No Report

MARLDON LOCAL HISTORY GROUP

February 2010

Although our Christmas Social Evening seems an awfully long time ago now, what with Christmas, the New Year and the weather we have had, the Committee still recall it -  not just for the enjoyable evening that it was -  but also for the mild panic caused when we found out just a few days beforehand that our Guest entertainer had to cancel due to illness.   However, the day was saved by our friends at the Marldon Organ & Keyboard Club, one of whom stepped in at the last moment to provide us with a session of most enjoyable musical entertainment.   Many thanks to them, and as usual a most enjoyable evening was had by all.

As mentioned in the last Magazine, our programme of Guest Speakers for our 2010 Open Meetings is almost complete, and a full list will be in next month’s Report.   Hopefully, Margaret Duffy will be fit and well soon, and will entertain us at Christmas 2010.

In the meantime, our next Open Meeting will be on Friday 12^th March, when our Speaker willl be Leslie Folkard, who will talk to us about the history of the Devon General Omnibus Company, well remembered in South Devon.  Posters will be on the Notice Boards in due course, and Members will be notified directly as always.  See you then.

MARLDON LOCAL HISTORY GROUP

March 2010

As mentioned in last month’s Magazine, our programme of Guest Speakers for this new year has now been settled, and starts this month with an illustrated talk on “The history of the Devon General Bus Company” by Leslie Folkard.  This is on Friday 12th March, at 7.30 pm in the Village Hall.  Posters are now on the Village Notice Boards, and Members will be notified direct as usual.

Then on Friday 11th June, our Speaker will be Alan Salsbury, talking about the history of Kent's Cavern, and recent discoveries and developments there,  followed on Friday 10th September (also our AGM already!) by local author and environmentalist Valerie Besley talking about “The Green Lanes of Devon”.  To round off the year, at our Christmas Social Evening we will (hopefully!) be entertained by Margaret Duffy from Brixham, and others (you'll have to wait and see!).

You will have noticed that all our Open Meetings are on the second Friday of March, June, September and December, which make them easier to remember, but put them on your calendar or in your diary anyway!    Our Open Meetings are open to Members and non-Members, and  admission is free to Members and £2 to non-Members.

Also at our Open Meeting on Friday 12^th of this month, we shall have on display firstly,  the latest batch of photographs from the Group’s “Marldon Now” project, taken by Member Ray Bond.   This latest batch will be something of a change, as they are of the interior of our Church.   All of the photographs in this project can be seen on the Group’s website “www.marldonhistory.co.uk".   We shall also have on display about twenty photographs from Mr. Basil Sutcliffe, who, you will remember from our recent Reports in the Magazine, spent his childhood holidays during the 1920’s and early 1930’s on Peter’s Farm with his mother and his sister.  Mr. & Mrs. Stranger, who ran the farm at the time, were his grandparents.    Although these photographs are “before our time” for most of us, they show Marldon, and some of its villagers, in another, almost idyllic rural era, and will be of great interest.    Many villagers are shown, and although we have some names, perhaps you will recognise some faces and add others.

Finally, if you are one of the few who have not renewed their Membership this year, you can do so at the Meeting, or if you are not a Member, you can join if you wish.   Subscription is still £3, renewable at the AGM each September.   We look forward to seeing you !

MARLDON LOCAL HISTORY GROUP

April 2010

“Move farther down the bus please” and “more room on top” were cries often heard many years ago, when ‘buses had conductors and were the most used form of transport for most people, indicating that the ‘bus was filling up but a few more people could be squeezed on!.  

We did not quite get to that stage at our Open Meeting on 12^th March, when the subject of our Speaker’s talk was “The history of the Devon General Omnibus Company”, with lots of slides showing lots of different ‘buses in various colours, fondly remembered by most of our audience.   The Service from Paignton to Marldon and Compton was, apparently, Number 63, and our Speaker Leslie Folkard even had a few slides of Devon General ‘buses on duty in the Parish, including one at the stop opposite the School and another in the turning area by Castle Barton.   Leslie has kindly agreed to obtain copies of these for the Group’s Archive, for which we are most grateful.

Our audience on the night included several non-members, who we are always pleased to see, and who we hope enjoyed the Meeting.   Our membership also enjoyed a boost from more than a few renewals and new members, which is most welcome.  

Our display of photographs of Peter’s Farm and other parts of the village, recently donated to our Archive, created much interest, as did the latest batch of photographs of the Church from Member Ray Bond.   These will form part of the “Marldon Now” galleries on our website (www.marldonhistory.co.uk), which is now even more worth looking at following its recent revamp.

