‘Pilgrim’ - Brixham’s oldest sail trawler by Alan Healey

Alan fascinated us with his vast knowledge of Brixham’s heritage boats. These boats where built of wood in the small boat yards of Brixham and surrounding areas. They were built to a similar pattern of 90 feet long and fitted out to their skipper’s wishes.

Pilgrim, BM 45, was built in 1895 at Upham’s boat yard, Brixham as a sailing trawler crewed by 2 men and an apprenticed boy.

 

 

She fished out of Brixham and ventured into the Irish Sea from Wales or the North Sea from Lowestoft. She then fished from the Faroe Islands, Norway and Sweden. During WW2 she ferry granite from Norway for the German’s and managed to take guns back home.

In 1999 she was found by a local fisher man Bill Wakeham in a very poor state in Sweden and brought home. She is now owned by a local volunteer group who, after a length project submission, obtained a lottery grant for £950,000 that part funded her restoration at Dartmouth. She is now home again for her masts to be stepped and the interior to be added.

When complete she will serve as a working museum for everyone to enjoy and for us all to learn the skills of our fore fathers.

Bee Keeping by Ewart Stanislaus

Stan to his friends arrived with all his bee keeping equipment.

Honey bees are a social insect that live in large numbers in a hive. They forage in flowers for nectar and pollen and in doing so pollinate the flowers. They have enormous value to mankind by producing honey, beeswax, pollen and pollination.

There are three types of bee in the hive; a Queen who lays all the eggs; Drones, the male bees, who mate with the Queen and female worker bees.

He showed us his protective suit against being stung and the smoke generator that subdues the bees. We saw the basket used to collect a swarm to stock a hive. Then the many parts that make up the hive and learnt how proactive a successful bee keeper must be throughout the year to service the needs of the hive.

Bees keep the hive at the same temperature throughout the year by generating heat and by fanning.

Pheromones are chemical signals exuded by the Queen and other bees to identify the hive and to initiate the actions of the hive members.

Honey from different flowers has distinct colours and flavourers.

Stan’s talk was very interesting and he well explained the value of bees and the hard work of the bee keeper. He reminded us of the sudden death of many hives at present and how urgent need is required to care for the environment and the wellbeing of the hives.

Self Hypnosis by Roger Philp

Roger started by telling us how his wife first became interested in learning about self hypnosis and later treating people. There is no formal accredited learning for this subject and the Press were very negative and hurtful. They believed she was taking advantage of vulnerable people.

There are however short courses to learn the subject and Roger now assists people through self hypnosis. We talked about the wonders of the brain, nerve impulses and thought processes.

Roger has help people to give up smoking, to cope with the fear of flying and the benefits of relaxation.

His talk was well received generating a lot of interest especially in his relaxation techniques.

School Christmas Visit 2011

The pupils from Brixham Church of England Primary School joined us for their annual Christmas concert. Every year they do something different!

This year they arrived dressed to enact a Dickensian Christmas market scene including street sellers and a lost orphan, who was found shelter with ‘Barnardos’. They sang associated songs and Christmas carols. One of the teachers explained how this was used to study Victorian history.  

The children were excellent and we enjoyed their visit very much. They enacted their parts and sang extremely well. They are a breath of fresh air and a credit to themselves, their families and their school.

We thanked them with a large tin of chocolates and we bid each other a Merry Christmas.

Then it was time for a Christmas meal provided my Sally and her team from the College canteen. Sally delivered the mince pies in person and we were able to thank her for all the team’s hard work throughout the year.

 

 

 

The afternoon was completed by a very successful raffle organised by Chris Wardley and her many helpers. Chris, Maggie and Tom conducted the raffle without undue delay.

 

 

ACE Debate      

Ian and Grahame chaired this term’s debate on the following subjects:

1. Do you support the strike over Public Worker’s Pensions?

The majority did not support the strike. They agreed that the government proposals are harsh, but these are difficult times. Negotiations are still ongoing where changes could be made. The strike will cost money and disrupt schools.

 

2. Do you believe that mankind is responsible for Climate Change?

The majority felt that mankind has at least some responsibility and renewable power sources are vital.

Most people voiced their opinions and enjoyed trying to put the world to right. Chairing these sessions is not an easy task, but Grahame enjoyed the experience.

We look forward to the next occasion. 

WizzBang

Diana Castle, an ACE Care worker, and her partner, Roger Dolan, entertained us with magic, spinning plates and spectacular balloon shapes. They brought a smile to our faces dressed as Whizz and Bang in comical, colourful clown’s outfits. They whisked us back to our childhood parties with a magic show, when brave volunteers took to the stage and when innocents believed in magic.

Somehow Bongo the rabbit appeared from a house that Whizz built and we still don’t know how Alcapone made money in front of our very eyes.

Bongo was a real winner getting lots of strokes and cuddles.

Thanks Whizz and thanks Bang for a lovely day and the bonus was that you managed to fox Grahame.

Countess Markievicz (1868 – 1927) by Angie Weatherhead

Angie from Torbay library treated us to some unknown Irish history.

Constance Georgine Markievicz, Countess Markievicz was an Irish Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil politician, revolutionary nationalist, suffragette and socialist. She was the first woman elected to the British House of Commons, though she did not take her seat. She was also one of the first women in the world to hold a cabinet position, Minister for Labour of the Irish Republic.

She was born to the Arctic explorer and adventurer Sir Henry Gore-Booth an Anglo-Irish landlord who administered a large estate. During the famine of 1879–80, Sir Henry provided free food for the tenants on his estate in County Sligo, Ireland. Their father's example inspired in her deep concern for the poor.

She trained as a painter in Dublin and London and joined the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. On moving to Paris she met and married Count Casimir Markievicz, an artist from a wealthy Polish family that owned land in the Ukraine.

The Markieviczes settled in Dublin in 1903, where she first became involved in socialism and independence from British rule.

In 1908, she became actively involved in nationalist politics in Ireland. She joined Sinn Féin and opposed Winston Churchill's election to Parliament during the Manchester North West by-election.

In 1909 she founded Fianna Éireann, a para-military nationalist scouts organisation that instructed teenage boys and girls in the use of firearms, which led to the creation of the Irish Volunteers in 1913. The Countess was jailed for the first time in 1911 for speaking at an Irish Republican Brotherhood demonstration attended by 30,000 people, organised to protest against George V's visit to Ireland.

She was involved in the Howth gun-running in 1914 for the Irish Citizen Army (ICA).  

She then took part in the 1916 Easter Rising, designing the uniforms and the anthem of the ICA.

During the Rising, she was in the middle of the fighting all around Stephen's Green. They held out for six days, finally giving up when the British brought them a copy of Pearse's surrender order.  They were then imprisoned for life having been spared from hanging by her sex.  She was released from prison in 1917.

In 1918, she was jailed again for her part in anti-conscription activities. At the 1918 general election, she was elected for the constituency of Dublin St Patrick's as a Sinn Féin MP, but abstained from taking her seat in the House of Commons. She was re-elected in 1921. She was the only female cabinet minister in Irish history until 1979.

She left government in January 1922 in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Treaty and fought for a Republic.

 She was re-elected to the 5th Dáil in 1927, but died of tuberculosis at 59, five weeks before she could take up her seat. She is buried at Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.

Visit to Egypt by Frank Armstrong

Frank treated us to a fascinating, illustrated cruise up the Nile in March 2011 from Luxor.

