Another new walk last month brought out 39 walkers, albeit Level 2 and Level 3 combined. We met at the car park on Torrington Commons which boasted a burger van, an ice cream van and that very rare facility these days a convenient Convenience!

Both groups set off together, going down past the side of the cemetery and then following the path as it zigzagged down the side of the valley to where we crossed over a stream on a small bridge. We then continued with the track which was once a section of Roman road. There is quite a maze of well marked pathways but the one we followed took us behind the Puffing Billy Pub and Torrington Cycle Hire. Had we continued along the former Roman Road it would have taken us uphill and across the golf course. The groups then split with Level 2 accessing the Tarka Trail and retuning to The Common just after passing the Puffing Billy, where the Heritage Railway Group have recently laid a new extension to their tracks. Level 3 headed on to pick up and follow a section of the Rolle Canal, which was opened in 1827, having been designed by James Green who had at that time recently completed the Bude Canal. The path then took us down onto the Tarka Trail where we found the River Torridge and the source of a powerful sound of water being the Beam Weir which was named after the historic estate which was under the ownership of the Rolle family in the 1700s, hence the name of the Rolle Canal. Beam Weir is also the ‘birthplace’ of Tarka the Otter written by Henry Williamson. We returned to the car park, also via The Common, to a choice of refreshment venues.

It is with deep sadness that we report the loss of Gordon Bennett who passed away early last month at the age of 94. Gordon was introduced to the Walking Group by David Arney who was presenting a promotional talk to the cardiac rehabilitation group at Holsworthy Hospital in the early 2000s. Gordon had recently undergone heart surgery and he felt that walking with the Group would be a pleasant way to regain and maintain fitness. Gordon went on to become our first Chairperson and served in his calm and gentlemanly way until, at the age of 92, he decided to hand over the role to a younger person. He continued to be a valued member of the Monday Walk in the Park group up until the end of last year. Our condolences go to Gordon's family.

If you would like to join us we walk on Mondays and Fridays. All walks start at 10.30am and are free. Membership forms are available from our Volunteer Walk Leaders prior to the start of the walk.

Our Friday programme will not be interrupted by the Festive Season but the Monday Walk will be taking a break as the Youth Centre, our refreshment base, will not be open on December 23 or 30. We will be resuming on January 6.

Ruth Bealing led the service at the Methodist Chapel on Sunday, November 17.

The singing was led by Dionne Bere on the keyboard. The reading from the Book of Haggai was read by Lesley Coxon. The prayers of intercession were led by Sandra Shepherd.

We welcomed friends from Bodmin Street Methodist Church in Holsworthy to our service on Sunday, November 24, which was led by Christine Forster of Holsworthy.

The singing was led by Christine Tratt and Sandra Shepherd on keyboards, Mark Shepherd on guitar and with Pam Newton and Avril Glessing as vocalists.

A video entitled 'Who am I' was viewed. The prayers of intercession were led by Cath Paddon.

Refreshments were served after both services.

We certainly weren't going to let the wet and windy weather stop us from going on our ADVENTure Trail on Sunday!

The trail was moved inside the Chapel for safety and warmth, seeing the Chapel transformed into a winter wonderland trail!

We all had a truly blessed time reading about each part and person in the Nativity, collecting wooden representations of each along the way.

At the end we brought them to life by adding Mary's headdress, the Shepherds' crooks and the Kings' crowns!

Gathered together we learnt more about the true meaning of Christmas with our short talk/story.

We finished the evening off enjoying some warm and delicious food and drinks.

Photographs have been coming in of everyone's Nativity Sets in their homes.

The Inner Wheel Club of Launceston held it's monthly meeting on November 25.

Members enjoyed fellowship and a meal before the business meeting began. The guest speaker was Chris Theobald from Man Down who gave us an interesting talk and update on the charity. President Ann Boundy presented Chris with a cheque for £150 which was very much appreciated.

Members are now looking forward to their Christmas social which is an afternoon tea at the home of one of our members.

