some are poisonous and some are deadly poisonous.

Fungi, like fruits and foliage growing wild, can be lawfully picked by anyone provided they are not sold for commercial gain.

 

Fungi do not photosynthesis and obtain all their nutrients from other plants and animals. They therefore have a separate section in the plant kingdom.

There are many thousands of fungi and new ones are still being identified. They range from moulds, some of which are useful, like those in cheese or those that make penicillin to those that carry diseases like ‘athlete’s foot’ and Dutch Elm disease to edible truffles that are worth their weight in gold.

With clear photographs and specimens picked from around his home, Phil showed us and described a wide range of local fungi. We learnt what to eat, what to admire and what to avoid.

We learnt about the Death Cape, which fortunately is fairly rare, the poisonous Fly Agaric, which is the classic red caped mushroom decorated with yellow scales that features in many children’s books, the parasitic Honey fungus that kills non native tree species and strange looking fungus like the Cauliflower fungus and Giant Puffballs that are in fact edible. Some fungi have hallucinogenic properties. We were intrigued to learn about the Ergot mould that lives on grain and, if eaten, can lead to madness. Was this perhaps the cause of the disappearance of the crew of the Mary Celeste?

 

Phil’s talk was well illustrated and we were able to handle many of the fungi he was talking about. We are now well equipped to search for ourselves, but we know the dangers and will undoubtedly follow his advice to admire the different fungi growing wild, but only eat what is sold in the super market.

Tim Crine, speaking on Fossils

Tim, from Torquay Museum, is a palaeontologist, who studies geological time periods and fossils.

When fossils were first found they were thought to be the remains of plants and animals that perished in the ‘Flood’, but when they were shown to be older than this it caused some conflict in the Christian world.

When plants and animals die, the earth moulds around them, chemical reactions take place, the earth becomes compacted and an imprint remains as a fossil. The coiled shell of the Ammonite is a well known example found in limestone. Its present day relative is the Nautilus that lives in the Indian Ocean. The Ammonite, like the Nautilus, had a shell containing gas filled chambers used for buoyancy and a squid like body, head and tentacles protruding from the end of the shell. Rare fossils of the whole creature do exist.

Fossils also exist in amber, the resin of trees. These are usually insects which are clearly preserved and easy to study.

Well preserved remains are also found in tar pits, bogs and ice, which prompted this question: ‘Will the DNA of these creatures be extracted one day and will they then be brought back to life?’ Time will tell.

Fossils are dated by the rock or ice strata they are found in and they are important indicators in oil exploration.

Darwin, whilst on the voyage of the Beagle searching for evidence for his theory of evolution, was intrigued to find marine fossils high in the mountains of the Andes.

Fossils, like the Mesosaur, have been important evidence in proving the theory of continental drift between Africa and America.

They are a historic record of how plants and animals have developed over time and their size often excites: like huge trees, dragon flies, sharks, dinosaurs and mammoths.

Anyone can search for fossils and who knows what you will find?

Tim’s many fascinating pictures, fossils that we could hold and clear explanations made for a very interesting talk.

Mr Nick Bye - Torbay Council’s elected mayor speaking on the recession

Torbay Council believes, that despite the recession, it is business as usual with a positive approach to driving forward our Vision.

After speaking to ACE, he said he was going to a public enquiry regarding the purchase of the land for the Kingskerswell bypass, which is the next stage after being accepted onto the Government’s regional list. He feels positive that this long awaited and controversial road scheme will be built; as it is vital to the future development of Torbay.

He continued to outline these ongoing projects in Brixham:

The Berry Head National Nature Reserve has raised £1.8 million from the Heritage Lottery fund with a match funding grant from the Government’s Seachange. The former Guard House will be transformed into a new Visitors’ Centre and cafe and the forts are being conserved.

Work is now complete on the refurbishment of Brixham’s indoor swimming pool.

The regeneration of Brixham’s fishing port is progressing well. The port handles the highest value of fish caught in the UK. The modernisation of the port will benefit the fishing fleet and create new businesses; processing the catch and a fish restaurant with training facilities.

The ‘Northern Arm’ that would enclose the harbour, protect the fishing fleet and provide more marina space for leisure craft, will not now be built unless funds can be raised from property development in Oxen Cove.

Technical issues are holding up the building of a Tesco’s supermarket in Brixham.

The Sandwell Trust that manages St Kilders residential home has plans to update the existing accommodation to provide further facilities for independent living.

The plans for a casino, hotel and conference centre in Torquay are not viable at present.

The Council is supporting the Torbay £, the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and Credit Unions in order to provide suitable alternatives to ‘loan sharks’.

When asked if he intended to run for parliament, he said that he had an interview arranged with the local Conservative Party as a prospective candidate for Totnes. He felt he could do more for Devon by creating Government policy than just following it. Unfortunately, however, he wasn’t selected.

On the question of house building – the numbers and location have yet to be decided.

Nigel Smallbones – Berry Head National Nature Reserve

Nigel then continued after the Mayor left for his next engagement. The reserve had previously received regeneration funds in 1991. The present award of £1.8 million is being used to build a new visitors’ centre, cafe and toilets, including toilets suitable for disabled people, within the original Guard House of the Northern Fort. Midas, the contractors, have unearthed a cobbled path and some walls not included on the1790 plans, which has resulted in unexpected archaeological expense. Despite this, the building works are progressing well. A new bird hide is been built near the cafe which will include a wheelchair ramp. The walls of the forts are being conserved by repointing with lime mortar.