The cruise ship, which normally accommodated 200 now carried 40 because of the unrest in the country and the tourist attractions were also very quiet.

Clear blue skies and temperatures about 30°C greeted them throughout the week. The edges of the river are lined by a narrow band of lush vegetation and backed by barren, windswept desert. Built from the desert limestone were the numerous temples and memorials to the kings and pharaohs.

Day 2: visit to the Valley of The Kings, the site of Tutankhamen's tomb, the Colossi of Memon and Edfu.

The Colossi of Memnon are two massive stone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. For the past 3400 years (since 1350 BC) they have stood in the Theban necropolis, across the River Nile from the modern city of Luxor.

Memnon was a hero of the Trojan War, a King of Ethiopia who led his armies from Africa into Asia Minor to help defend the beleaguered city but was ultimately slain by Achilles. The name Memnon means "Ruler of the Dawn".

 

Day 3: Visit Temple of Edfu and the Aswan dam.

Day 4: Visit the Philae Temple.

Philae is an island in the Nile River and the previous site of an Ancient Egyptian temple complex in southern Egypt. The complex was dismantled and relocated to a nearby island during a UNESCO project started because of the construction of the Aswan Dam, after the site was partly flooded by the earlier Aswan Low Dam for half a century.

 

Day 5: Visit the Temple of Abu Simbel, Egypt's greatest ancient treasure after the Pyramids.

The temple of Ramses II is now one of the most famous monuments in the world. The Pharaoh carved it into the rock of the Nile Valley between 1274 and 1244 B.C., and it was saved from being flooded by the waters of Lake Nasser by a frantic international effort in the early 1960s. Three colossal (21m/69-ft.) statues of Ramses II guard the entrance to a temple dedicated to Re-Harakhty, Ptah, and Amun.

 

Day 6: leisurely sail down stream to Luxor.

Luxor Temple is a large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the River Nile in the city today known as Luxor (ancient Thebes) and was founded in 1400 BCE. The temple was dedicated to the Theban Triad of Amun, Mut, and Chons and was built during the New Kingdom. Amun was paraded down the Nile from nearby Karnak Temple to stay there with his consort Mut, in a celebration of fertility.

Deir el-Bahari is "the Northern Monastery" complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor.

 

Day 7: Visit the Temple of Karnak.

Karnak—comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, notably the Great Temple of Amun. This massive structure begun by Pharaoh Ramses II (ca. 1391–1351 BC).  It is located near Luxor, some 500 km south of Cairo, in Egypt. The area around Karnak was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut ("The Most Selected of Places") and the main place of worship of the eighteenth dynasty Theban Triad with the god Amun as its head. It is part of the monumental city of Thebes.

 

Day 8: Fly from Luxor to Cairo for three nights.

Day 9: Visit the Great Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx.

Day 10: Visit the Egyptian museum.

Day 11: Fly back to Gatwick.

Frank's excellent talk clearly showed modern Egypt and the wonders of its history. The beauty and the size of the ancient monuments was breath taking.  

Click here for photos

History and Creation of the Brixham Fishery by John Risdon

Brixham, at the southern end of Torbay, is on the edge of the English Channel. It is sheltered from winds from the prevailing South West and South, but open to the East and North.

Fish has always been an important source of food, never more so, than when the country was mainly Roman Catholic and fish had to be eaten on Tuesday and Friday.

Fish were first caught by hook and line and Gill or Seine nets. These nets hang like a curtain in the water and are then pulled into a beach or a boat; catching mid water fish like herring, mackerel, cod and haddock. The fish, if not eaten fresh, was preserved in salt or smoked. Buckhorn was popular, being strips of whiting, sun dried and salted. Fish oil was used in medicine, soap or lamp oil. Boats were made of wood in local harbours like Brixham and Galmpton on the river Dart.

Then the fishermen of Brixham devised the beam trawl. The beam trawl is a large, net bag; held open by a beam and or otter boards at the front end, which tapers to the closed ‘cod end’. The net is pulled along the ground on a long cable to catch the bottom living fish ideally at 2 knots in force 6 winds. The boats were crewed by 3 men and a boy. A full net took 2 hours to haul in until steam capstans were invented that cut the time to 15 minutes.

Fish was now kept fresh for longer in ice brought by Norwegian boats packed in straw until we learnt how to make ice and ice factories were built on the quaysides.

In 1843 the present breakwater, built to protect the harbour, was started and finished in 1916.

On 10^th April 1866 the fishing fleet was sheltering in Torbay from a violent storm from the SW, which suddenly veered to the East, causing huge destruction and lose of life. This prompted the need for a life boat to be stationed in the bay and the people of Exeter contributed so generously that it was named ‘City of Exeter’.

In 1868 the railway arrived in Brixham and fish could now be transported as far as London.

By now fishing was so successful in Brixham that families sought new grounds throughout the British Isles.

Steel built trawlers, steam driven, developed, but Brixham fishermen stuck to their wooden sailing boats and their success declined.

 

During the world wars fishing boats were commandeered for the war effort. At the end of WW1 there were so many wrecks they fouled the trawls and fishing seriously declined. Technology has now plotted these and other obstructions and fishing continues.

Today Brixham has 20 Beamers and 60 day boats. A modern fish market was built in 1971 and rebuilt in 2011. Brixham boasts the highest value of fish landed in Britain at £27 million, per annum. Much of the catch is exported.

Alongside this modernity it a fleet of heritage boats whose red sails, preserved in local red ochre, proudly reminds people of our past and provide sailing experiences for all.

Fishing remains a hard and dangerous way of life. 

Coalition of Disabled People in South Devon

Carl Healy, an ACE Administration volunteer, spoke to the ACE group about the Coalition of Disabled People in South Devon. The charity (no.1108663) is situated at 1 Lymington Road, Torquay which is next to the Town Hall car park.

The centre provides a drop in facility where disabled people and their carers can have a cup of coffee with friendly people prepared and able to listen and assist with concerns and needs.

They provide a free service in befriending, counselling, benefits advice, help with form filling and information.

Volunteers at the centre will assist you to get online using an internationally recognised programme. One to one tution is available for those who find Information Technology (IT) difficult.

Assistance can also be provided with payroll and managed accounts for direct payments.

The Coalition can be contacted on 01803 215871, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and further details can be obtained from the website www.cdpsd.org.uk.

Carl's talk was very interesting, informative and extremely well delivered.

Embroidery Demonstration by Vicky Porter

Vicky is a graduate fashion designer from Nottingham University. She showed us her impressive portfolio, which includes a range of waistcoats that she sold in Savile Row and a range of greeting cards that she sold through well known super markets and High Street shops.

She has now moved to Brixham with her husband and their three adopted daughters. She continues to create embroidery designs from her kitchen table.

 

 

Vicky is preparing to run a class entitled ‘No Pressure Stitchery and Textiles for ACE’ starting on Wednesday 28 September 2011 from 10-12noon.

 

Vicky demonstrated some of the beautiful embroidery items that students could learn from such a highly skilled entrepreneur, which we all really enjoyed.

Vicky is an excellent tutor, very skilled, very patient and flexible in her programme. I’m sure her students will benefit greatly from this South Devon College class.

