Kingswear Gentlemen
Kingswear Gentlemen’s Dinner 2013.
Saturday 23rd February saw another successful evening under the culinary expertise and hospitality of Colin Lang and his staff at the ‘Ship Inn’ Kingswear where we entertained Neil Gardner of the Devon FreeWheelers who enlightened us as to their operation which is based in Honiton. They are a group of advanced motorcycle riders who have come together to offer their time, skills and expertise, free of charge, to provide an out-of-hours emergency response courier service to the NHS. This service is provided at no cost to the patient or the hospital that has requested their assistance. They do not receive any payments from the patient or hospital that has requested their assistance, nor do they receive any funding from any source for the service. All costs in providing the service have been covered by public donation or corporate sponsorship, shaking and rattling tins on street corners in ther spare time, or even on occasion, they have put the fuel into the tank themselves.
MIke Goodearl had happened to see an item on BBC TV’s ‘Spotlight’ early-evening news programme about the Devon FreeWheelers which outlined their current financial plight. Mike suggested to the other members of the Kingswear Gentlemen’s Dinner Committee that they would be a worthwhile and deserving charity.
The Bacchic juices were flowing well, the grub was good and plentiful and, thanks to the generosity of everyone who attended, we managed to raise £351.50 for Devon FreeWheelers’ operating costs.
The evening concluded with the usual outrageous selection of jokes that you wouldn’t want your grandmother to hear starring Graham Flower and ‘Chich’ Chichester followed by an auction of two bottles of Scotch whisky under Graham’s guidance.
Kingswear Historians
Greenway House was the subject of March’s talk given by Ken Bareham who has had close associations with the National Trust at Greenway for many years. We found out how the house fared from owner to owner and tenant to tenant from the time of the Gilberts in the sixteenth century up to the present day. The shape and layout of the present garden was largely down to the Gilberts who used labour from Spanish prisoners of war from after the Armada debacle of 1588.
Although the Luttrells did not actually live in the house in the nineteenth century (1860s) they did object to the railway cutting across the estate, and were powerful and rich enough to insist on Brunel tunnelling underneath to maintain the peace of the place.
Of course the most instantly interesting of the owners was Agatha Christie who loved the house dearly and enjoyed it as her holiday home up to her death in the seventies. It was interesting to hear how poorly repaired the house was after the Wickes’ time; they were the last owners and died very elderly with the house closely following them! The National Trust spent huge amounts of money renovating the house and preserving it for the nation.
One of the strangest and most highly individual of the house’s secrets is the frieze that an American Airforce officer painted in the 1940s in the library. After the war Christie wanted it kept as she rather liked it and thought it part of the house’s genuine history. She was right, and later in the year we are to have a talk which will inform us of the meaning of the frieze.
Ken Bareham was very well informed indeed and his talk was much enjoyed by all. Thank you Ken.
Next month’s talk is on Smuggling, both local and along the Devon coast, and will be a spine-tingler, so come along dressed as a pirate if you like! This will be on Monday April 29th in the village hall at 7:30. Not to be missed.
Girls’ Days out......
Kingswomen had a spooky experience recently when they descended in force on Brixham to meet Ghost Tour guide David Satchwill for a walk on the ‘dark side’. David kept members enthralled with his stories of hauntings and unexplained happenings around the town and it is now impossible to visit Brixham even in daylight without cursory glances over your shoulder and tinglings down the spine. The evening was rounded off in the comfort of Crab Quay House where true to our custom good food and wine was partaken.
The Kingswear WI have also been exploring further afield. Following a fascinating talk earlier in the year about the life and times of a lighthouse keeper it was decided to visit the
Start Bay Light House to get a real feeling for the essential involvement of Trinity House for anyone who lives or works at the coast.
As always if you would like to join in with either or both of these organisations you would be made very welcome.
Lower Ferry
I’m hoping that by the time you read this the Lower Ferry will be up and running again (Editor - ‘fraid not!). At the time of writing the rumours are that it will be opening at the end of April (a reliable source) and early May (another reliable source). It’s all good stuff for the Kingswear Rumour Factory. At the time of writing it looks as though the railway is going to continue under the river. Now there’s an idea............
Annual Parish Meeting
The Annual Parish Meeting will be held on Tuesday, 7th May at 7.00 pm in the Village Hall. The Council will give its usual annual report to the community and there will be the opportunity for other local organisations to report on their activities, only if they so wish. This year there will be several speakers: Mr Stephen Corner, Partner Barnes Roffe Ltd will be providing an update on the developments at Noss Marina. Mr Richard Boyt, Planning Officer South Hams District Council, will be able to answer questions regarding the affordable housing considerations for the parish. Mrs Gwen Royle will give a presentation on South Hams Community and Voluntary Services.
You are invited to attend the Annual Parish Meeting. If you wish to give a report on your organisation’s past year and your plans for the future, it is requested that any reports should be limited to three minutes, plus a copy sent to Emma Illingworth, Cerk to the Parish Council (01803 392265 or kingswearclerk@yahoo.co.uk ) via email or post. If you wish to display any information, please let me know as this should also be possible in the larger venue.
Lime Kiln
Many will have seen the super new steps and path leading down to the lime kiln in the creek. Work is going on at the moment so that hopefully by the time this reaches you all the work should be finished and you will be able to access the kiln easily. The idea is to then place a bench in front of the kiln, taking advantage of its lovely sunny, warm, sheltered position. Don Collinson has kindly offered to shell-out £100 towards a new bench so if anyone else out there would like to chip-in with a contribution this would be very gratefully received by the Parish Council and the village at large, of course. We think the cost in total would be about £400 or so and we have no spare money, so the sooner we collect the right amount the sooner we get our bench. Do go along and have a look at a bit of our history; as soon as we can we’ll organise an explanation board to let folk know how.
First published May/June 2013 By The Dart