Inner Wheel meet at Trethorne Golf Club on the fourth Monday of each month. They meet a 6pm where they enjoy a meal together followed by a business meeting. The members enjoy fellowship together whilst raising funds for charitable causes both locally and internationally. If you feel this is something you would like to get involved in then please email [email protected]

Our next meeting is on Monday, January 27, where we will be welcoming the Inner Wheel District 129 Zone Representative to speak.

Trish Shanks opened the November meeting by welcoming all the visitors and members. She then introduced Tony Rea, a Sewing Bee finalist in 2023.

He started his talk by telling us a bit about himself. He started work at 16 and worked his way up to being a design engineer for quite a few large companies. It was a very busy life style for him, so at the age of 50 he decided to have a gap year! He and his wife went on a year long trip around Asia and had a wonderful time. When he returned he decided to find an easier and quieter job. So became a postman in Bude. Whilst away travelling he started to crochet during the long flights and found he enjoyed it so continued. He also he took up knitting. Then found a old sewing machine and thought he would try some sewing for himself. His mates at work then started to ask him to do sewing repairs etc. then they mentioned the Sewing Bee!! To keep them quiet he applied, thinking he would get nowhere but to his surprise after many phone calls and auditions the TV company said they would like to have him on the show.

The show is recorded in Leeds over a period of 8 weeks, which the contestant must sign up to do. Tony took holiday time off from work and went ahead with the show. The show has 3 parts to it, the pattern challenge, the transformation challenge and the made to measure challenge. Tony brought along several of the clothes that he made on the show including the child's party dress that he won garment of the week. The party dress was made from Neoprene material which is usually used for wet suits. It was white with a big bow on the front and the skirt stood out like a frill. He loved making the pattern challenge as he had already been making shirts for himself from a pattern he had made up. His transformation challenge from windbreak to rain wear he said was great fun and he brought that along too. The most difficult challenges were the made to measure as he had only made garments for himself before and mainly shirts!! In the finals week he had to make a two-in-one dress. Tony's dress started of as a black puffball dress and turned into a fishtail dress in wonderful psychedelic material. He came second in the final. Tony also talked about meeting all the other contestants and the fun they had helping each other out on the show and after the filming. He opened the meeting out for questions and they were many. It was a fabulous evening and we ended it with a Christmas buffet for all to enjoy.

The flower competition was 1st Sue Williams and 2nd Sue Hicks. Trish then mentioned on Sunday 15th December 4pm to 6pm there will be Carol Singing in the Coronation Hall and everyone was welcome. Tea, coffee and mince pies will be provided. Trish then thanked Tony again for his wonderful, interesting and fun talk. She also reminded everyone that the money raised that night, which was £288, was going to the hall funds for new and better heating and decor. She then wished everyone a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. The next meeting is on Tuesday, January 21, with Colin Sargent, a wonderful wildlife photographer. The meeting closed at 9.30pm.

The Lawrence House Museum may be under repair and closed for an indefinite period but the work of the fifty-strong body of volunteers still carries on. A small group of members from Coad’s Green WI visited two units on the Pennygillam Industrial Estate to discover a hive of activity. Many of the portable exhibits from the museum have been stored there, some of which will be taken to the exhibition centre in the middle of Launceston for the public to enjoy. We were greeted by Carol Bunbury, who, together with Julie Nettles and Judith Cayzer, showed their visitors around the facility and had on display a small selection of treasured items that they thought would be enjoyed. Members were particularly taken with some of the embroidery. There was a beautifully intricate silk sampler completed by a 10 year old girl in Lifton in 1842, plus, amongst other things, a sampler of the districts of Cornwall, embroidered on linen in 1785. A navy blue silk Victorian wedding dress was greatly admired. A fascinating array of uniforms stood on one side, with military jackets,(one, a black tunic, representing the Kings Royal Hussars), alongside the heavy school blazers worn by students before the advent of Launceston College, as it is today. Carol Banbury showed us a ‘mystery object’ that had been donated to the museum. There were quite a few educated guesses, as to its purpose, but Carol would welcome feedback from readers , as to their suggestions.