 

The hydraulic car park bollard that was intended to prevent unauthorised cars entering the reserve has been vandalised and has to be reinforced.

Nigel then elaborated on the large community allotment garden being built at Occombe Farm, the raised organic beds at Cockington Court and the shared garden scheme in Brixham to enable members of the public to grow vegetables, fruit and flowers in a healthy, sustainable way.

Both speakers were enthusiastically received and helped us understand what is being done to help Torbay weather the recession.

The Royal Borough of Dartmouth by John Risdon

The story of Dartmouth begins at the mouth of the river Dart which is a tiny inlet, well hidden, amongst the hills and 11 miles from Brixham. On entering the river, the forts on both sides, signify the importance of the river as a sheltered, deep water port. A chain placed across the entrance, between each fort, made it impregnable. On the Dartmouth side, the fort encloses the earlier built Celtic church of St. Petrox, where in bad weather, the monks lit a beacon to warn and guide seafarers into the river. Dartmouth castle was the first in the country to be equipped with cannons. They were placed close to the water’s edge where they were appropriately called, ‘murders’.  

 

Torbay Investigators of the Paranormal (TIP) by David Phillips

I think it is true to say that we are all fascinated by stories of ghosts and unexplained sightings and sounds including Unidentified Flying Objects.

TIP started in 1995 with a group of three friends discussing ghosts and other unexplained phenomena over a pint or two in the Churston Court Hotel. The group has now grown with publicity in the newspaper and they regularly meet on Monday evenings at the Churston.

Their first sighting was when Dave and a colleague were passed the Dartbridge Inn and they drove into an isolated patch of mist where they both saw an image of a woman with a dog. Unfortunately they were not ready with their cameras so no photographs were taken and they have not seen it again, despite numerous visits since. Who was she? Was she a victim of a road accident?The fascination has begun.

On the anniversary of the battle of Sedgemoor on 5th and 6th July strange lights have been seen in the hedges so they will be sitting out the night ready to capture the lights on film and tape recorder, if possible.

Berry Pomeroy castle is reputed to be haunted by the ghost of Margaret, the Lady in White who was allegedly imprisoned and starved to death by her elder sister Eleanor as she didn’t want her sister’s competition for the same man.

Churston Court has its own ghost of a man in a tall hat and a tweed jacket who could have been Lord Churston.
Vigils have been held in Brixham Museum that was formally the police station where there have been strange happenings in the snooker room.

Certain people claim to be mediums and sensitive to ghosts and happenings of the dead.
It’s a fascinating subject that made a very intriguing talk. What do you believe?

The English Riviera Geopark

Emily Beale, Torbay’s Geopark Education Officer, based at the Goodrington Seashore Centre, gave us a delightful and most interesting talk.

In September 2007, the English Riviera received international recognition for its geological, historical and cultural heritage and became one of just 57 areas around the world, and the only urban area, to be endorsed by UNESCO as a Global Geopark.
The Geopark is located beside the ‘younger’ Jurassic Coast World Heritage site.
For the history of our Geopark, we must go back 400 million years to the Devonian Period, named after Devon, when Torbay was just south of the equator in warm tropical seas. The calcareous remains of the ancient corals and extinct animals like trilobites, that looked similar to modern wood lice, were compressed over millions of years to form the limestone cliffs seen at Berry Head and Hopes Nose.

Then 290 million years ago, in the Permian Period, as the continental plates moved and collided, Torbay moved north of the equator to a very different environment. It became a land locked desert swept by strong, dry winds and flash floods from the newly formed mountains. These periodic, raging rivers washed down soil, angular stones and rocks and the iron within the soil oxidised to form the red, stony cliffs of Paignton and Goodrington. Recently discovered holes, within these cliffs, are thought to have been the burrows of lizards, centipedes or large worms.
Locally quarried rocks, used to build the sea walls, bear the fossils from these periods. Look out for them next time you walk along the coast line.

About 1.8 million years ago, during the Quaternary Period, Torbay reached its present northerly position, where the climate has fluctuated between ice ages and warmer times, with varying sea levels. Fresh water streams carved out many caves in the limestone, where Humans, who appeared around 500,000 years ago lived, safe from dangerous animals, like sabre toothed tigers. Excavations in Kent’s Cavern, inTorquay, have unearthed flint axes, Roman artefacts and the world’s oldest piece of human jaw bone.

The Geopark is a part of our heritage like Torre Abbey, the ochre red sails of our heritage boats and the sand of our beaches, renowned for building the best sandcastles. This multi-faceted heritage draws, at certain times of the year, 2 million tourists a day to Torbay.

Geopark cruises on Greenway Ferries, from Torquay, enable you to overcome the in accessible nature of many of the geological sites and provide comfortable views from the sea with informed commentary.
On land there are 32 Geopark sites that can be found by following the trail signs and a guide leaflet.
A festival to publicise the Geopark has been arrange from 23rd May to 7th June 2009 and details are available on www.englishrivierageopark.org.uk

The visit, by ACE, to Dartington Hall, Totnes on 6 April 2009

At 10.30am we assembled in the dining room of Dartington Hall for coffee, before our guided tour by John Risdon. John is a retired school teacher from Furzeham, Brixham and a renowned local historian. He is also well known to many of us from his previous talks to the Thursday Group.

Today’s dining hall was the original kitchen built, in the 1380’s, by John Holland the half brother to King Richard II. John Risdon pointed out the stone walls, the splendid, high wooden roof timbers and the two large fire places. He paused, to let us take in the scale and detail of the room, and then asked us to imagine what it must have been like to be in this kitchen with fires burning, the smoke and the frantic chaos as they prepared a feast fit for the king’s brother, his knights, ladies and guests all waiting in the next room.