As you are now reading the Magazine (you can’t deny it!), I hope you will take a look at the article about the Marldon Parish Map, which was a Millennium Project launched exactly 10 years ago this month - on 12^th April 2000.    The Map is itself already a part of Marldon’s history, and has its place in our Archive, so why not get a copy? 

 

MARLDON LOCAL HISTORY GROUP

One of the pleasures of being on the Committee of the History Group is being unexpectedly given some item of memorabilia for our Archive.   Often, I am sure that the donor wonders how I can be so pleased about something which they regard as insignificant, but each item tells us something about life in Marldon at some time in the past and they will be even more interesting in the future.   Hopefully, some of that pleasure is also felt by our Members when the item goes on display at our Quarterly Open Meetings, especially if it invokes other memories from that time.

This week I was given three items connected with the Church, none of which we have in the Archive.   The first is an Order of Service to mark the re-hanging of the Church bells in October 1970.  This also gives some historical details of the bells (the oldest of which dates from the building of the Church), including the new bell then being installed.   There is also a Parish Magazine for December 1973, to add to our growing collection of old Parish Magazines.   Of interest in this one is the then Vicar, the Revd J.D. Corbett, talking about his departure the following month for pastures new at Bournemouth, “School News”, which appeared to be a regular feature and told us about the success of their Bonfire Night which attracted about 800 (!!) people, and a Parish Council report by the Chairman Mrs. Brockhurst and reports from both W.I.’s and the Guides and Brownies.   The third item, also dated 1973, is a booklet introducing the Christian Stewardship Campaign which includes several photographs, some of them local.    It would be interesting to find the originals of those!

A little reminder, then, that if you have any items of memorabilia, be they old photos, Parish Magazines, newspaper cuttings, programmes or souvenirs of events, or anything relating to Marldon Parish, please let us know.   We are always willing to copy anything you may wish to keep.

Finally, a bit of advance notice that our next Open Meeting is on Friday 11^th June, when our Speaker will be Alan Salsbury, who will tell us about the history of Kent’s Cavern and recent discoveries and developments there, and which may result in a visit and a cream tea if enough people put their hands up!    Posters will be on the Notice Boards in due course, and Members will be notified direct as usual.   See you there!

 

MARLDON LOCAL HISTORY GROUP

June 2010

We often complain, sometimes to ourselves, sometimes aloud, about the number of “repeats” on the television.   The attitude of the broadcaster is usually that “if something is worth seeing, it’s worth seeing twice”, and in any case, it’s not a repeat, it’s “another chance to see”, as if they’re doing us a favour!

At our Open Meetings, we do sometimes have a Guest Speaker we have had before, but always speaking on a different subject.   Similarly, with our displays of memorabilia and old photographs, we have not (as far as I can recall) shown the same display twice.   However, at our next Open Meeting on Friday 11^th June, we WILL be putting on a display that we have shown before, although I hasten to add that there will also be some photographs which we have NOT previously had on display as well.

The photographs we have shown before are our recent acquisition of photographs of, and connected with, Peters Farm, and the reason we are showing them again is because a number of our regular Members were unable to see them the first time around and have requested that they be shown again if possible.   And, of course, they really are worth seeing again, and there will be others which have not been seen before (and I promise we won’t make a habit of it!).

The subject of the illustrated talk at our next meeting is “Kents Cavern - its history and recent developments and discoveries”.   Our Speaker is Alan Salsbury, who is a Guide at the Caves, so this should be a very interesting and informative talk.   You may recall that at our last Open Meeting in March, our Chairman announced that if there was sufficient interest, Alan might be able to arrange a guided tour of the Caves, followed by a Cream Tea.   A cost of £5 per person was mentioned, and if there is sufficient interest, we shall be taking names, and possibly payment, if a date can be agreed.

As usual, admission to our Open Meeting on the 11^th (usual time - 7.30) will be free to Members, and £2 for non-members.   We look forward to seeing you there.

MARLDON LOCAL HISTORY GROUP

July 2010

Well, it’s here at last  (or at least it is at the time of writing this) - the sun, the warm weather, Wimbledon, in other words - the Summer!    The Met Office will soon be telling us it will be like this until October!   If I remember correctly, we had  beautiful sunny weather for Wimbledon fortnight last year, and now it looks as if we may be having the same this year.   Having said that, I think it changed somewhat after Wimbledon last year, so perhaps we shouldn’t count our chickens.