A Victorian Christmas exhibition will open at the pop-up museum in Launceston on Tuesday, December 3, until Saturday, December 21, at the Merchant’s House in High Street. It will be a unique opportunity to view a selection of these treasured and well-preserved artefacts that reflect the festive season.

Embroidery was the topic once again, at the November monthly meeting of the Coad’s Green WI.

President Linda Willan, introduced the speaker Val Williams who discussed her lifelong inspiration and her career in needlecraft. Val had a country childhood, growing up in rural West Berkshire. The natural world that she experienced as a child became an inspiration for much of her work. Needlework became her passion and she trained as a teacher at the prestigious Bretton Hall College. She became a member of the Newbury Embroiderers Guild, meeting Canadian born experimental textile author and designer, Valerie Campbell-Harding. In the 1990’s, she was starting to win a number of competitions and gained her Master Class City and Guilds in 2003. Val was invited to join the Newbury Open Studios, where she began her 3D embroidery. In 2012, she moved to Cornwall, where she joined the Liskeard Embroidery Group. The highlight of the evening was, undoubtedly, the ‘show and tell’ of the huge array of 3D embroidery which illustrated the variety and range of her craft. The beautiful and impressive pieces ranged from shoes and vases created from fabric and stitch work to hares, mice, insects and many more works of art. Val had even needle crafted her own wedding bouquet which her daughter keeps to this day.

Janet Ham gave the vote of thanks, saying how much members appreciated the opportunity to see the stunning work that had been produced.

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 11, at 7.30pm in the chapel parlour at Coad’s Green. The speaker will be Carol Horsington to talk on the topic of Willowcraft.

Rehoboth Singalong was ably led by Stephen Bate, on November 10.

He brought along a genuine German World War Two helmet which he had found in his boyhood in an old cottage which once stood on his farm.

Members of the congregation showed much interest in trying it on. Barbara Grigg, Sophie Bate, and the Martin family contributed to the evening in which the fallen were honoured and remembered. Barbara Uglow played the organ. The evening concluded with supper.

The charity box continues at the back of the chapel.

The weekly service will now only take place on Mondays at 10am.

On Sunday, December 1, there will be an Evensong service at 6.30pm.

There will be Holy Communion on December 24, Christmas Eve, at 9.30pm.

There will be an Advent All Age service in St Paul’s Church, Upton Cross, on Sunday, December 1, at 10am.

This will take place on Saturday, December 7, in Rilla Mill Village Hall from 2pm to 4pm.

There will be a variety of stalls and competitions, raffle and festive refreshments. Funds raised are for St Melor’s, Linkinhorne and St Paul’s at Upton Cross.

As usual, the cubs and scouts have spent time in the woods. The challenge day went well with 25 young people den building, cooking on open fires and using teamwork to achieve their objectives.

The Beavers have been learning sign language, map reading around the village, and played team games. All members of the group had uniform inspection in readiness for Remembrance.

The Working Bees will be in the woods on Saturday, December 7, at 10am to continue their conservation work.

Anyone with any spare time and would like to join the group they would be very welcome. If interested contact Piers Freeman on 01579 363748 or by email [email protected]

Also information about the Friends of Stara Woods contact Anne Hughes on 01579 362068 or [email protected]

Week St Mary

Bonaventures WI

At our open meeting in November our talk was given by Frances Stuart who is an Ambassador for Lundy. NB do NOT call it Lundy Island! Lund is ancient Norse for Puffin and ey means Island (you will see that the name of many of the UK’s islands ends in “ey”) and it was given this name by marauding Vikings in the 9th century. It is three miles long and ½ mile wide and is 400 feet above sea level. It is made of granite and is a volcanic plug although there is one thin strip of rock at the southern end of the island which is called Lundyite and is unique. The difference in height between high and low tides there in the Bristol Channel is one of the greatest in the world. Historically the island was visited by welsh saints and hermits and was a strategic base for pirates. In fact in 1244 Henry III built a castle there after the downfall of the piratical Mariscos who had leased the island. The remains can still be visited. It was also a Royalist stronghold during the Civil War.