We then made our way through to the banqueting hall, where we heard the history of Dartington Hall. In the reign of Elizabeth I, it was owned by Sir Arthur Champernowne, the Vice Admiral for the South West when it was visited by those famous sailors of the day: Drake, Raleigh and Gilbert. I wonder what they said about the newly discovered Americas and the Spanish?

Some years later however, the hall became a ruin, until in1925, when it was bought by American millionaires Dorothy Elmhirst and her husband Leonard, who restored the whole estate as a revolutionary new style of school for music and the arts.

We then toured the extensive gardens in their full spring glory. They are a truly magnificent floral sight amongst the huge, ancient trees surrounding the terraced Tiltyard. It was from here, that the ladies watched their knights and squires practising the art of combat, but high Yew hedge spared them the gore of the bear baiting.

Leaving the gardens, we viewed the tower that is all that remains of the original church, which served as an observation point in WWII. The Victorians built a new church, by the entrance to the estate, closer to the local population.

We marvelled at the huge ancient Yew tree, estimated to be 1500 years old, from which bows were made. Yews have a great ability to regenerate. We also glimpsed up the steps and through the gates of the Buddhist, Japanese Peace garden, with its sea of gravel and rocks of life.

Our visit to Dartington Hall was a great success. Thanks must go to John for his stimulating talks, to the Elmhirsts for their fine restoration of the buildings and the land and to our wonderful band of volunteers, who managed to push the wheelchairs up some difficult terrain, without any complaints. The Hall is a hidden gem that we are privileged to have in our county.

 

 

History of ‘The Western Lady Ferry Service’ by Sandi Armstrong

This is a subject of great personal interest. In 2000 I moved to Brixham and bought an apartment built on the former Upham’s boat yard from where I saw the familiar blue and white Western Lady Ferries running between Brixham and Torquay. Then suddenly they were gone!

 

Sandi, who has worked for the company for 25 years, provided a most interesting illustrated talk.
The ‘Western Ladies’ were built as Fairmile B Rescue Motor Launches (RML’s) at the beginning of World War 2, when the country’s principle ships yards were focused on building larger naval craft. The RML’s were built in wooden, prefabricated form, like the modern ‘flat pack’ by former furniture makers and assembled at numerous small boat yards throughout the country. With their variety of weapons: guns, torpedoes and depth charges, they defended against German E boats, submarines, rescued soldiers from the Dunkirk beaches, landed troops on the D Day beaches and rescued pilots from the sea. The boats routinely stationed themselves under the known flight paths and rescued many airmen forced to ‘ditch’ in the sea.
After 1945, some of these war time boats successfully converted to serve as a ferry service between Torquay and Brixham. Unfortunately however, in 2006, the jetty they used in Torquay was damaged in a storm and was too expensive to repair which meant that there was nowhere suitable for vessels of 112 feet in length to safely dock. Consequently they had to be sold and have now been replaced by more compact steel boats called: Western Lady VI and VII and the service continues.
Further information on this fascinating subject of local history can be found on the Western Lady website.

 

 

The History of Colditz Castle with Tony Cutcliffe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Photo: Christine Meißner)

 

Today’s talk by Tony Cutcliffe was the first of a two part presentation about Oflag IV-C, better known from the TV series

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oflag is short for Offizier-Lager. Colditz was the third Prisoner of War camp in German Military District four hence it’s official designation Oflag IV-C

Tony began by explaining the layout of the Castle, pointing out the prisoner accommodations and exercise yard from which Goering boasted there could be no escape. With a precipitous drop on the North, East and West side of the castle, the only way out was to the South, right through the German section and courtyard of the building. Nevertheless, 32 escape attempts were made, of which, 15 were home runs, meaning the escapee successfully reached a friendly or neutral Country.

The first successful escape was made by a French Lieutenant named Alain Le Ray on April 11th 1941. After a football game in the park, just outside the castle, Le Ray, unnoticed by the guards, peeled off from the main group and hid in a nearby abandoned terraced house. The guards either forgot to count the prisoners or miscounted them and by the time they realised what had happened, Alain was well on his way to Switzerland.

Tunnels were dug and bed sheets were tied together to make ropes and even a glider was built under the noses of the Germans and, though the war ended before the glider was used, experts believe that it would have been airworthy. Perhaps the most audacious attempt was one made by The first British escapee, Lieutenant Airey Neave, on January 5th 1942. After a prisoner theatrical performance, Neave and a Dutch officer called Anthony Luteyn crawled through a hole in the wall of the camp theatre into a guardhouse and, disguised as German soldiers, simply marched unchallenged out of the castle to freedom.

Before his bid for freedom, Neave worked for a time as Escape Coordinator and worked with officers from other nationalities to ensure no escape would be compromised by the actions of another, as had occurred in the early days of the camp. It was the duty of captured men to escape and this disciplined approach allowed five British, six Dutch, three French and one Canadian to rejoin the war.

Recaptured escapees were not shot, but returned to the castle and put into solitary confinement. They were never confined for more than the maximum time allowed by the Geneva Convention, indeed it appeared from what Tony told us, that there was a mutual respect between the prisoners and guards. On one occasion, in 1944, a British Lieutenant, Michael Sinclair was shot during an escape attempt and the Germans buried him with full military honours. They gave him a seven gun salute and even made a Union Flag to drape over the coffin. There was also a form of black market, whereby the prisoners used items from their Red Cross parcels to buy information and tools from the cooperative guards and townsfolk. When the Germans allowed Douglas Bader to visit the town, he took chocolate and other luxuries with him for trading. Dutch Flight Lieutenant Cenek Chaloupka traded goods for information and even had a girlfriend in the town.