Music with Mick Stokes

Music was the order of the day when Mick Stokes, the tutor of the music class, stepped into the breach when the planned event was cancelled at the last minute . Armed with a guitar and a box full of various percussion instruments Mick launched into a fun filled hour of singing and joking while the class banged sticks and shook tambourines. After ‘The House of the Rising Sun’, ‘Yesterday’, and ‘The Wild Rover’, Mick played background music while Grahame, from the Write Way class, read out one of his poems.

Jo Castle on PAT (Pets As Therapy)

ACE was treated to a visit from old friend and former care worker, Jo Castle. Jo came to tell us about a charity called PAT (pets as therapy) and was ably assisted by her friendly pooch Willow. The aim of the charity is to introduce various groups to the cathartic qualities of interacting with dogs and cats of the right kind. For anyone who wishes to work for the charity the first step is to test the animal; it must be at ease with people, gentle and friendly, qualities which Willow has in spades. Jo takes Willow to a local care home once a week and the inmates hugely look forward to her visits.

 

We were shown a short film hosted by Reg (from Coronation Street) which underscored what Jo had told us about the joy the visits bring and, with the belief that petting an animal can reduce stress and blood pressure, health can be improved as well.

Margaret Ford on British Sign Language

Margaret Ford came to talk to the group about using sign language to communicate with people who are deaf.

Margaret herself is deaf so we were able to learn from someone who really uses the hand positions on a daily basis. Margaret also spoke to us whilst showing the hand signs so it made it a lot easier for us to understand. She was able to correct us if we went wrong using speech, hand signs and lip-reading. She was very talented and I admire her very much for the skills she has. I felt very humbled that she was able to teach the whole group a way for US to converse with a person who was unable to hear what we said.

The British Two-Handed Finger spelling guide that Margaret gave us to see how the letters are formed is mainly used by people when they need to ‘say’ a word that is new or a name. It enables them to break the word down completely so it can be correctly passed on to another person.   Margaret also showed us how to sign everyday things such as tea, coffee, book and friend.

The session started by Margaret introducing herself spelling out her name. We were then all invited to use the picture cards to spell out our own name and introduce ourselves to Margaret individually. Next she showed us by using our index finger pointed forward and the rest of our fingers curled we were able to use the basic shape to say different things. 

• Point forward                         YOU
• Point to yourself                     ME
• Wiggle the finger                    WHAT?
• On opposite shoulder            WHY?
• Outward circle                        ALL OF YOU

 

By making a fist and placing it on your chest you are saying      MY.                                                                                     

Holding your fist with fingers pointing outwards it means         YOURS.

 

Using both hands with flat palms up;-     

• Circling                                                      WHERE
• Palms together then peel  away                BOOK
• Finger tips together forming a triangle      HOUSE   
• Both hands vertical palms facing out         WALL
• Shake own hands together                        FRIEND

Finally, Margaret showed us how to say   PLEASE                 Hand moved down the mouth and

                                                                   THANK YOU        Hand over the mouth and move it away forward.

 

 

I found the talk very interesting and enjoyed learning some simple signs. I feel that being able to sign some words wonderful because it means that I could try my best to communicate with a person who is deaf and not make them feel totally excluded from a conversation.  It is worth learning and if you wish to learn more there is this web-site below that has mini-videos showing you how to sign words and you can practice over and over until you get perfect. http://www.britishsignlanguage.com

Angie Weatherhead – Devon Festivals and Traditions

We have worked closely with Angie in the past when she was a librarian at Brixham Library and she has raised money for us by running in the Torbay half marathon.

She agreed to talk on Devon’s traditions despite being from Norfolk and we all enjoyed learning about this fascinating subject.

Many traditions have their origins in pagan, pre-Christian times.

Dartmoor and Exmoor are rich veins of folklore especially tales of pixies. Pixies can be mischievous leading people astray on the moors if not respected, but there are also helpful, friendly pixies that just need some water and small gifts to keep their help and favour.

The Moors are the home of the dreaded ‘wisht hounds’ (black dogs with baleful red eyes) who at the bequest of Dewer (the Devil or the leader of the wild hunt), hunt down unbaptised souls and sinners.

The Devil appears more frequently in Devonshire folklore than in most parts of the country. The Dewerstone (near Shaugh Bridge) is where travellers were guided over the cliffs by the Devil.

At Shebbear on 5^th November a large rock is turned over. It is known as turning the Devil’s boulder and is meant to avert bad fortune. The rock is not local and has reputedly been taken away but always returns.

The ‘flaming tar barrels’ of Ottery St Mary is still held on the 5^th November and is thought to commerate the discovery of the ‘Gunpowder Plot’.

Ashen Fagots were burnt to provide light, heat and entertainment in the dark months of winter. An extra large fagot, with a number of ties, was burnt as the centre piece of a festive gathering. Each tie, as it burnt, had a special meaning, with the first signifying a marriage.

Giglet Fairs were held in Okehampton and Chagford on the first Saturday after Christmas. They were an opportunity to meet, do business, drink, dance and to buy a wife. If a man could lead a woman home with a halter on then they were married. The local squire and vicar didn’t always agree however.

Wassailing is a pagan ritual held on 17^th January to protect the cider apple trees by driving away the evil spirits and ensuring a plentiful crop. Participants start by eating apple cake, drinking mulled cider and choosing a Wassailing Queen. The best or oldest tree is chosen as the guardian of the orchard; cider is poured around it and toast, soaked in cider, is hung in the branches. Shot guns are fired or buckets banged to drive away the evil spirits and to awake the trees. More music and merry making then followed.

‘Crying the Neck’ is observed at harvest time. A few of the best ears of corn are collected from the sheaths of the last field and neatly trimmed and plated. This is known as the neck and various rituals are performed around it in thanks for this harvest and in hope for the next.

There was a tradition that once took place on Shrove Tuesday called 'Lent Crocking', that was popular around Okehampton. Bands of children would call at houses and chant songs in return for flour, eggs or milk to make their Shrove Tuesday pancakes.  One of the verses that the children recited goes as follows:

"Lent Crock, give me a pancake,

Or a fritter for my labour,

Or a dish of flour, or a piece of bread,

Or what you please to render,

I see by the latch,

There is something to catch,

I see by the string,

There's a good dame within,

Trap, trapping, throw,

Give me my mumps and I'll be go"!

The, "mumps" referred to in the last line comes from the old Devonshire name for a beggar - a 'mumper' and the alms he managed to get became known as 'mumps'. But why was this tradition called 'crocking' well as with many of these door to door collections there was always a penalty to pay should a donation not be forthcoming. In this case the miserly household would receive a heartily thrown handful of broke crockery upon their doorstep and this gave rise to the term crocking.

Oak Apple Day was celebrated for over 200 years on 29 May, the birthday of King Charles II, by wearing a sprig of oakleaves in remembrance of his escape to France during the English Civil War in 1651, when he hid in an oak tree.

Angie finished with tales of smuggling and the ploys and tales of avoiding the Revenue men.

We very much enjoyed exploring these ancient stories and added some of our own from our own counties. 

Wendy Gaye – Talking about her teaching holidays in Mombasa, Kenya

Wendy is a volunteer in an ACE swimming class and, whilst I was having a breather, she told me about her teaching holidays in Mombasa and this illustrated talk is the result.

Wendy arrived as our Thursday guest speaker, nervous, but very well prepared. She brought a computer disk of pictures, a large scale map of Kenya, a flip chart of common Swahili words, some Kenyan music and filled two large tables with leaflets, handicraft and story books.

