Thanks are due to our member Cliff Ford who kindly produced these meeting reports.
September 2017. Suffragettes in North Devon. Pamela Vass.
This was a very interesting talk including a lot of Suffragette history.
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The Suffragettes were active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the militants in the UK were members of the Women’s Social and Political Union [WSPU]. The methods they used to gain attention was to chain themselves to railings and disrupt meetings and set fire to buildings. Some were arrested and sent to Exeter prison where they went on hunger strike and were then force fed. Most of the bills introduced in Parliament for women to vote were killed off by Lord Asquith.
In 1914 - 1916 a truce was agreed because of the 1st World War. They finally got the vote for all women in 1928. This is a very brief review of a detailed insight into the Suffragette Movement.
Pamela Vass has written several books “Seeds of Doubt”, “Shadow Child” etc..
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October 2017. History of Pickards of Burrington and Burma Campaign. Gordon Short.
This was a very interesting story narrated in an informal way by Gordon.
He began by explaining how the company had prospered since 1846 and began by selling seed known as Devon Eaver and by 1914 it was trading in wool and fertiliser.
Gordon was born in 1921 and was raised by his mother Elsie Short and father William Ernest Short. Towards the end of 1943 he joined a group on their way to Burma by way of the Suez Canal which had only just been cleared of all the sunken ships from an earlier war. Gordon was eventually posted to join the 4th Battalion Royal West Kents and he related many of his experiences fighting the Japanese in Burma, too many I'm afraid to put into this review.
This was a fascinating account of Gordon's life which was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
If anyone would like to know more of his life story Gordon has written a book entitled "The Story of a Countryman" which should be available from J Pickard & Co. at Burrington.
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November 2017. Story of Braddicks - Part 3. Sharon Snell.
This was a continuation of the interesting saga concerning the Braddick family told in an amusing and detailed way by Sharon who we all now consider a friend after her previous visits!
This talk concerned mainly her father Graham Braddick who was born in September 1932 and attended school in Bideford and then Abbotsham. Then WW2 broke out which changed pretty well everything. Later on her father decided to do his bit for the war effort and with a couple of friends attempted to build a petrol bomb in a shed! This unfortunately blew up and he suffered 3rd degree burns and spent some time in hospital and thankfully recovered. Braddicks had by now moved on to electrical appliances in a big way with radiograms in particular being very popular. Graham's father thought he was a bit shy and decided to take him debt collecting to toughen him up a bit (he was only 10). The first house he called at he told him to knock on the door and when opened stick his foot in the door while he ran around the back with a friend to grab the appliance which had not been paid for!
There is so much more in Sharon's talk but I do not have the space to fit it all in. Do try to get to part 4!
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January 2018. Arlington Carriage Collection. John Robinson.
John gave us an interesting and amusing insight into the workings of Arlington House, in particular the large range of carriages stored in the stables there.
Arlington is owned and run by the National Trust and the present house was built about 1820 although 3 or 4 houses were built on the land previously. Besides the carriages there are shells, model ships etc., etc.. Outside are beautiful extensive gardens tended by some professional gardeners assisted by numerous volunteers. Overall there are 2700 acres of grounds. There are 40 carriages stored at Arlington and it is impossible to describe them all here but I can mention a few, such as “General Tom Thumb” which was built for Tom Thumb who was only 40 inches high and spent most of his life in Barnum's Circus. Another interesting carriage is “The Speakers State Coach” built in 1698 and amazingly for its time had glass windows! The Government decided to refurbish it in 2005 and offered it to Arlington to display for 5 years and after inspecting it 5 years later granted them another 5 years.
John gave us a lot more information on other carriages which I cannot fit into my review.
March 2018. Graves of famous people. Denis Bater.
Although the title is a bit sombre Denis made it a very interesting talk and at times amusing.
He took us through the first WW1 graves of the fallen with several pictures projected onto a screen showing different parts of the battlefield. Some Jewish graves have a loose stone placed on the gravestone to denote they are the Jewish fallen and there were 50 Commando graves placed with blue wreaths. We then saw photos of the Menin Gate which bears the names of 54,000 soldiers who died before 16th August 1917 and have no known grave. Since 1928 the Last Post has been sounded at 8pm every evening under the memorial. Only during the Second World War was it interrupted.
Denis then moved on to the Aberfan disaster and we then saw the children's graves which was very moving.
Other graves were Churchill, Harold Wilson, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, Dick Turpin, Adolf Hitler, Billy Butlin and several more.
Thanks to Denis for a fascinating historical ramble enjoyed by all.
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April 2018. Mining around North Molton. Norman Govier.
Norman treated us to an interesting talk with some fascinating slides of old mine workings in North Molton and Exmoor.
Bampfylde Mine on the River Mole was producing iron, copper and manganese before it closed in 1877, and Florence Mine, a mile to the east, was being worked for iron, copper and lead until 1885. This mine from 1874 had a tramway running the four miles to South Molton railway station.
We were shown slides of some of Norman's exploits including being lowered into a mine shaft in a bucket attached to a very thin cable and controlled by two men with a winch connected to a rather sad looking tree - health and safety would have had a nightmare!
Lots of other mines we were shown some of which he had explored and photographed particularly on Exmoor. Unfortunately most of these mines have now been sealed for safety reasons so it is even more important that these photos are preserved for posterity.
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May 2018. Rev. Stephen Hawker. Jonathan Edmunds.
We were treated to an interesting and humorous talk by Jonathan who, to get us in the right mood, had donned a straw hat and double-sided patterned tie in sympathy with the rather eccentric Rev Hawker.
Robert Stephen Hawker was born in December 1803 and died in Plymouth in August 1875. He spent a good deal of his life in the village of Morwenstow, North Cornwall. On November 6th while still 19, he married Charlotte Rawleigh L’Ans, aged 41 and was said to wear at his wedding a claret coloured clerical coat, a blue fisherman’s jersey, wading boots up to his hips and a pink hat without a brim!
Eventually Hawker took over the Morwenstow Parish which was quite a challenge as there had not been a resident clergyman for over 100 years. He took his duties seriously and his view was simple "Be true to the church and be kind to the poor". He did introduce the first Harvest Thanksgiving service, what we now call Harvest Festival.
He married again in 1864, after Charlotte's death, to Pauline Anne Kuczyinski and they had three children.
Jonathan gave a much more detailed history of Hawker but I am restricted by space.
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