Another sign that it’s Summer is that the Apple Pie Fair is looming up fast - the last Saturday of this month, so put it on your calendar now, because we’re very lucky to have an Apple Pie Fair to go to.   Please come along and support it, and bring your family and friends.   Look out for the posters and publicity which will start appearing on the Notice Boards and elsewhere.   If you hadn’t already heard, the Fair will be officially opened this year by that well known comedy duo The Krankies, who are doing a Summer Spectacular Show at the Palace Theatre, Palace Avenue, Paignton.

On the History Group front, our Open Meeting last month was again very well attended, and an illustrated talk on Kents Cavern was enjoyed by all.    The proposed guided tour of the Caves will take place later this year, and information will be sent out with the AGM flyers at the beginning of September.   And speaking of the AGM, our Guest Speaker on that occasion will be environmentalist and author Valerie Besley, who will be speaking to us about the ”Green Lanes of Devon” based on her book of the same title.    More details about that in due course.

Don’t forget - see you at the Apple Pie Fair!

MARLDON LOCAL HISTORY GROUP

In last month’s Magazine you may have noticed that there was an article entitled “Toponymy” by David Whytehead.   No, I didn’t know what it meant either, and had to look it up, but when you think about it the “top” bit, as David says, gives you something of a clue.  David also said that the History Group might be able to help, and so Doug Pulle, our Chairman has obliged with the following response, all in the spirit of friendliness and spreading a bit of knowledge about our village and Parish.   So, here goes …….

TOPONYMY - PART II.     David Whytehead, in his interesting article on Toponymy in July’s Magazine, suggests a derivation for the name of our village, Marldon.   It is a very plausible argument made all the more persuasive when you look up the word “marl” in the Concise Oxford Dictionary - “soil consisting of clay and lime with fertilising properties”.    Kiln Lane (it’s actually Kiln Road, but everyone calls it Lane) has at least three former lime kilns all of which produced lime to be used by farmers to improve the productive qualities of their soil.

However, reference to the Oxford English Dictionary of Place Names gives us a slightly different slant on “Marldon”.    “Don”, it agrees, indicates a hill, but “marl” is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word “meargelle”, ie “gentian”.     Thus, “Marldon” equals the “hill on which gentians grow”.   Long-standing inhabitants of Marldon will know that the hill rising up from Love Lane Farm is called “Blue Mountain”, which seems to clinch the issue, gentians being blue in colour.

Other ancient names for Marldon are also listed in this latter dictionary as “Marledone” and “Mergheldone”, which add to the interest in this voyage of discovery.   I’m sure David was only too aware of the alternative derivation I’ve just outlined but, tongue in cheek, hoped it would spark off a reply.   Well, this representative of the Local History Group has obliged!D.J. Pulle.

So, there you are then, and now you know!   Moving on, as they say, I am pleased to report that the Group were pleased to give a little talk and presentation to the ladies of the W.I at their July meeting, which we hope they found interesting and informative.  After a short talk by our Chairman about Marldon generally and the Group in particular, we were pleased to give a showing, for the first time in public, of the Group’s website.  Time didn’t allow us to show all of the content of the website - that would take some considerable time - but we were able to show a very good selection of the many different sections of the site including several dozen old and new photographs, and the ladies seemed suitably impressed by the scope and content of what they saw.  

If you have a computer, you can spend many hours looking at the whole thing, just go to www.marldonhistory.co.uk.    Recent additions to the site include the final refinements to the Tithe Map pages, a section about our public footpaths, bridleways and unclassified roads, and the Parish Map produced for the Millennium.   Also shortly to be added are more memories and recollections on our Social and Oral History pages, so keep looking.    Having said all that, I must once again mention Mike Alcock, who not only set up our website but also maintains, refreshes and updates it, for which we are permanently grateful.

Just a quick mention, finally, that our next Open Meeting is our AGM at the beginning of September when our Guest Speaker will be Valerie Besley, talking about the “Green Lanes of Devon”.  More about that next month, and on the Notice Boards in due course. 

MARLDON LOCAL HISTORY GROUP

September 2009

Some occasions, like Christmas and birthdays, seem to sneak up on you and you find yourself thinking “what, already?”, and the Group’s AGM is one such occasion.  As usual, I have been looking back through the files to remind myself of the detail of what has happened over the last twelve months, and the success of our booklet of David Best’s wartime boyhood memories stands out.   The booklet was available from the beginning of this year, and sales have far exceeded our expectations.    Once again, our thanks are due to Pam and John at the Post Office, and latterly to Cox’s Garage and the Smokey House pub who have been kind enough to display and sell the booklet on our behalf.    If by any chance you haven’t yet got a copy, it is still available and the price is only £1.50.