Finally on a lighter note, there was one occasion where consternation was caused by a French prisoner who was heard to say that he would rather work with the Nazis, indeed he said he would sooner work with twenty Germans than with one Frenchman. A lynching was prevented, when they learned that he was an undertaker before the war.


With that, Tony wrapped up his presentation, promising to return with part two in the near future. I can’t wait.

VISIT BY THE BAY BREWERY by Ian White

I have to say, that as a keen enthusiast of Traditional English ale, last Thursday morning’s Talk was both a privilege and a delight for yours truly. Steve, along with his colleague Will, who is the Head Brewer at Bay’s visited us and gave a most enlightening talk on the business of brewing, distributing and selling Cask condition Ale.

This time honoured tradition has been revived by enthusiasts throughout Britain, who have introduced new small independent breweries, some of which are surprisingly small and called ‘Micro Breweries’. Bay’s is larger than a Micro Brewery and Will explained that they are termed as a 20 Barrel Brewery. A Barrel is 36 gallons and they are capable of producing 30,000 pints.

Steve spoke about hops, which is one of the major ingredients, although they do not contribute anything to the brewing process. Hops just add flavour, mainly bitterness. They come from three major sources, Herefordshire, the Czech Republic and the United States and each one provides a different flavour. I find it fascinating how the process of ale brewing is more or less the same throughout the country, yet they manage to produce so many different flavours.

They brought along samples of Hops and malted Barley, the main ingredient which causes the fermentation process along with the yeast, a sample of which they also passed around. Just like making tea, the more malt that is put into the brew, the stronger the ale. Sterile conditions and cleanliness are paramount in the brewing trade because any contamination whatsoever could cause the brew to fail.
Will and Steve handed round, much to my delight, samples of two of their regular brews. These were; Bay’s Best at 3.7% ABV (Alcohol By Volume) and Bay’s Gold, my favourite, at 4.3% ABV. They also brought bottles of these ales to hand out to our members. It was a most enjoyable morning, so much so that shortly after the ales were sampled, some of our members began singing!

A Bit Of History:

It has been partly due to the organisation called CAMRA (CAMPAIGN for Real Ale) that we can once again enjoy these traditional ales. CAMRA is a pressure group formed by one or two lads in a local pub in London in the 1960s. Forty years on there are now thousands of members organising and attending Beer Festivals in many parts of the country. The few original founding members were disgusted at the blandness and uniformity of the beer which had spread throughout the nation and so they decided to do something about it. The problem arose as a result of the large breweries swallowing up the smaller local independents, some closed down entirely because they just couldn’t survive in competition with the big boys. Others merged and formed large corporate enterprises over the ensuing years. They introduced Keg Beer which everyone thought was wonderful at the time because it didn’t take any looking after. It could be connected straight to the pump upon delivery and sold. Gas was introduced into the Keg at the end of the process to assist with serving at the pump, which affects the quality of the beer. It required no skill to pull a pint of this kind of beer. Cask condition ale is totally different and is a living thing, because it is fermented in the Cask and needs to be allowed to settle in the pub cellar for several days after delivery before it can be sold. It takes training to pull a perfect pint of hand pumped beer. Cask condition ale needs to be turned over and sold quickly, otherwise it goes off if left standing in the pump. Instead of educating Landlords and Pub Managers to handle Cask beer, they made beer simpler to handle to increase turnover and profit. It also has a longer ‘shelf life’ than Cask ale. At this time pubs became uniform, carpeted and full of plastic, along with ‘plastic’ beer. Thanks to CAMRA, the small independent breweries have now sprung up again and continue to do so, whilst the large brewery combines have given up brewing. CAMRA have also saved many old traditional pubs and is one of the most successful Pressure Groups ever to be formed in Britain.

Tom with his favourite beer

Healthy Living with Dennis Brett

Dennis is an experienced aromatherapist and he gave us a very interesting and entertaining talk on how to stay healthy by creating a sterile environment in our homes.

We all know prevention is better than cure and he described how this can be achieved through the effective use of ‘nature’s healers’- Lavender, Geranium, and Tea Tree. He described how their beneficial properties can be used as an air freshener, vaporiser and as an inhaler.

I’m sure if we follow his advice we will effectively combat winter’s ailments

 

Torbay Festival of Poetry

This popular national festival commenced today with poetry readings at ACE. Susan Taylor and Simon Williams, accompanied by William Oxley, recited their poetry and sang folk songs composed with a strong Dartmoor theme.

Dartmoor is a mysterious land of high, lonely moorlands, isolated farms, dark deep mines, extremes of weather and ancient stone circles. Its wild influences have inspired our guests to write beautifully stimulating poems and songs, including their fondness for pixies.

At the half hour point they invited our budding poets to join in. Graeme, Ian and Tom boldly stood up and recited their poems that they had written with the stimulation of the ACE Creative Writing Class.

The morning was very well appreciated and our guests joined us for lunch where our discussions continued.

 

The Brixham Orpheus Male Voice Choir

Three members of the choir, Don Barr, John Kirkham and Steve Watkins entertained us with well known ballads like: The Bonny, Bonny Banks of Loch Lomond, Sweet Molly Malone and Roll out the Barrel. They sang without any musical accompaniment and our attempts to join these seasoned singers caused much amusement.