Wendy and her husband regularly take six week holidays on the Kenyan island of Mombasa, which is connected to the Kenyan mainland by a bridge. Mombasa is bathed in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, near the equator, and is served by a deep water harbour. It is protected from the wrath of the Indian Ocean by a coral reef. Inside the reef is a shallow calm sea, where local fisherman sail and fish from dugout canoes. These safe bathing waters and the tranquil beauty of the coral reefs, white sandy beaches and palm trees draw in many foreign tourists.

Wendy started with a picture of the Kenyan flag being raised to commemorate the present peace and unity after recent political unrest and violence. We moved onto pictures of the beaches, exotic trees and flowering shrubs, monkeys, camels, lizards from small geckos to large monitors and game park animals.

Aside from the tourist hotels and some houses of the wealthy, many of the houses of the local people are very basic; with thatched or tin roofs and no electricity or running water. They buy their water in plastic drums.

Schooling in Kenya is now free to all up to the age of 14 and it is very popular. There are, however, fee paying schools and government schools, where funding and facilities differ. Wendy, a primary school teacher, visited both Busy Bee a fee paying school and Kongawea a Government school. Some pupils are lucky enough to be sponsored but Wendy prefers to give of her time to all. Story telling is very popular in Kenya and Wendy collects children’s story books from charity shops in England and she takes out as many as she can manage with her weight allowance. She helps with lessons and activities like the morning porridge for each child which might be a main meal for many.

On one occasion she suggested that they have a trip to the beach. On arrival she and her husband found themselves with 30 children who couldn’t swim and nor could the staff. So they enjoyed playing in the shallows. Afterwards they taught a member of staff to swim and now she teaches others. What a small gesture, but with a huge result.

She visited a work shop for disabled people called Bombolulu, where the motto is ‘disability is not inability’. Here they make wooden ornamental carvings, ingaras, screen printed cloth and other saleable items to provide a sustainable income for the group and themselves. Wendy had examples of these items on the table for us to examine and admire. The ingara is a circle of banana leaves used to cushion the head, where many items are carried. The cloth is made into women’s wraps worn around the waist and also used to carry their baby on their back.

We very much enjoyed this emotional journey. So much so we have agreed to make a donation to Wendy’s work in Africa. We are also very impressed that Wendy gives so much of her time, whilst on holiday, to help others.   

John Risdon - Mariners’ Way Part 2

We gladly welcomed John back to conclude his illustrated talk of his walk, with his friend Steve Shaw, along the Mariners’ Way (MW) from Bridport, on Devon’s north coast to Dartmouth on the south coast. John and Steve walked the 80 miles over 5 days and John’s talk of 2 hours fits neatly into two ACE sessions.

Both ports prospered after the discovery and colonisation of the Americas and sailors walked between them to enlist on a new ship.

John and Steve followed the original route, where possible, by ancient pathways and disused railways. The weather was gloriously sunny on the Thursday of their five days, but drizzly on the Friday and final day. He described the beautiful Devonshire countryside that they passed through often without anyone else around.

They discovered an ancient Dartmoor Long House, now a museum, built of large, well dressed granite blocks. The family lived in one end and the animals at the other. The MW appeared to pass close through the house, which would have afforded a place to stay, farm cooking and fresh water to drink. It still has a trough on the wall outside at the right height for a man to drink and wash. No en suite bathroom in those days.

At West Coombe farm they witnessed a lady with long hair, wearing a long dress and scattering grain for the hens, so reminiscent of former times.

They enjoyed a very pleasant stay in a B&B in lower Hookner hosted by John and Jenny, which happen to be the names of John and his wife. Here they sampled the local fare of roast mutton, vegetables and red wine. Walkers regularly stay, but they were the first to be walking the MW. Perhaps this will reopen this ancient route for others to enjoy.

They left the MW to explore some of Dartmoor and followed the river Dart to Totnes where they completed the journey by sailing boat. Well, what else would sailors do?

On arrival at Dartmouth they were met by the RNLI inshore life boat where they donated the £650 that they had collected en route.

Both were elated with their successful adventure of retracing those ancient footsteps, whilst they are fit enough to do so.

As always we are delighted and feel so lucky to experience one of John’s illustrated talks. We felt as though we had walked every step of the way with him and Steve. What a privilege? (You can tell they were teachers. Everything is so well organised.)

Tina Earnshaw – Cookery Demonstration

Tina, our new cookery tutor, demonstrated some of the types of meals and the preparation techniques that will feature in the forth coming, ‘Easy Cookery for ACE’ classes on Monday nights starting on 9^th May.

With our volunteers help, she chopped a range of fresh vegetables and salad items.

Tina used some ingredients not familiar to everyone namely: Couscous, from North Africa, consisting of semolina and mixed with boiling water or stock and Humus made from ‘chick peas’.

We enjoyed the friendly, fun demonstration and tasting the resulting delicious ‘wraps’ and pavlova.

I’m sure the classes will be equally fun and productive.

A.C.E. VISIT TO CHURSTON TRADITIONAL FARM SHOP

Churston Traditional Farm Shop opened in June 2008 and has been steadily growing ever since. It is a new breed of farm shop, with traditional values and a wide range of local produce. Their products range from high quality beef butchered on-site, fresh local trawler caught fish, cooked crab and crabmeat, local vegetables, onsite baked pasties and cakes, a wide range of preserves and chutneys, cheeses, wines and staples such as fresh baked bread and milk.

We arrived on a bright sunny day and the first of many wonderful experiences began.  Richard rolled back the roof of the seating area and we all basked in the glorious warm sunshine while we partook of ‘elevenses’. Richard then explained his philosophy on good farming methods and the production of foods the traditional way. Everything sold in the shop has been produced to high standards and has travelled 35 miles at most.  All the meat comes from animals that have been treated well from birth to slaughter and the quality of the meat is first class.  He is using very modern farming methods to grow plants all year round starting them off in water. He is using every part of an animal or plant food to reduce wastage so much so that he even uses fat that is not used on the farm to make fat balls to feed the birds!  Richard explained his future plans for the farm and for improving the site even more for its many customers. We were all enthralled by his plans for a picnic area which he assures us he will endeavour to make as disabled friendly as possible, so everyone can enjoy the views from the top of the hill.

The talk was fascinating as we learnt how much Richard and Caroline are supporting local farmers and keeping their produce British. We went onto experience for ourselves the quality of the food sold in the shop as the group indulged in full breakfasts, meat rolls and other wonderful tasty treats. The dessert menu was also good and a few members ‘suffered’ one of the varieties of ice-creams whilst soaking up the sun.

I personally bought some steak, sausages, bacon, pies and ‘millionaires’ shortbread from the shop and can verify all are very tasty and the quality is fantastic.  There was very little shrinkage of the meat and no salt water at all from the bacon.

We had a wonderful visit that I will be repeating regularly and would recommend anyone to try all the facilities, including the children’s play area.  Richard and Caroline have started a wonderful venture at the farm and it is obvious that many more good things are due to develop there soon.

                                                                                                                                                                        

Richard and Caroline Haddock have been farming in the local area for the past 20 years. They are committed to working with traditional farmers who can supply the finest produce, bursting with flavour.

ACE Debates

Ian and Chrissie presided over this fresh idea put forward by our new member Mo. She felt that we should have a change on a Thursday from listening to guest speakers by having a debate or discussion amongst ourselves and expressing our own views and thoughts. The group liked this idea so here we are with our first debate/discussion.