Travel to the island for residents, staying guests and visitors is by ship, MS Oldenburg, from either Bideford or Ilfracombe which takes under 2 hours. In the winter there is a helicopter service from Hartland Point for residents and staying guests which only takes 6 minutes. The ship is not only used for passengers it also transports food, drink, animals and their foodstuffs – in fact all the supplies that are needed – and returns with recycling and rubbish. Good news is that a jetty was built in 1998-99 – a much easier way to arrive and depart than previously!

The island was purchased in 1967 from the Harman family by the National Trust (who received the gift of the purchase price from Jack Hayward) and is leased to the Landmark Trust which owns all 23 buildings. There are 28 permanent residents who are all employed by the Landmark Trust/Company. The Landmark Company is the commercial arm and feeds all its profits into the Trust. They also provide first responders: coastguards, first aid and fire service. The island boasts the oldest privately owned Post Office in the world and the stamps bear its own currency which is 1 puffin = 1 penny. The only hostelry is the Marisco Tavern which is open 24hrs for shelter. The first lighthouse was built in 1821 on the highest point in the island. Unfortunately it was subject to fog (who’d have thought it?) so 2 new lighthouses had to be built in 1896: one at NW point and the other at SE point.

The wildlife is the main attraction for visitors. The island has been designated a Site of Scientific Interest but is still a working farm with a small herd of Highland cattle – which can cope with the weather! It has its own breed of ponies who are feral as well as Sika deer and Sohay sheep. In order to protect wildlife and nature it is important that correct numbers are held in order to maintain balance. Pygmy shrews are the only truly native species. Atlantic seals breed there in the autumn and did you know that seals can sleep whilst they are in the water? Lundy cabbage is unique and is food for a unique herd of goats.

The most famous residents are the puffins after which the island was named. Unfortunately, in 2001, the population was reduced to five because of an infestation of rats. These have been removed and the puffin population in 2023 was 1,800. The record for the number of sand eels held in a beak (as you see in many photographs) is 126! Puffins spend 7 months at sea during which they separate from their mate. However they mate for life and always nest in the same spot from May to July. Like Manx sheer-waters, they burrow in the ground and have one egg per year.

From her talk it is obvious that so much about Lundy is unique and that there is so much more to learn about it. A visit there must surely be put on to the “to do” list.

Boyton Methodist Chapel held its 2024 Toy Service on Sunday, November 24.

Despite such weather an encouraging number attended. Teas and coffees were served prior to the service and Sue Martyn gave the welcome. The service was led by Rachel Parsons of Tresmeer and the organist was Ruth Allin. Kathy read a poem which she had written herself with appropriate thoughts about the joy that the Toys would bring to all the children to which they will be given on Christmas Morn.

Greta Davey spoke about the large number of families in the Launceston area who rely on the Food Bank and the amazing number of 186 Toys, which had been wrapped with love were collected at Boyton Chapel. These will go to Launceston Food Bank to be given out with the food parcels. Thank you to all from Boyton who so generously gave and wrapped the many toys.

Rev Richard Ward-Smith led the service at Morwenstow Methodist Chapel at Shop on Sunday, November 17.

The organist was Colin Tape for the hymns. The lesson was read by Ken Boundy.

The Merrytones Praise Group sang: 'You needed me'.

A welcome to all was given by Bill Cleave at the Chapel at Shop on Sunday, November 24, the theme being: 'Christ the King'.

Colin Tape was the organist. The lessons were read by Rosemary Cook and Elaine Miles.

Freda Olde read two 'November Poems' which were written by the late Elizabeth Oke of Gooseham. Although Lizzie passed away in 1960, her many poems continue to live on in the parish. Freda explained that Lizzie had once been approached by publishers, asking if she would be happy for some of her poems be set to music. Sadly, this never materialised. Lizzie was disabled for a great part of her life and during that time she wrote hundreds of poems, often relating to the time of the year.

The Merrytones Praise Group sang: 'Sooner or later' and 'We shall not be moved'.

The prayers of intercession were led by Jill Johns.

There was a chance to chat after both services when coffee and biscuits were served in The Wesley Room.