The choir, which has about 50 members, regularly sings to raise money for charities in the South West.

We would like to thank them for their uplifting entertainment.

 

 

South American Holiday – Geoff Cox

Geoff and Ann Marie treated us to their recent holiday in Argentina and Chile, which are fascinating countries of immense size, extremes of topography, temperature and beauty.

They flew into the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, and found a vibrant city and port with many historically wealthy buildings. The port was the gateway to many immigrants from Europe seeking a new life and the Immigration Museum tells their personal stories. They enjoyed exploring the city’s many street markets with goods and fresh produce for sale and entertainment from art, shows, puppeteers and the Tango – the sexy dance of the Gaucho and the ladies of the night. It is also the city of Eva Peron, a president’s wife, who from humble beginnings herself, was the darling of the poor who she remained in connection with through her radio station. Her ornate tomb is a still a popular place to visit.

From Buenos Aires they travelled westward to Chile across the Andes Mountains in a very comfortable coach. They bi-passed Santiago, the busy capital city and visited an island famous for its Spanish church rich in art treasures and unusually built of cactus wood.

They then braved a three day horse ride into the mountains to enjoy the raging rivers, lush vegetation, local wildlife and primitive village conditions. It is part of the route taken by Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid when on the run after their notorious bank robberies. They bought a ranch and for two years they led a respectful life until the money ran out and they returned to their criminal ways which resulted in their violent end. The land is so remote that the children as conveyed to school each term by military helicopter.

They then enjoyed another adventure on the edge of the Atacama Desert seeing the hillsides of colourful mineral deposits, desert vegetation and animals such as Guanacos, similar to Llamas, foxes, flamingos and majestic Condors.

It was yet another treat to have a distant country brought into our classroom.

 

Judge Meredith

Judge Meredith gave us a most interesting talk about her life and her work. She is now a Circuit Judge and is involved in many different types of cases. Some of her stories were amusing and some a little sad, especially when children were involved. All of us enjoyed her talk very much and listened to her quietly, which is a good sign that we were interested.

Unfortunately our lunches arrived early and I feel that we didn’t have time thank our speaker adequately, for that I must apologise. Rose Coleman

 

BBC TV Producer Darren New

Darren New started by saying that he is currently producing a Behind the Scenes programme of EastEnders for BBC 3 on Ricki and Bianca. His researcher has amassed all the relevant material from episodes shot between 1995 and 2000 and now he has to create from it a 59 minute programme together with interviews of the stars if they have spare time as EastEnders is being continually filmed.He started working for the BBC in London in the Post room and then became a Studio Runner ensuring participants where in the right place at the right time for each programme. He then moved to Birminghamand worked on ‘Pebble Mill at One’ and the ‘Midlands Today’ which were great fun because of the variety and the people he met such as Stanley Matthews on his 80th birthday.He then had the opportunity to go free lance and had to take the leap of faith and give up the security of a job for life with the BBC.Darren NewHaving decided to go free lance he returned to London and worked on the first episode of ‘Big Brother’ and on ‘Only Fools on Horses’ in which the celebrities took real falls.He is very supportive of the BBC because they are very innovative, willing to experiment and take risks with an ambitious Development Department. Plus there is a wide variety of BBC channels and BBC Radio. In 2012 the BBC Licence fee comes up for renewal and how will the BBC be funded? We discussed the large salaries paid to people like Jonathan Ross? Are they worth it? What it they moved channels? Were Desmond Lynam and Michael Parkinson more successful on ITV after they left the BBC?He was very enthusiastic about producing ‘Flog It’ with Paul Martin. Paul has an antique shop in Wiltshire and a researcher asked him, by chance, to do a test for the programme and from that he got the job. The antiques that people bring for sale are interesting but it is the personal stories behind them that are the real attraction. Like the man who brought in an old battered Huntley and Palmer biscuit tin, which Paul valued at £200 to £300 that then went for £2450 at auction. It was a very emotional story.Darren NewThroughout his talk Darren continually emphasised how lucky and fortunate he feels to have such a great job.

 

Brixham Railway (1868 – 1963) by John Risdon

John’s illustrated talk brought to life one of Brixham’s Victorian marvels – her railway that was opened on 1st January 1868 as a branch line to Churston station and provided access to the blossoming rail network throughout the country. It was the answer to isolation bringing the markets of London within 5 hours and by a short journey to Dartmouth, then an international seaport trading with New York and Cape Town, until it was superseded by SouthamptonBrixham’s 2 mile railway and eight bridges was the brain child of Richard Walter Wolston, a Brixham solicitor and businessman, which he and his brother had to finance as he was unable to raise other backers. At this time Brixham was a very successful fishing port, in need of quick access to markets, having devised the beam trawl system of fishing still in use today. It was also a source of iron ore used in Wolston’s paint factory producing the first antirust paint and preserving the sails of fishing boats. As well as an outlet for these goods the railway would also open up Brixham and its beautiful Devon coast line to tourism. The steam engine called ‘Whippet’ pulled one or two carriages and made eleven, ten minute journeys a day that by 1953 had increased to twenty four journeys in seven minutes.In 1883 it became part of the Great Western Railway and in 1892 the Brunel broad gauge tracks were converted to the national standard gauge.In 1916, Brixham’s breakwater was completed with a fuel jetty built on the end to receive fuel oil from tankers thatBrixham Railway Station 1905 was pumped up to the holding tanks in North Fields near the station, situated behind Furzeham’s Primary School, for countrywide distribution. During World War 2 a similar system was used to convey aviation spirit using holding tanks on Berry Head.After the war the railways suffered from the increase in road transport and the Brixham line was closed by Doctor Beeching in 1963 but not before it featured in the 1960’s film, ‘The System’ about young ladies on holiday starring Oliver Reid and two ACE members, Felicity Duder and Biddy Clark as extras.