Subjects for debate were requested weeks earlier and Divorce and Capital Punishment were chosen.

Both topics prompted a good response and a wide range of members participated, which was the key reason and value of this new venture.

On ‘Divorce’ a number of people expressed their personal experiences.

The conclusion was that it was important to be able to divorce, fairly easily, when in a violent or drunken relationship, but in other circumstance it was felt that many people seemed to take the easy way out and did not work at their marriage. It was suggested that this subject should be dealt with at school, debated openly on television, in Soaps, for example, and there should be more publicity about the assistance available to help marriages survive.

‘Capital Punishment’ invoked many strong views, but the conclusion was that the present system of justice is the fairest, where miscarriages of justice can be put right.

The morning was very enjoyable with a lot of people participating in a discussion rather than a formal debate, which is probably more of what people really want.

Nick Bye, Torbay’s Elected Mayor, updates ACE on his time in office

In 2005, as a result of Torbay Council’s poor performance, Torbay held a referendum to decide whether or not to adopt a new system of local government by electing a Mayor. The referendum was in favour and, from a candidate list of 14; Nick Bye was elected in October 2005 until 2011.

Elections for a new Mayor and councillors will be held on 5^th May 2011 and he urged us all to make our wishes known through our votes.

Nick is a regular visitor to ACE, where he updates us on the council’s progress and answers our questions and concerns.

Starting in Brixham he moved around the Bay listing the areas of development during his time as elected Mayor:

• Privatisation of St Kilders residential home, formally owned by the council, which is doing well and about to move to new improved premises on the Brixham hospital site.
• This week HRH Princess Anne opened the new fish market in Brixham. The port lands the highest value of fish in the country and the handling and processing facilities required modernisation. This has been achieved through funding from the European Union and local match funding to ensure that Brixham’s Port maintains its high international status.
• Heritage Lottery and Government Sea Change funding has enabled the Berry Head National Nature Reserve to develop a new visitors’ centre, cafe and bird hide plus conservation of the ancient monuments and unique limestone ecology, which is a key feature in the English Riviera global geopark.
• Friends Groups have responded to the needs of the outdoor Shoalstone swimming pool and the Admiral indoor swimming pool.
• New housing sites at Sharkham and Rea Barn.
• The proposal by Churston Golf Club to raise vital funds by building new homes on the present site of their club facilities remains unresolved at present. The traffic flow beside this site is lower than in the past and he does not consider it sufficient reason to refuse this application.
•  The move of South Devon College from Torquay to Paignton has been very successful. The new premises and site bought from the Nortel Electronics Company are excellent, at a more central location and set in a new business park. The College now has a good Ofsted rating and has moved towards University status.
• The newly built Paignton Library provides excellent, accessible library facilities combined with very useful information centres.
• A new youth outdoor facility in Paignton.
• The development of art and craft facilities at Cockington.
• Restoration of Torre Abbey.
• Restoration of the ‘Rock Wall’ at Torquay.
• Development plans for the Princess promenade at Torquay
• Torquay College has been upgraded to’ Good’ in a recent Ofsted report. £60m has been spent on school improvements within the Bay.
• Teenage conception rates have been reduced, but the reasons surrounding this issue require more attention
• Life expectancy differs across Torbay indicating, for example, different life styles, employment opportunities and standards of education and housing, which need to be addressed.

 

 Nick made these replies to our questions:

• Car parking charges need to be made to raise funds and from surveys   with our neighbours he didn’t think they were unreasonable. He accepted the importance of suitable parking and it was always a hotly debated topic. He invited us to raise specific instances via our Town Council who are represented on the full Council
• The junior school population in Brixham is shrinking, hence the closure of the school at Chestnut Heights.
• The present system of electing a Mayor cannot be changed until 2015. Nick believes that this system is democratic as the Mayor cannot function without the support of the councillors.
• More housing is required within the Bay, but the procurement of  development sites is invariably difficult
• The Kingskerswell traffic improvement scheme is still proceeding and getting closer to fruition.

  

Nick was thanked for his hard work and enthusiasm as Mayor and for the support he has always give to ACE. He enjoyed his ‘school dinner’ with us.

Natasha Eyre - Re-introduction of Species

Bio diversity is the wide range of plants and animals that have evolved on earth and exist in a natural balance. This natural world provides mankind with a wide range of resources, but our exploitation and influence is disturbing this balance.

 

 

Our influence has caused the extinction of some creatures in Britain. Some reintroductions have taken place, others are being considered and some have been introduced by accident.

Before such introductions are made careful evaluation of their suitability and impact must be made.

Wolves are being successfully reintroduced back into the Yellow Stone National Park in North America where they control Elk numbers. Climate change has meant less Elk deaths during the winter which is impacting on the scavenger species. Wolf kills are readdressing these issues.

The reintroduction of wolves back into the highlands of Scotland is being considered to similarly provide a natural predator to control the numbers and health of the deer population.  There is opposition on safety grounds and from live stock farmers. An evaluation is taking place in a fenced area.

 

 

 

The reintroduction of the smaller Lynx is being considered but there is concern on the impact on the Wild Cat population.

Beavers have been successfully reintroduced in 24 countries and trials are taking place in Britain at present. Beavers are non aggressive herbivores that inhabit wetlands and evaluation studies will decide the benefits that the return of beavers can have.

 

Wild Boar have escaped into the countryside and the future of this introduction is progressing. They may damage to blue bell woods on the one hand but they may be beneficial in destroying bracken.

 

 

Water Voles are being returned to our water ways as wild mink, that escaped from mink farms, are removed.

Smooth snake populations are being actively increased. They are harmless to humans and help to maintain the biodiversity in heath lands.

Climate change is taking place faster than natural evolution can take place.

We very much enjoyed this interesting and controversial subject.

St Patrick’s Day Celebrations

ACE members were treated to a fabulous celebration of St Patrick’s Day, on 17^th March, by Claire Brennan and her Irish family together with her colleagues from the office in the Adult and Community Learning Centre, Brixham.

Claire Brennan and her parents, Bridie and Eddie Walsh and sister Erina Dabinett choreographed the morning’s entertainment with Claire Latham, Helen Taylor and Yvonne Ramos.

 

 

 

 

They composed the following programme:

• Irish soda bread with Guinness, cider or whiskey and Irish music
•  a two handed reel by Claire and Erina
•  a quiz on Ireland
•  Irish songs-Molly Malone and the Wild Rover
• Various Irish dances

The day was very entertaining, very well organised and we enjoyed every aspect. The dancing was extremely energetic and we joined in with our enthusiastic clapping. We fully participated in the quiz and the singing. The refreshments were most welcome.

We thank everyone for their part and for Yvonne’s fancy dress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here to see more photos of St Patrick's Day

Mrs Ki Barnes - Clerk to Brixham Town Council

Mrs Ki Barnes was appointed as the Clerk or Chief Officer of the Brixham Town Council (BTC) when it was formed in 2007. She has ten year’s experience as a Town Clerk in Herefordshire.

There are twelve councillors on the BTC and they meet every six weeks in the Brixham Town Hall. The council has limited local powers and its members represent Brixham residents on Torbay Council.