Mention of the Smokey reminds me to refer again to our constant appeal for memorabilia of the Parish (of any description), and to mention again the following - a few months ago whilst in the Post Office, John handed me a copy of the Herald Express dated February 1978 which had been left with him to give to me.    This particular Herald Express had a photograph on the front page of the Smokey in the heavy snow which we had for a few days at that time, and was very welcome as we had not seen it before (the paper that is, not the snow!).     Unfortunately, John could not remember who had handed it in, not even whether it was a man or a woman, and so I have not been able to thank that person properly for thinking of us.    So, if you are that person, or know who it was, please let us know.   Perhaps you could come along to the AGM, and reveal yourself!

If you are a man of a certain age, or you know one, this may interest you.   The Group has received a letter from a Television film company called Testimony Films Ltd., who are making a documentary film called “A Century of Fatherhood” to be shown on the BBC next year.   They are looking for, in their words, men aged 70plus, who have a story to tell about their own experience of being a dad, or their memories of their own father, things like whether they were present at the birth, what games they played with their children, whether they were affectionate dads, etc.   They would also like to hear from fathers who had to leave their families to go and fight in the Second World War, and from the children they left behind.    If you want to know more, they have a website at www.testimonyfilms.com, or their address is 12 Great George Street, Bristol, BS1 5RS.    The company specialises in making oral history documentary films, and have been doing so for many years.    Oral history is a very important aspect of local history, and whilst our Group has several examples of  it, it is something which, given the manpower and time, we should do more of.

Finally then, to remind you of our next Open Meeting, which is our AGM on FRIDAY 11^th SEPTEMBER, 7.30 pm in the Village Hall.   As usual at our AGM, admission is FREE, and Members and non-members are welcome.   Our Guest Speaker will be Mike Perriam, who we have not seen before, and who will be giving us an illustrated talk entitled “Curious Devon”.    The AGM is the time for Members to renew their subscriptions,  and if you are not a Member (or you have lapsed!) then why not join us.   Subscription is only £3 a year, and entitles you to free admission to our other Open Meetings.    We look forward to seeing you.

 

MARLDON LOCAL HISTORY GROUP

October 2009

Our AGM and Autumn Open Meeting (to give it it’s full title) was held on Friday 11^th September, and more than seventy Members and non-members attended, thus maintaining our excellent average attendance.    All Members who attended were kind enough to renew their memberships, and with half a dozen new Members recruited, we are more than half-way to last years total membership already !   The interest and loyalty of our Members continues to surprise and gratify us, so thanks to you all.

 Before the routine business of the AGM, we had a very interesting and informative illustrated talk from Mike Perriam entitled “Curious Devon”.   Mike told us about many of the unusual structures of the County, including not only out-of-the-ordinary buildings and follys, but also statues, obelisks, and memorials.   As well as reminding us about these unusual items of our heritage  (or in some cases making us aware of them for the first time) Mike gave us their history and background as well. All in all, a well received talk.

 We also had on display the latest batch of “Marldon Now” photographs from Member Ray Bond, which record well known and not so well know locations in the Parish as a permanent record for future generations.   Ironically, the subject of his latest group of photographs is something which we hope will not change a great deal in the future - the interior of our Church.   These latest photographs, and indeed the whole of the “Marldon Now” project, taken by Ray over the years since the Group was formed, are on the Group’s website, and will very shortly be presented in a new, refreshed way on the website, which will make them not only easier to find and choose, but easier on the eye as well !    We also had a display of older photographs, some of which had not been seen before, as well as a short photographic “walk” down Village Road.

 The formal business of the AGM proceeded after the break, and included a summary by our Chairman Doug Pulle of the past year activities, continuing work on our Archive, and the success of the booklet produced by the Group of the late David Best’s “Memories of Wartime Marldon”. (This is still available at our Post Office and Cox’s Garage, if you haven’t got a copy - only £1.50).    The Officers and Committee were re-elected en bloc, and Barry Heaselden bravely put his hand up in response to the Chairman’s annual appeal for new faces on the Committee !

 Finally, if you were unable to attend the AGM and have not yet renewed your membership, it would assist us greatly if you could do this before  the next Open Meeting at Christmas.  And if you have renewed, many thanks again.