What an asset the Whippet would be today.

 

 

Dogs for the Disabled

To days talk was by Nikki Stewart and her daughter Kirsty, who is in a wheelchair, about Kirsty’s dog Paddy, a Black Labrador.After a brief introduction, Nikki ran a DVD through the television showing specially trained dogs helping people with disabilities.

I found the skill of the dogs amazing and the bond between them and their companion very emotional.Nikki related their experience in obtaining Paddy and how he helps Kirsty in her daily life. Paddy then demonstrated helping Kirsty to take off her slippers or gloves, to push down the foot rests on her chair, opening doors and drawers, fetching the telephone or collecting the post from the door. Paddy responds to voice commands and to the sound of one specific whistle only.

Kirsty explained how Paddy had given her the confidence and independence to go out together and feel quite safe. Paddy is trained to bark on a hand command from Kirsty to summon help.Paddy’s training is long and expensive but it is well worth it when you see the happiness he has brought to this family.
28th September: Opening of the ACE Garden extension by Mr Anthony Steen MP

Mr Steen, together with Mrs P.Denham, Assistant Principal of South Devon College was met by Mr Chris Turner OBE, Principal of Brixham College, Mrs Jenny Harriman MBE, Head of the Adult and Community Learning Centre at Brixham College and Mrs Chris Wardley Chairman of ACE.

By now the sun was shining, after a wet start to the day, as they were shown the garden in all its splendour and introduced to the ACE gardeners.

Mr Steen gives a speechMr Steen gave a short speech and cut the ribbon declaring the garden officially open. He then socialised and asked numerous questions of us all, especially about the role of ACE, its importance and about the garden. He congratulated us on our successes in both the Torbay in Bloom and Brixham in Bloom competitions.He finally met the Trustees to discuss our difficulties in securing sufficient regular core funding. He gave us some very useful advice and confirmed that he would support our cause in writing, for as he said: "ACE as a success story".

 

'Animal Magic'

Simon Kite and his marvellous menagerie visit ACE

On the 1st of November the Thursday ACE group welcomed Simon Kite, his wife, baby Oliver and a whole range of pets and furry friends. Simon used to work for Paignton Zoo, but now runs his own business, taking various small animals into local residential homes, as a therapy for many elderly and disabled residents.

We were very fortunate that Simon was able to fit us into his schedule. What a treat we had, Simon is a real authority on animals and he gave us a really interesting presentation, that was a combination of Simon talking, very knowledgably about his animals, and us having a real ‘hands on’ experience. Simon told us about the various breeds he had bought in, gave us information on their natural habitats and details of how he looks after them. It was really enjoyable and very interesting.

The students had an opportunity to handle and pet the animals. It was great to see so many smiling faces around the room. Margaret was thrilled holding one of the guinea pigs. Paul and Alan were delighted when the small creatures they were holding, were so comfortable they feel asleep, and Grahame look a tad worried whilst holding Stuart the Snake! I’m sure that everyone, would like to join me in saying a big thank you to Simon, Bruno and Poppy the dogs, Guy and Madge the rabbits, Harry and Hermione the Leopard Geckos, Bill, Ben, Rusty, Una and Nelly the guinea pigs, Chimmy and Charlie, the Chinchillas and not forgetting Stuart the snake for such a lovely morning.

Click here to see photos

Question Time with Brixham Town Councillors (BTC)

The following is a summary of the proceedings chaired by Mrs Jenny Harriman MBE:

Jackie Stockman (Vice Chairman), Peter Killick, Mike Morey, Gordon Boote and Chris Lomas are members of the newly formed Brixham Town Council who visited ACE to answer questions and update us on their progress.

Why stand for election? Collectively they said,” As residents of Brixham they wished to be part of Brixham’s regeneration and see it thrive - local people to solve local problems”.

They explained that the Brixham Town Council (BTC) is funded by £29 added to each Local Council Tax bill. They employ a Town Clerk but the councillors are voluntary. At present the BTC has limited duties: allotments, Christmas lights and planning decisions but their combined voice can influence Torbay Council.

Devolvement: In time Torbay Council may wish to devolve more duties to the BTC such as responsibility toilets. This would not however incur extra cost, as any devolved duties would bring a portion of council tax funding.

Toilets: Although these are not a stipulated BTC responsibility they are a high priority for the community and Peter Kinnick has been given the responsibility of making improvements. When the Tesco development takes place new toilets will be built with full disabled facilities and with opening times set to balance convenience and security.

Shop mobility shop: During the town square development this will be temporarily moved to Oxen Cove.

Town Square Development: As part of the Brixham 21 regeneration this development will provide a supermarket, multi-storey car park, town houses including affordable homes and local jobs. Public consultation is presently on going with a public meeting in Brixham College on 6th December at 7pm. The proposed supermarket will be 10% smaller than Sainsbury’s at Paignton and will provide 370 car parking spaces. Its design will blend with the historic seaside port and a traffic scheme is being planned to cope with the increased use of the Square. It will likely include out of town parking with a shuttle bus.