Ki and her staff of two prepare and publish the agenda of each meeting one week in advance. Any Other Business (AOB) is not permitted as it may conceal financial matters. They publish and distribute the BTC magazine, the Signal every three months. The accounts are audited quarterly.

The BTC perform the following functions:  

• employment of a  lengthsman to collect litter and cut hedges
• a green waste collection on the first Sunday of each month from the car park at Brixham College
• local traffic improvement schemes e.g.  Brixham Fore Street is a traffic free zone from 10am to 10pm and an enforcement bollard will be installed at the entrance soon. There is also a traffic action zone in Drew Street
• local allotments of which there are 4 sites, 200 members and 100 on the waiting list. New sites are required
• burial sites, but there are no plots available at present. New sites are being sought
• Christmas lights in the harbour. New designs are sought this year

The BTC examines and can comment on all local planning applications.

Ki welcomes any issues on 01803 859678 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Steve Gale from Torbay Disability Information Service

Steve attended to explain the role and support that his department of the Torbay Care Trust could offer us in light of the coalition Government’s announcement to cut £18 billion from the welfare budget.

From February 2011 it intends to move all incapacity benefits claimants onto employment and support allowance by individual assessments.

It plans to cut Disability Living Allowance (DLA) by 20% and in April 2013 it will replace DLA with a Personal Independence Payment, which will involve new assessments for eligibility. Similarly new assessments will be required to qualify for the Blue Badge Scheme with additional measures to prevent misuse.

Steve provided us with a great deal of information on these proposals with local implementation details to follow.

It is a difficult and uncertain time for everyone and the prospect of benefit cuts is naturally worrying.

Once individual cases are known then he is available to advise and assist, which is most reassuring.

Claire Exeter  Singing Tutor

Claire provided us with a very interesting, fun and educational session when she came to demonstrate the benefits of singing for health.

We started with exercises to warm up in preparation for singing.  We did deep breathing and, on holding our breath, felt our stomachs swell. We had a good laugh exercising our faces by pretending to eat a sticky toffee that was difficult to move around the mouth. The faces pulled and positions achieved were funny to watch and demonstrate. We flexed our neck and head doing gentle rotations to warm up our muscles.

Next we exercised our voice. Producing tones in an ascending and descending scale of ‘ooooh’ repeated using an ‘ahh ahh haa’.  We then sang a siren circle, (highest to lowest note) sounding like an emergency-services vehicles day out. We improved on this by introducing timed breathing to build up our breathing capacity.

Claire advised us how she learns the words to new songs by humming and ‘ohh ahhing’ whilst listening to the song for about four days. She creates a physical memory of the new song using this technique before putting the correct words into place. We practised this with her to the song ‘Amazing Grace’ and it is surprising how doing this helps to focus on the tune without worrying about the words. After three times using different sounds, (ohh, ahh, mmm,) we were ready for the words.

We put into practise everything we learnt to make our face, voice and breathing work together to produce beautiful sounds. Everyone really enjoyed the singing and all got fully involved with much gusto. We repeated the method of song recognition for ‘Let it be’ by the Beatles, and culminated in singing/humming rounds creating music. Our final performance of the song involved everyone either singing or humming during the verses and altogether in the chorus.  We were wonderful!! Claire was very impressed as the exercises we had completed in one morning; she was just covering with her class after four weeks of tuition.

Like all good athletes after a major performance, we had to warm down our vital body areas by repeating the exercises we did to warm up.

I personally had a wonderful morning and thoroughly enjoyed the session. I know I am not the best singer but with Claire to guide me I felt I did justice to the songs and really believed that I was performing well.                                                                                                                     

I agree that singing benefits health and the more you do it the better control you get of deep breathing and fully expanding your lungs. So sing out loud and clear. It’s much more fun than the gym!   

 

Claire Exeter - Vocal Teacher and Administrator at JJ's Music School, Newton Abbot

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claire Exeter
Administrative Support
Workshop Practitioner

Claire is a Marine Biology graduate from the University of Plymouth but has always harboured a passion for theatre and the arts. She has been involved in numerous amateur musicals throughout the South West and is now training for her Musical Theatre Foundation Degree with APT Theatre, having recently achieved her grade 8 through their Trinity College of London accredited course.

Also as a workshop practitioner for APT Theatre, she will be co-running their new Youth Musical Theatre Course based in Newton Abbot.

Joining JJ’s music school at a busy time, having recently moved to Newton Abbot with her fiancé, Claire is excited about starting work with Joanna and the other staff at an independent Yamaha Music School. See you in reception!

John Risden – Mariners’ Way

John is a local historian and retired school master who has spoken to us on a number of different subjects before. This time he came to tell us about the Mariners’ Way that he walked with his friend Steve Shaw. It is the route that sailors walked in Elizabethan times between Brideport and Dartmouth. During the reign of Elizabeth 1, Brideport became an important port for the Americas and sailors walked between ports to join new ships.

John and Steve planned the 80 mile trip to take 5 days, avoiding the modern roads, stopping in B&B’s at Hatherleigh, Belstone, Lower Hookner, and Buckfastleigh before arriving at Dartmouth. They also used the walk to collect funds for the RNLI.

We started our journey by looking at maps, both ancient and modern, then views of Brideport harbour and fine pictures of our intrepid walkers in bold RNLI sweat shirts.

We followed a former railway line, including light tunnels, for 16 miles, that is now known as the Tarka Trail through beautiful woodland beside the river Torridge. It is on this river that Henry Williamson was inspired to write, ‘Tarka the Otter’ about an otter that is dramatically hunted to his death. We were all very impressed by the disabled friendliness of the trail.

We marvelled at the fine sights of wild flowers covering Culm grasslands, rivers and the moors.

We learnt about the lovely B&B’s, quaint towns and the fault line that provides rare china clay for pottery, paper, cosmetics and mobile phones and minerals of copper, tin, silver and arsenic. We wondered about the reasons of whom and why the ‘9 Maidens’, a ring of stones were laid in Bronze Age times and saw the point at where Charles Wesley preached one of his many sermons.

Unfortunately that’s all until John returns to complete his trail tale later in the year. 

Pat Denham - Vice Principal – South Devon College

Pat came to update us on the developments at the College. The College has 14,000 students annually, 700 staff, a budget of £27 million and an outstanding Ofsted report.

The College, equipped with a new extension, is now offering university foundation courses in technical and vocational subjects linked to Plymouth University. The courses are work place based so that the students are working in the ‘real world’ and employable at the end of their course.

Pat showed us slides and enthused about courses in boat building and engineering at Noss Marina on the river Dart, arts and media with a recording studio at Newton Abbot, uniform public service, children and health care, bioscience, law, management, tourism and hospitality and a new energy centre.

Future employment is certainly bright in Torbay with such facilities in place at this ‘can do’ College that is so in touch with the needs of the students and employers.      

Textiles with Barbara John

Barbara gave us a taster session on her new five week course on embroidery and textiles. She showed us what attractive covers for cushions, pillows, beds and bags we could make from scraps of material at virtually no cost.

Barbara has taught ACE textile classes before and has adapted her classes to the wishes of her students. ACE is well equipped with sewing machines and other facilities for the class.

There was lots of enthusiasm for this subject so I’m sure a productive class is in the making. 

Click here for Textiles photos 

Brixham Church of England Primary School Entertains

Pupils, aged 7 -11, from Brixham Church of England Primary School with their Head Teacher Mel Easter and class teacher Trish Smith entertained ACE members and guests, as they always do at this time of year, to celebrate Christmas and the birth of Christ.