MARLDON LOCAL HISTORY GROUP

November 2009

A couple of months ago I mentioned the importance of oral history within the subject of local history, and mentioned that the Group had several examples collected over the years (some before the Group was formed).   All of these have been transcribed and will, we hope, be displayed on the Group’s website in due course.   The latest example we had then was a talk by Fred Westaway to the 50Plus Club in the old Village Hall, and this is being transcribed at the moment (not an easy task, taking into account Fred’s lovely Devonshire accent!).

Since then, at the AGM in September, we put out an appeal for information about Peter’s Farm and a Mr. Basil Sutcliffe, and I am pleased to say that we have since received a lengthy memoir from Mr. Sutcliffe (now aged 93!) about the summer holidays he spent at Peter’s Farm in the 1920’s and early 1930’s with his grandparents Richard and Sarah Jane Stranger.    The Strangers were the tenants of Peter’s Farm until it was sold as part of the Compton Castle Estate in the early 1930’s.

Mr. Sutcliffe’s memoir is a detailed and fondly written account of life on a rural farm in the 1920s/early ‘30s, and gives much detail of  the farm and Marldon and some of the people who lived here at that time.  You can read this on our website now (www.marldonhistory.co.uk), and I am sure it will be as popular as our recent showing of  David Best’s wartime memories of Marldon. 

Finally,  I am pleased to say that since our AGM, membership renewals have continued and are now approaching 100, so if you haven’t renewed yet, or you want to join, please contact either Tony Chidlow (521419) or Chris Alcock (551946) and help us to reach last year’s Membership total.

 

MARLDON LOCAL HISTORY GROUP

Yes, Christmas is definitely coming - this is the month when you get two Parish Magazines for the price of one (well, a double issue anyway) and you finally have to admit that it is less than a month away and you haven’t done a thing! (I hasten to add that this is a man writing!).   Our village Christmas fairs and fetes, parties and other events always raise the spirits and put us in a good mood, as well as raising funds for the Church, School and local organisations, so support them if you can.    Also our Post Office and Village Stores, who serve us well throughout the year, and who can provide a lot of what we need at this time of year.   You know the slogan - use them or lose them!

The memoirs of Basil Sutcliffe and his childhood memories of Summers spent on Peter’s Farm, are, as mentioned last month, now on the Group’s website, and we are receiving many favourable comments for their detail of life on a Marldon farm in the 1920’s and early 1930’s, recounted in an affectionate and nostalgic manner.   Please have a look if you can - www.marldonhistory.co.uk     The revamped “Marldon Now” galleries of photographs of our Parish today are also well worth a look.

Perhaps I could also mention here that our programme of Speakers at our Open Meetings is almost complete for 2010, and will include talks on “The history of Devon General”, “Berry Pomeroy and other local Castles”, and “The Green lanes of Devon”, taking place in March, June and September respectively.   Posters will be on the Notice Boards before each meeting, as usual.

I mentioned last month that our membership was approaching 100, and I am pleased to say that renewals continue and our membership is now 108.   If you haven’t renewed yet, or you want to join, please contact either Tony Chidlow (521419) or Chris Alcock (551946) or Doug Pulle (557142).   The subscription is £3 per year, which entitles you to free admission to our quarterly Open Meetings.

Finally, on behalf of our Committee, may I thank all our Members for their continued fantastic support throughout the year by attending our Open Meetings in such large numbers and supporting us as they do, and may we wish you, and indeed everyone in the Parish, a merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful New Year.

 

The Totnes Heritage Group has just started to record the history of the Reeves Timberyard which was one of the largest employers in Totnes for more than a 100 years from 1891 when the first sawmill was established.

The Heritage Lottery Fund is supporting the project which aims to record the history of the Reeves timber yard and its impact on the local economy throughout the 20th century. Working in conjunction with the Totnes Image Bank and Rural Archive, the Totnes Heritage Group is planning to produce an illustrated book as well as mounting a large photographic exhibition .

We are eager to talk to people who worked for Reeves, or anyone who lived in Totnes and had any dealings with the firm, or who may have memories or photographs of the various activities connected with the timber yard.

We are especially interested in talking to people who remember the Wharf railway which brought the timber from the station down to the docks, or anyone who handled the shire horses which delivered the timber around the area. We also would like to talk to people who worked on the timber boats which brought the timber from Dartmouth to Totnes, as well as anyone who worked in any capacity at the timber yard. So far we have not managed to talk to any women who worked at Reeves and would be delighted to hear from them as well as the men who did all the heavy work unloading the boats, stacking the timber etc. especially in the period before fork lift trucks were introduced after the end of world war two.

Please contact the group by email by clicking here Reeves Project Totnes