How will this development affect other businesses? It is expected that the experience at Totnes when Morrisons was built will be duplicated in Brixham. Shoppers at Morrisons are able to park free for three hours, which provides time to also visit the other shops of Totnes. The Brixham Tesco development will be alongside the present businesses and not out of town. Its size is naturally defined by the space available and cost will restrict the height.
Ace members thanked the Councillors for their hard work and their dedication to the town.

 

Alex Bolton, Marine Ranger, Torbay Coast & Countryside Trust (TCCT)

On this grey Thursday morning, Alex brought our local ocean to the very edge of our seats. Her close up pictures and colourful explanations made us feel that we were there on the beach, dipping into a rock pool or diving beneath the waves.

She started by explaining her teaching and conservation role where she strives to inspire people of all ages to understand and value our marine environment, hoping that a better understanding of its fragile nature may lead to a more considerate use.

Her first slide took us back 375 million years to the Devonian period when Torbay’s warm tropical seas where home to corals and strange Trilobites. It is their fossilized remains, over millions of years, which formed the limestone rocks now seen in the Berry Head National Reserve.

She talked about the large animals that can be seen from our shores like dolphins, seals and basking sharks. Recently a pod of twenty dolphins was seen off Hopes Nose. Yes, we certainly talked more about sharks and their fascination but she also made us aware of the danger they face from over fishing.

We enjoyed seeing the many plants and animals to be found in rock pools when the tide is out. Many of the seaweeds can be eaten or used in household goods like toothpaste, ice cream, body lotions and beer. We saw different crabs and learnt how to tell the sexes. Hermit crabs make their homes in discarded shells and have a symbiotic relationship with anemones providing a home base, transport and food to anemones and receiving in turn protection from their stinging cells.

We saw brightly coloured sea slugs also protected by the stinging cells of the anemones they eat; sea cucumbers who eject their guts to defend themselves; sea horses, which are the most peculiar looking fish and whose males brood the young. The sea horses live in the eel grass beds of Torbay that are subject of voluntary protection and subject of a petition to create full protection within Marine Conservation Areas.

We studied items found washed up on our beaches: the back bone of the cuttle fish, the egg case of a dog fish, the egg cases of dog whelk and a variety of sea shells.

She revealed a beautiful, complex world to us.

 

Click here to see photos

NICK SAYS BYE TO THE OLD TORBAY

The ACE Thursday group was visited on the 31st January by Mayor of Torbay, Nick Bye. The topic for his visit was the regeneration of our bay which, with a growing population close to 138,000 people, is larger than many cities, with all the problems, but few of the benefits, usually associated with city life. Our social deprivation and drug problems rival that of many cities yet we lack the shopping centres, living and entertainment spaces that many of our competitors take for granted. Nick mentioned Taunton, Truro and Yeovil as towns to which Torbay has lost out.

The Mayoral Vision launched last July highlighted the needs of Torbay for the future, based on four key themes; improving pride in the bay, developing stronger communities, providing learning and skills for the future and a new economy to underpin it all.

To realise this vision, Torbay Council, the Regional Development Agency and Exeter based urban regeneration specialist, LDA have developed a Vision for the future of Torbay.

A wide range of building and refurbishment of existing buildings has been proposed plus new facilities for tourists and residents. Log on to the Council website and following the links to the Mayoral Vision where a DVD highlighting the main proposals can be seen: Torbay Council Website

Plans being considered include the building of 2-3,000 houses and flats, purpose built up-market hotels and holiday accommodation, larger and better shopping opportunities, a possible University based on South Devon College and built on Clennon Valley to keep young people in the area, a Watersports and Maritime Centre plus a Casino on the regenerated Torquay seafront.

After an interesting talk Nick summed up by saying that the natural environment of this area is second to none and his vision aims to make the built environment match it without destroying its beauty.

Questions followed:

Bob expressed concern that the redevelopment of the Brixham town centre and Oxen Cove would leave insufficient parking places, particularly in the summer, when we are flooded by holiday makers.

Elaine raised the perennial question of the long promised Kingskerswell bypass. Nick said that the previous administration had not achieved Government support but that he was confident that it would be forthcoming in the near future. He assured us that there is a better than 50-50 chance that construction of the new road will begin in 2010. Indeed the route has already been planned and compulsory purchase orders have been issued.

Debbie was troubled by Nick’s description of the high rise housing included in the Mayoral Vision. Nick said they would seldom exceed six stories and have a high quality of architecture and would be disabled friendly.
Our Chairman, Chris Wardley, wanted to know what plans for had been made for Oldway. Nick agreed that it made no sense to continue using it as Council offices as staff were scattered across the Bay and could work more effectively if they were all based in the same building. He went on to say that millions of pounds need to be spent on repairing Oldway and restoring the grounds but that he hoped it would become a visitor and hotel conference centre with leisure facilities and a museum about the life and times of the buildings and the Singer family.

‘Family History’ by Roger Keys

Mr Keys started his presentation, by telling us that he was a member of ‘Devon Family History’ agency, he explained that a variety of agencies cover different areas all over the country, and most have web sites, assessable via the internet.

Other avenues of information are as follows: Wills, Birth Certificates, Censor lists, Parish records, National archives, Military records, Prison records, Mormon church records (very extensive), Kelly’s whiten agencies, F.O.D.O Friends of Devon Association, Work house records, Guilds of one name studies, Family Search

Mr Keys explained that most names originated in certain areas. He showed us graphs he downloaded from The Internet, which showed the migration of names to different areas over the years, this was quite fascinating.

Roger has been researching his own family tree for a number of years and was able to show very impressive documentation that tell the story of his own family tree.