 

 

They sang: ‘Whisper of Peace’, ‘Old Langsyne’, ‘All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth’, ‘Little Christmas’, ‘What are you going to do about the Miracle Birth?’, ’Rocking around the Christmas Tree’, ‘Hallelujah’, ‘Silent Night’,’ Little Lord Jesus’, and ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas’. They sang as a whole group, in smaller groups, in pairs, we joined in and they rapped.

 

We had the most wonderful time. The children have beautiful voices and they clearly enjoy singing and performing. They are so organised, confident and well rehearsed. I really cannot speak too highly for everyone involved. They are an absolute joy to be with. Congratulations from us all. We certainly enjoyed their Christmas message.

Sing along with Margaret Duffy

Margaret Duffy is a most entertaining folk singer and raconteur.

Accompanying herself on the guitar she sang folksongs with a wintery theme: a fisherman hove up in Foggart’s Cove, sheltering from the bitter wind; snow that has brought down a tall tree to the grief of a little sparrow; a comical tale of a Cornish farmer’s embarrassment when, on a bitterly cold day, he has an accident in the field whilst wearing his wife’s tights and has to be attended to by the local nurse and the tale about Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls that cue all.

She read a Pam Aye’s poem about her rescuing the bunnies from some unruly school children, but the tables are turned with a sleeping parrot. 

We heard Louis Armstrong’s: It’s a Wonderful World; The Commotion in the Claggy in Bolton and a song about a troublesome bra to the words of Rawhide.

Margaret will release a new DVD early next year entitled: ‘Nine Turns of the Moon’.

We are all very grateful to Margaret for a very entertaining morning.

The Touch of France on a Bleak, English, mid winter’s Day

Flo was born near Bordeaux in France and moved first to Germany and then to England to sample some different ways of life. She is now settled permanently in Goodrington, Devon, where she has introduced French wines and cooking to our local hotels. She also teaches in schools, proof reads books and translates for the police and other enforcement agencies. She finds being called, ‘Love’ very amusing.

We had a very informative quiz on French food, wines and personalities.

 

We concluded, in typical French style, by sampling a delicious French red wine and three cheeses on French bread.

We very much enjoyed Flo’s visit and we are very glad she chose to live in England.

Janet Penwarden’s trip to New Zealand and Australia

ACE members are so lucky. In the last few weeks we have been spirited off to China and now it’s New Zealand and Australia.

Janet, who worked with ACE from its formation in 1989, has recently retired and she and her husband Bruce have just returned from a lengthy tour of New Zealand and Australia.

They started in Stewart Island at the very southern tip of New Zealand’s South Island and gradually made their way up Southern Island, having visited the North Island on a previous visit, then across to Tasmania and Australia’s southern coast.

With Janet at the helm, and with the aid of photographs and commentary, we visited many beautiful beaches, took a fast jet boat up a river, went whale watching and enjoyed the fascinating plants and animals of these distant lands. It was a very long time ago that our continents were joined together and each country has developed in quite different ways. It’s like rediscovering lost family members to see how they have fared whilst apart. We saw multicoloured birds, various kangaroos and wallabies, Koala bears, huge albatross, seals on the beach, penguins walking out of the surf and hoping over the stones, possums, a blue tongued lizard and insects. Bruce saw a snake as he nearly stepped on it. Fortunately they parted amicably.

We also saw a short film of the two remaining types of monotremes that still exist in the world – the Duckbilled Platypus and the Spiny Ant Eater or Echidna. They are very primitive mammals that lay eggs. Janet captured a wild Platypus on land near a stream. They are normally very shy creatures living a semi aquatic life amongst the under growth.  We saw strange tree ferns, huge trees and beautiful waterfalls.

 

Janet and Bruce often stayed in Youth Hostels (Y.H). One particular Y.H was previously a hospital with extremely long corridors for which they now provide scooters to get around.

We enjoyed examples of how Australians speak. They love to shorten words like ‘Ut’s’ for Utility Vehicles, g’day as a general greeting, ‘tinnies’ for beer cans, dunny for toilet etc.

They learnt the Australian wave that waves away the many flies and the need to protect their sandwiches so that they don’t becoming egg and fly. They wore bicycle helmets with a pair of eyes on the back to ward off dive bombing birds.

We saw examples of Australian art, where young Australian drivers like to ‘donut’ their lovely wide roads by doing hand brake skids to mark them with circular patterns of tyre rubber.

She finished with a road side notice that caught her eye, “Your safety is our concern, but it is your responsibility”.

It was lovely to see Janet again and to share her wonderful trip.

Visit to China by Frank Armstrong

Frank showed us a very good DVD of his holiday taken my one of their party. We saw their holiday as they did.

The holiday started in Shanghai; a large city and port of old and new. We saw many modern sky scrapers and some remaining colonial buildings that trace back to the British and France trading influence and the Opium Wars of the 19^th Century. The city was busily preparing for the 2010 Expo. We ascended their highest building of 88 floors, travelled in the super fast, super smooth train and visited examples of bamboo art, calligraphy as an art form, exotic gardens and a silk factory.

 

We then joined the ‘Blue Whale’ a luxury boat to follow the Yangtze River. We passed through huge locks built to control the flow of the river and to generate clean hydroelectricity. We experienced the alternative; smog caused by coal burning power stations.

One day we took smaller boats up the Shen Nong Xi Gully. These four rivers have cut deep, spectacular, high sided gorges through the mountainous countryside providing wonderful views, wild vegetation, remote wildlife and proud river people. On occasions the water is so shallow that teams of men, once naked, physically pull the boats through.

 

We enjoyed visits to local villages, religious sites, gardens, fine views, a Panda sanctuary, the terracotta warriors, the Great Wall of China and the Bird’s Nest stadium of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Pandas are endangered in the wild due to habit encroachment and their slow reproduction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The terracotta warriors were discovered by a farmer in 1974 and to date approximately 7000 life sized figures and other artefacts have been unearthed. They are 2200 years old.

 

 

 

 

 

During the holiday they visited the Forbidden City and learnt about the many Chinese emperors, also China’s role during World War II, the rise of Mao Zedong and communism in China and its main religions of Confucius, Taoism and Buddhism.

Frank treated us to a huge country that none of us had visited before. It was a pleasure to learn so much.     

Poetry Recital

John and Suzy Miles treated us to a marvellous recital of their poems as a prelude to Torbay’s Poetry Festival to be staged at various venues across the Bay from 28^th October to 1^st November.

They entertained us with poems about Sea Gulls swooping on your ice cream, a 1970’s Hop in the local church hall and a stay at Granny’s. They continued with The Life of a Church Mouse, especially at Harvest Festival, Bird Song, building in Brixham, called ‘Brix. and Mortar’, Morris Dancing, Little Red Riding Hood and the views of Neanderthal man.

Graham recited his poem called ‘Peaches’.

Rose in her thank speech offered them a bottle of wine with an impromptu rhyme.

The morning was very entertaining and stimulating.  

John Roberts Demonstrates his Puppets

John gave up work as an architect to become a full time puppeteer. He has since travelled the world learning his trade and entertaining.

John’s passion for puppets began when he was given a glove puppet as a boy. He started entertaining first himself, then his family, before he realised he needed an audience. He started building his own staging from cardboard boxes, added electric lights and now he carves all his own puppets from Jelutong, a Malaysian hard wood in his garden shed.

