Trefoil Guilds from Bude, Liskeard, Looe, Torpoint. Saltash and Plymouth met at Saltash Guide Headquarters, Warfelton, Saltash for their annual ‘Friendship Day’ meal.

Saltash Guild were hosting the event this year, and Chairman Mrs Shirley Smith welcomed guests.

The event began several years ago when a Saltash Guild member, Audrey, visited the international Guide chalet in Switzerland, and met Mrs Ollie Rutland of Launceston, Tasmania , Australia. Mrs Rutland visited Saltash later and Launceston Guild, Cornwall were contacted and they prepared a meal and Olie visited Launceston, Cornwall with Saltash and Liskeard members. A meal has been held annually ever since and each Guild takes a turn to host the event. Next year it is hoped to be in Liskeard . Sadly Mrs Rutland has since died in her home in Tasmania but the meal has continued and is now known as the Friendship meal. There is no Launceston Trefoil Guild at present.

Saltash members lead by treasurer Mrs Sue Potter prepared and served the buffet lunch of jacket potatoes and various fillings, a sweet and fruit drinks.

In the afternoon the speaker was a former Guide Miss Charlie Lewis who is part of the Hugs Foundation team and her illustrated talk was on the history and work of the Foundation which works on the rehabilitation of horses, ponies and also smaller animals. Set in a farm environment based in Bodmin, the charity offers therapeutic interventions for children, young people and the elderly.

The day ended with tea, jam and cream scones.

Our most recent Flower Club meeting hosted Karen Smith, a talented demonstrator from Totnes.

Her theme was ‘Village Life ; a journey around Little Hampston.

Her first arrangement featured ‘Farming’ and for this she used an old- fashioned milk churn upon which she had a pad of florist foam. She created an outline shape using a Eucalyptus and variegated Euonymus into which she arranged white Antirrhinum, white chrysanthemums, yellow carnations, white Bouvardia and butter milk Alstroemeria with a branch of Hazel catkins at the back. Once completed she brought out a smaller copy of the arrangement along with a milk bucket and stool.

Her second arrangement featured ‘The Book Club’. This was an all-round arrangement using an oval wooden base with a glass centre lined with text. Here she used Compressa Confer and lime green Griselinia for foliage into which dainty orange roses and lilac carnations were arranged. Copper sprayed sea holly was the final touch.

Next came ‘The Village Pub’. For this, she used a large circular glass bowl draped with pale yellow material. Fatsia Japonica, curled or split Aspidistra leaves, golden cress Compressa and Snake Grass bent into angular shapes into which she arranged bright orange Gemini and a spray of beautiful pale orange Orchids

The fourth arrangement was foam free and for this Karen used a wicker container filled with pebbles and large glass rest tubes into which she popped bright yellow spray chrysanthemums Then she created a hand tie using Hazel branches, Chrysanthemums, yellow Carnations, yellow Lillys, Birch twigs, white Bouvardia and dark green Phormium. This was tied off and popped in and dedicated to ‘The Environmental Group’ in the village.

Her final arrangement represented ‘The Church’ which is used as the Village Hall, Playgroup Centre and Keep Fit venue. For this, she used an old electric drum, painted black with foam in the centre. For foliage, she used variegated Euonymus and Compressa Confer plus an array of different flowers: white Sweet Williams, blue Scabious, bright pink Bouvardia, pale pink Roses, white Bouvardia white, Gypsophilia, dark purple Alstroemeria. Into the centre, she put contorted willow with little glass bottles tied on into it into which she popped pale pink roses.

The arrangement was completed with a string of bunting and a smaller copy of the arrangement

Her amusing dialogue about various aspects of village life kept everyone entertained and there were seven very happy members who won an arrangement in the raffle

On Monday, June 24, 21 of our members attended the ‘Diamond Anniversary of Devon and Cornwall Floral Art held at the St Mellion Estate where, as well as having an excellent lunch, we were entertained by Cherie Nummy from Northern Ireland who is a National Demonstrator. Her theme was ‘Flawless’ and her arrangements were stunning.

