The Friends of St
Andrew’s Church have asked the Group to take part in the Arts & Craft days
in the Church on the weekend of 18th / 19th May. It was
agreed to accept the invitation, ideas began flowing to mount displays on the
carvings in the church, blacksmiths and to look at old adverts for local
craftsmen and women.
Geoff has been
volunteering and the Devon Record Office for Seven years. He is working on thirty
eight boxes from a deceased estate in Crediton, but looking forward to going
back to the Railway files.
Sam is working on a
dig at Bow, this is a Henge, classed as an ancient monument, Nothing visible on the surface. It consists of a stone bank
and ditch, it may have been a wooden
post or stone circle. In Scotland a “ modern circle” classed as
ancient has been found https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-46946652
George has been
walking along part of the Otter at Fenny Bridges. It is known that the River
has moved and been reshaped by nature and man. Nigel Scarf lived in Rosary Cottage and
noticed a mound in the garden, could this be where bodies from the Battle of
Fenny Bridges were buried? David tells
us there is to be a metal detecting session in the area soon.
Brenda recalls going
to the Ottery tar barrels just after she met Keith, they became caught up in
the crowds and fell into a house window. Brenda tells us she has been working on her
family tree, one man was a blacksmith ,
he was called up during the war and sent to be in the Royal Naval Air Force
based at Shoreham, sadly while away his wife died and he came home to care for
their children
Peter is writing his
family history. He would like to do a tandem
parachute jump or row the Atlantic, but his Doctor said no very firmly. So he
decided to do a marathon of poetry in 26 days, with the proceeds going to the
church, King Street Day Care and the
Exeter Leukaemia Fund. He writes from the heart and feels the emotions.
Jenny and the battle banner
will be in the church for Craft event in May. She told us about a book, entitled The Field Guide to the English Clergy, it is
very funny, Jenny read an extract about Bishop Cecil of Exeter, he was known to
be somewhat eccentric. On one occasion a guest having tea with him at his home
was surprised when he fed pieces of crumpets to two rats that came out of holes
in the floor, and threw powdered copper sulphate on the fire to turn the flames
green, remarking that he liked the colour. Once, goes another story, while
robing in the vestry before a service, he held a handkerchief between his
teeth, but forgot to return it to his pocket and proceeded to the altar with it
still hanging from his mouth. He had been heard to complain that the Bible was
"an awkward book", and while travelling around his diocese he would
often ring up his wife to ask where he was, stealing bicycles to get home, they
painted his bike red, but he kept taking postman’s bikes instead.
Alan has been looking
at railway history in South Somerset. Many of the towns would have been better
served if the railway routes were better planned.
The town of Crewkerne is served by the station
at Miserton, some distance away. The Salisbury to Yeovil railway had no
investment but came to be a profitable to Sherborne. The Castle at Sherborne was
a problem until the owner died, then his son let the railway through.
Taunton to Yeovil
then to Exeter suffered from business conflict, this was the cause of the bad
routes Okehampton had two stations owned by different companies.
Yeovil also has badly
planned stations with Yeovil Junction and Penn Mill being somewhat outside the
main town. Then of course many branch lines were lost to the cuts imposed by
Beeching.
Thank
you all for a fascinating evening.
We
meet in The Nog Inn on Thursday 7th March at 8 pm
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