Another marvellous resource for a person searching their family tree is the use of census lists. Census lists began in 1841; it seems that accuracy was only assured by honesty and the organised application of the records available. Most searches start with family and relatives, tracing grandparents and great grandparents. Every generation doubles the number of relatives and the introduction of additional names; they become inter-related to one another. Resulting in the forming of large family trees and complicated sub branches etc.

Understanding surnames and how they may change over the generations is another feature of searching for names from different areas and locations. Names are quite often spelt differently from one century to another! Searching for your family name in the area where it originated is quite often possible and can be revealing.

Roger explained how you can use the internet at the library for ‘free’ this is a great resource of information for the genealogist. Accessing such information from your PC’s at home, is more expensive, as more often than not, you are asked to pay for the privilege of accessing certain sites, and annual subscriptions are not cheap.

Every 10 years a census is taken to record a variety of information, including: the number of people in families, ages, occupations etc. The requirements change from year to year and it is law to fill the census in. The lists are transferred by a numerator on to official lists; this can of course introduce mistakes. Family units are in indicated by lines so the ages, occupation, deaths and births are all noted for particular houses.

The registration of marriages and deaths became compulsory on the 1st of July 1857, but total registration of births didn’t become compulsory until 1870.

Adoption was legalised in 1927, so records can be traced back until then. Before that workhouse records could maybe give some information about illegitimate children.

Oath rolls were introduced under the reign of George the 1st.

Family photographers were another means of tracing back.

War memorials, military records, oath rolls, service medals have a helped in filling in ‘missing gaps’ when compiling a family tree.

Keenness, hard work and dedication are all needed to achieve your own true family tree.

Brown Berry Farm by Nick Davies

Two summers ago Nick gave a talk at the Adult and Community Learning Centre, Brixham as part of Adult Learners’ Week about the mussel farm in Fishcombe Bay near Brixham.

Later whilst chatting to Jenny Harriman MBE he mentioned that he was researching a lost charity and Brown Berry farm on Dartmouth.

Today he’s here to tell us all. Nick quoted the following extract from a Charity Commission document of June 1908 entitled ‘Parish of Brixham’: ‘Robert Lang, of Marseilles, in France, by his will, dated 27th September 1685, after certain legacies, gave to William Lang, his brother, one half of his remaining estate; and he gave the other half thereof for the use of the poor of the parish of Brixham, where he was born, to be laid out in lands for the maintenance of the poor and orphans and the redemption of poor captives, as Edward Yarde and John Upton of the said parish should see fit and convenient with the advice of his said brother, and the church wardens of the said parish.

He also gave 20s per annum to the poor of the village of Woodhuish. The reference to ‘poor captives’ relates to the paying of ransoms for people captured by the Barbary pirates from Morocco.
The attorney general ordered Mary Lang, widow of William Lang to pay £1500 to Edward Yarde out of the estate of Robert Lang for the poor of Brixham. He subsequently purchased Brown Berry farm within the manor of Lydford and the forest of Dartmoor.

To cut a long story short the farm passed to numerous tenant farmers until the 99year lease ran out and the thread of the Lang’s Gift seemed lost until Mr Anthony Steen MP for Totnes traced its assets of £2000 in Government securities and a small amount of cash through the Charity Commission.

In 1994 the securities were sold and invested in an existing John Michelmore Charity Fund and this investment generates an annual income in the region of £1300.

We are grateful to Nick for his determined detective work that has uncover a ‘lost’ source of funds that ACE and other like charities can benefit from. 1st May 2008 Direct Payments

Judy Grant, The Direct Payments Service Manager, Torbay Care Trust, Union House, Torquay. 01803 219782 treated us to a comprehensive talk on Direct Payments and answered our questions.

The government provides, via the Torbay Care Trust, Direct Payments to assist disabled people to manage their independent living. Personal assessments are conducted with each applicant to ascertain their individual care plan and whether Direct Payments are applicable. If so the resulting payments are paid into a separate bank account with an expenditure record maintained to enable the Care Trust to ensure correct compliance.
Direct Payments are tax-free and do not affect other benefits. The system is designed to assist individuals to fund their own chosen care needs.

With the river so well protected, in1404 the French Bretons, in response to persistent attacks from Plymouth, landed 3000 troops at Slapton. They were confronted by the local army at Blackpool Sands and loured, by ‘name calling’, into the nearby marshes where they were defeated. A third of the army were women.

The original town of Clifton was built above the river amongst the farms, but with the increasing importance of the river, Dartmouth was built on reclaimed land beside the steep hillsides.

The armies of the three Crusades left for the Holy Land from the Port of Dartmouth.

King Henry 8^th fortified the Bulwark at the point nearest Kingswear, but the guns were never fired in anger.

Dartmouth thrived by ferrying pilgrims and trading tin, wool, clothe and fish with France and Spain. Fish was important to these two catholic countries, where it was eaten on Tuesdays and Fridays. The trading vessels, known as Cogs, where built like barrels to maximise carrying capacity and fortified with a forecastle that is now shortened to fo’c’s’le.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, many fishermen and their families annually sailed to Newfoundland from 1^st March to long line for cod. The women preserved the fish for the long journey home by cleaning, drying on racks, salting and packing them into barrels. They also saved the valuable cod liver oil. They then returned on 1^st September, first stopping off in Portugal and Spain to trade fish for fruit, wine and iron. These journeys were long and dangerous and sadly half the families died from disease, storms or pirates.

We look forward to the second part of this most interesting talk by our good friend later in the year.