Our next event is our coffee morning fund raiser on Tuesday, July 16, in rooms 2/3 at the Parkhouse Centre from 10.30am until noon. Come and support us for coffee and cake at £5. There are also tombola, cake and floral art accessory stalls and a raffle

Bude Seaside Friend’s Group would like to thank Janet Ball for recently hosting a coffee morning in aid of CHSW.

It was a huge success, raising the wonderful amount of £548.

The weather was glorious and the event was really well supported. Thank you also to everyone who came along and enjoyed the morning with us and to all who donated cakes and raffle prizes.

Twenty-six members of the Lezant Lunch Club were welcomed by Ruth Burden at Trebullett Hall on Wednesday, June 28.

Members enjoyed a delicious meal of shepherd's pie served with seasonal vegetables. A vegetarian alternative of spinach and ricotta pie was available.

This was followed by a traditional trifle. The food was prepared by Marilyn Davey, Mary Tucker and Mary Synott. Service was provided by Judith Scott, Diana Anderson, Helen Judge and Mary Bridger.

During coffee members were entertained by a quiz presented by Angela Morrison. Again a tie breaker had to be employed to find a winning team. The Lezant Lunch Club meets on the last Wednesday of each month. The next lunch will take place on Wednesday, July 31, at 12.30 at Trebullett Hall. The cost is just £5 for two courses plus coffee.

Phone Ruth Burden on 01566 782286 to book a place. 

There will be morning prayer at 10am on Monday and Wednesday in St Melor’s Church, Linkinhorne.

On Sunday, July 14, there will be Holy Communion with Canon Richard Maynard.

There will be informal worship in St Paul’s Church, Upton Cross, on Sunday, July 14, at 10am.

On Saturday, June 29, another family bingo evening took place with less attendance on this occasion, mostly owing to such fine weather and holidays.

Nevertheless, there were people from Newton Abbott and Saltash but very few from the village. Thanks to organiser Julia Bath who provides brilliant bingo prizes and she wishes to thank all those who gave raffle prizes, for the help of Trevor and Sue Davies, and to those who did attend to help raise £150 for the upkeep of the hall and Parson’s Meadow.

Just a reminder that the Working Bees will be meeting again on Wednesday, July 10, for an additional get together from approximately 6pm to 8pm.

The next meeting will take place in the Parish Hall at Upton Cross on Wednesday, July 10, at 7.30pm when the speaker will be Mick Harrison who will be speaking about cyber security. This will be an open meeting for anyone to attend, the fee will be £5.

For more information contact the president via [email protected]

This month we were delighted to welcome Martin Brooks, our local pilates teacher, to talk to the group.

Martin has been teaching Pilates for more than 14 years and shared his experience of becoming a teacher following a back injury 25 years ago. Pilates can help with many skeletal conditions and can also supplement other treatments for joint pain in areas such as hips and backs to help avoid surgery.

Pilates was originally designed by Joseph Pilates, a German intern in the UK during the First World War, and he designed his ideas based on body mechanics which were later published in his book "Return To Life".

The system was designed for use by everyone but is also used to improve performance for elite sports athletes such as Olympic swimmers and Rugby players.

Martin shared some inspirational quotes from Joseph Pilates such as "The Pilates Method teaches you to be in control of your body not at its mercy"

Martin went on to quiz the group about the name and purpose of various body joints and muscles and worked through a variety of gentle exercises to assist with joint pain and mobility issues. He explained that there may be many reasons for joint pain and how it is essential to concentrate, whenever possible, on good body position and posture to help relieve joint pain. He also used his spine model "George" to explain how nerves connect to our joints via the spinal column.

His overall message was "keep moving" if at all possible as we are designed to be active and the group thanked him for his very informative and inspiring advice.

Morwenstow

Rev Simon Leigh led his final service at Morwenstow Methodist Chapel on Sunday.

At the close of the Holy Communion service, Jennifer Vanstone presented Rev Simon with a card, signed by all the members and friends of the Chapel together with a cheque of gratitude thanking him for his four years of service and devotion as Minister to the Chapel.

Pictured during the period of coffee and chat after the service is Rev Simon with the congregation present wishing Godspeed and every happiness to him and his wife Donna as they move to take up new positions in Exeter.