He was a director of the ‘Little Angel Theatre’ in London, famous for puppetry, for ten years.

He demonstrated the 4 types of puppets: glove, like ‘Punch and Judy’, string, rod and shadow.

We really enjoyed watching him working the puppets as shown in our picture gallery. The puppets are beautifully made, mostly by him, and his enthusiasm is infectious.

Further information can be found on the internet on the ‘Little Angel Theatre’ and on ‘John Roberts on Puppets’.

 

Click here to see more puppet photos

Eleanor Moss on Torbay’s Libraries

Eleanor is a full time librarian at Brixham Library having recently settled in Brixham. She reminded us of the wealth of information and advice offered FREE by Torbay’s libraries.

Torbay’s modern libraries are lively exciting places to visit for all the family.

Paignton’s library opened its new building on 13 September 2010 and Torquay and Brixham libraries have been refurbished.

They provided an impressive list of facilities: the lone of books and DVDs, using electronic recording systems, newspapers and magazines to be read in comfortable surroundings, ‘Music Rhythm and Rhyme’ sessions encourage the under 4’s and their parents to sing catchy tunes, the Red Fox Club provides games, books and crafts for 8 – 10 year olds, a Memory session for people with dementia and a Book Club for the blind and visually impaired. A blind member of ACE, Ian White, recently visited Paignton library, at their request, to test their facilities and to advise if necessary. He was most impressed with the service available.

There are poetry reading sessions and Friends Groups. IT classes and facilities to search for your family tree. Books can be down loaded from the library’s website.

Paignton library has a café and facilities to meet and discuss council and police matters with staff.

Mobile libraries still serve our rural communities.

Eleanor’s talk was very reassuring that our libraries are modernising their facilities and remain important places of information and learning of our communities. What a wonderful source of information and learning all for FREE. 

Mike Langman  A RSPB Illustrator

Mike Langman has an expert knowledge of the birds he illustrates and records. Through his talk, he has helped us to improve our skills in observing wildlife - especially birds.

The Victorians were the first to make detailed studies and recordings of all aspects of nature including birds, but they mainly used the gun and not the telescope or binoculars to collect the data. Although shooting birds to be preserved and displayed in homes and museums resulted in very accurate recordings of form and colour, which are still useful today, it is not now the preferred method. Detailed observations of all aspects of birds are today obtained using improved telescopes, binoculars, cameras and trap and release methods using ‘mist’ nets’ when birds can be closely observed, ringed and sometimes electronic tagged.

A picture of a Victorian glass case clearly showed the detailed plumage and the size difference of a male and female Peregrine Falcon. The female ‘rules the roost’ in that family.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) was formed in 1889 with the emphasis on protection and conservation.

Mike showed us pictures of common garden birds and talked about their characteristics and how to attract them to our gardens.

He talked about the history of bird identification books and CD ROMs and how they have improved over time.

 

We then had an individual test of our powers of observation, when asked to draw a badger’s head. Can you remember exactly where the black stripes go and what they include?  

Then, as a group, we had to tell Mike how to draw a very familiar bird - a Puffin. Again it was surprising what details we missed when shown a photograph.

Mike showed us some of his sketches of birds made in the field; some going back to his school days. Making sketches at the time of observing a bird focuses on the detail.

He finished with sketches of a buzzard compared with an eagle in flight and a cormorant and a shag to illustrate their differences.

It was a very stimulating talk.

Visit by Clare Milne

Clare Milne, the granddaughter of A. A. Milne, the author of the children’s books ‘Winnie the Pooh’, visited ACE on Friday 9^th July with her charity trustee Margaret Rogers, carer Nicky White and Kathy Beechen from the Devon Community Foundation.

Clare, who is disabled herself, established the Clare Milne Trust in 2002 with funds derived from her grandfather. The aim of the Trust is to help smaller effective charities with good volunteer support with their work for the disabled in or close to Devon and Cornwall.

Unfortunately it was not possible to arrange this visit earlier in the year, on a Thursday, when most ACE members are present and involved in a wide range of classes.

This said, however, they did arrive on a lovely summer’s day to be met by Jenny Harriman, Head of the Brixham Adult and Community Learning Centre, and members of the ACE Gardening Class. They were given a guided tour of the excellent facilities available to ACE members, including the computer room, the arts and craft room with its pottery studio attached, funded by ACE, and the spacious meeting room to welcome visiting speakers and to have lunch together.

Katie Babbs, the Gardening Tutor and members of the class then showed Clare and her party our very accessible garden of raised beds and a polly tunnel. The garden was at its best with fine displays of flowers, shrubs and vegetables. Then it was time to enjoy some refreshments, take photographs and have a chat.

They then left for the Berry Head hotel for lunch on the terrace.

Tony Beard – ‘The Wag of Widecombe’.

Tony arrived on a beautiful summer’s day and spoke to us in the ACE garden.

Tony was born in 1936 and still lives in the house where he was born, in Widecombe on Dartmoor.

He was raised as a country boy and still farms on the ‘Moor’.

He started by telling us, how as a boy, he made his pocket money catching rabbits and moles. He caught and sold adult rabbits, which when added to some vegetables, make a wholesome, nutritious stew for the family. During the war, rabbits were much in demand as they were not included in the ration book. He also collected baby rabbits from the nests in the fields and sold them to the warrener to provide new blood stock for his colony. He helped trap the stoats and weasels that prey on the warrener’s rabbits.

He trapped moles that damage the fields and provide beautiful pelts. He sold rabbit and mole pelts and feathers to a man in Cambridge.

He is always on the lookout for items of interest when ploughing his fields or walking in the countryside. He showed us a Neolithic Stone Age axe head that is about 4000 years old, a flint arrow head and a bronze arrow head that he had spotted. These items prompted him to found the Widecombe History Society, which still well supported and making local discoveries. He showed us some of the documents found in a chest dated to 1608, which included indenture papers. Youngsters were indentured to a tradesman or householder from the age of 14 for 5 years. Only girls could avoid this when they got married. Whilst indentured you didn’t receive any payment and were completely reliant on the good nature of your ‘tradesman’ and/ or your family for your well being.

At one time the first son of wealthy land owners was sent to the navy, the second to the army and the third to the church. With the later the Lord of the Manor held total control over his tenants. If you didn’t have a good reason for missing church then you were dismissed from the village. Unexplained happenings, as he related from Widecombe Church, were the work of the devil or the wrath of god, which also held you to the church.

He talked about family trees and the problems caused by names being spelt differently. This was caused by people being illiterate and reliant on others to spell their name. He also stressed the need to write the names of people on the back of photographs and to quiz your family before it is too late.

He finished with a ‘Dad’s Army’ tale. An exercise had been devised to capture three parachutists hiding in a sympathiser’s house. The men were arranged, the local bus had been commandeered, but it never took place because the Postmistress went to lunch and didn’t ‘man’ the telephone exchange.

Tony stayed for lunch with us and I asked him about his Sunday lunch time slot on Devon Radio. He said he was spotted when doing cabaret and he talks about country matters on the ‘Moor’.

He’s a most interesting, natural speaker with a lovely Devonshire accent.

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.

Although the group were disappointed that wheelchairs users will not be able to access the Rock Wall, we are assured that we will be able to access the gardens at the base and view the terraces.

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.