At a June Probus meeting, well attended by members and their partners, well known local businessman Stuart Robertson gave an illustrated talk on his involvement as an RNLI volunteer. Stuart grew up in Rock where his father was a boatbuilder. Stuart himself is a member of the Rock lifeboat support team, specifically helping with maintenance and launching of the lifeboat.

Rock is equipped with a D class inshore lifeboat. As the smallest in the RNLI fleet, the size and speed of the D class make it the best boat for operating around the Camel estuary. Despite its apparent fragility, it will remain buoyant even if all it’s side sponsons are punctured. In practice this means that the boats of this class rescue more people than any other type of boat in the fleet.

Rock initially was provided with a temporary boat 30 years ago on a trial basis. This was successful and the community was given the challenge of raising the money to get their own boat (£90,000 in today’s money). This was achieved largely through the donation of two sisters, and the boat was named after their mother Dolly Holloway. The life of a D class boat is 10 years and after this period the Dolly Holloway was replaced by the Rusper, named after the village in West Sussex which was the home of the sponsor. This sponsor also donated the cost of this boat’s successor, the Rusper 2. This is now coming to the end of it’s life and the replacement will cost in the order of £100,000.

The Rock team are equipped with dry suits and helmets,and the lifeboat crew are all first aiders. The team are on 24 hour call (by pager), and the boat can be launched in as little as 10 minutes from callout. Launching involves towing the boat to the water by a purpose built tractor

Training for the crew and support team is on-going, and they often have joint exercises in conjunction with the larger all-weather RNLI boat and the Coastguard helicopter. Training can also take place at the RNLI headquarters at Poole in Dorset, where there is a lifeboat simulator developed using similar principles to those associated with aeroplane pilot training.

Stuart finished by answering a number of questions from his audience. He highlighted the problems that there are with inexperienced paddleboarders, irresponsible speed boat drivers, and dogs falling off cliffs. One of their more unusual rescues involved giving resuscitation with oxygen to a dog.

Asked how the lifeboat navigates, he said that they use the latest electronic aids, and members of the public requiring assistance are often located by using ’what 3 words’. Trials are being carried out on the use of drones.

After Stuart was formally thanked for a talk which was enjoyed by all present, the meeting concluded with drinks and lunch

Are you interested in becoming a Probus member? We meet regularly on the second and fourth Mondays to be entertained by a speaker followed by an optional lunch.

For further information on past and future activities of Probus, including talks and visits, visit our website at probusclub.net/launcestoncornwalluk/ which also gives details on how to contact us.

Before choral evensong on July 7 Dr Sean Sweeney played, “Psalm Prelude by Herbert Howells.

James Wonnacott took the service and led the prayers and acted as cantor for the Ferial Responses in which the congregation was invited to join. The choir sang Psalm 123 to the chant by Pymar. The canticles were sung to the setting by Peter Aston in F.

Sharron Wormald read the lessons from Jeremiah and Paul’s letter to the Romans. The anthem was “Locus Iste” by Anton Bruckner which featured the basses in the louder passages and the tenors in the solo passage.

A the end of the service Dr Sweeney played “Paean” by Howells.

Some talented singers have been invited to join the choir in the next choral evensong to celebrate the patronal festival at St Mary’s on Sunday 21st July at the usual time of 5.30pm.

A GROUP of visitors from New Zealand – with family roots in Holsworthy – went home with some very special souvenirs to treasure.

Descendants of the Carthews, a well-known old Holsworthy business family, had been enjoying a big reunion in Bude and decided to call in on a Sunday morning at Bodmin Street Methodist Church, where some of their ancestors had worshipped. As chapel stewards showed them around the main sanctuary, they opened a small Bible on the altar – only to find inside the signature of George T Carthew, the ‘patriarch’ of the Holsworthy Carthews.

After briefly consulting members of the congregation, it was unanimously agreed to donate the Bible to George Carthew’s descendants. There were grandchildren and great-grandchildren among the visitors, and they were thrilled to be able to take it home to New Zealand, along with a commemorative chapel mug and centenary booklet.

There was an added bonus for the party on the same morning when there was a chance meeting outside the chapel with recently-retired Holsworthy cafe owner Nick Cousins, whose premises had occupied the same corner site as the original Carthews’ grocery and sweet shop. He went home and brought back gifts for the delighted visitors: some sets of cutlery embossed with the Carthew initials.