Oke Links Magazine Jan/Feb 2019 issue

January / February 2019

Issue 13

WIN!

AFTERNOON TEA WITH RADIO 4’S JENNI MURRAY

20

Protecting the iconic Dartmoor pony

PAGES OF EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Lantern Procession Set to be bigger and better than ever

INSIDE: LOCAL PEOPLE • EDUCATION • WHAT’S ON • GARDENING • HISTORY • NOTICEBOARD LOCAL PEOPLE

The ‘Cat Whisperer’ of South Zeal

History

When the GIs invaded Moretonhampstead

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We love our animals!

Welcome to 2019! I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year with optimism.

The deadline date for any inclusions in the March/ April issue of Oke Links will be 1st February 2019.

For all editorial enquiries please contact me via email at: jane.honey@linksmagazines. co.uk or 07971 917071.

THE LINKS TEAM:

As I write, excitement is building in the Honey household as we anticipate the arrival of a new puppy. By the time you read this magazine, little Lewis should be happily settled into his new home and we will be experiencing the fun and occasional frazzled moments that come with puppy training.

Aptly then, for this issue I have been meeting a variety of people whose lives are inextricably entwined with animals. Linda Clinch has been a volunteer foster carer with Cats Protection since 2001, having re-homed more than 160 cats in that time; Pam Jones has a guide dog, Winnie, who gives her the confidence to get out and about on her own and Peter Hunt has the odd matter of 30 sheep and 40 million bees to look after!

On page 20 you can read about the K9 Search Dog charity. Sam Clark’s amazing bloodhounds are doing wonderful work reuniting lost dogs with their frantically worried owners. And the Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust are pioneering new ways of ensuring a future on the moor for these iconic animals - their story is on page 54.

Publisher: Tim Randell Editor: Jane Honey Design: Sara Venner and Julian Rees Customer Services: Rachel Rees Advertising: Jane Daniel, Olivia Breyley, Joanne Mallard

01822 615627 Dinner for two at The Two Bridges Hotel competition: The lucky winner of a meal for two at Two Bridges was Mrs E M Warren.

Winter can often be the time of year when ill health strikes - see the Noticeboard section for information about low cost complementary therapies available locally and GP advice in our Health and Wellbeing pages.

I hope you enjoy this New Year edition of Oke Links - don’t forget to email me with your What’s On listings and interview ideas - and enter the competition on page 45!

Jane

Many thanks to all those who entered - your opinions are much appreciated.

Jane Honey - Editor Please contact me via email at: jane.honey@linksmagazines.co.uk or call 07971 917071

18 Contents

60 56

45 29

5 NOTICEBOARD

26 GARDENING

54 FEATURE

12 SPORTS NEWS

29 FARMING

56 WALKS WITH WINNIE

12 LOCAL PEOPLE

31 FINANCE

58 FOOD AND DRINK

18 EDUCATION

32 WHAT’S ON LISTINGS

60 HISTORY

20 CHARITY FOCUS

39 WHAT’S ON EXTRA

70 TRADE SECRETS

23 HEALTH & WELLBEING

47 MUSIC AND ART

@okelinks

Linksmagazines MOOR

TAVY OKE

Cover photo by Tony Cobley www.tonycobley.com

4

NOTICEBOARD

Men in Sheds getting bigger and better!

A pioneering project providing a valuable social outlet for retired men is forging new ground in the Okehampton area.

Men in Sheds, based by the community garden off Fatherford Lane, has taken a significant step forward with the arrival of electricity and this is coupled with a growth in numbers and activity. A trench had to be dug from the nearby housing estate to the shed to lay power lines, at one point necessitating men leaping the trench to go to the toilet. Digging and then backfilling was a major operation, but now the power is on, the lathes and saws can be operated and more ambitious projects can be undertaken.

The number of men now attending the Saturday morning session has grown to the point where space may soon become a problem. However, more chat than work can mean spilling over into the great outdoors with the shed’s stunning views, where tea and coffee can be drunk without nudged elbows.

There is an air of productivity at these times. An old nest of side tables has been French polished and brought back to gleaming life, an incised panel is being carefully chiselled, old tools are being refreshed, oiled and repaired, a lathe is being tested and a saw is being carefully resharpened. Some of the products may soon go on sale at the town’s markets.

Recently another smaller shed has been acquired behind the main one to provide storage space. This required a team to go to the donor’s house to dismantle and then transport the shed, build a secure base for it and re-erect it on its new site. This was a team effort and only goes to highlight the enthusiasm and skills of the men involved.

Okehampton Shed is now well established and up and running.

It is both a centre for social life for men who may be retired and isolated and a work place for men who have not the space or the tools at home. Many of those using it have expertise and skills and the time to instruct and advise, so no-one need to feel that they cannot come along and join this sociable club.

The Shed is open on Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings and is situated next to the Community Garden and the allotments in Fatherford Lane off the Exeter Road. For more information email Tony Wood on adenwo77@gmail.com

Could you be a puppy walker?

You have probably heard of Guide Dogs - the a national charity working to ensure that people with visual impairment do not lose their independence. There are around two million people in the UK living with sight loss, and all experience a different level of vision and mobility. Guide Dogs offer a range of mobility services to help people keep their independence, and have an amazing number of dedicated staff, volunteers, and of course, dogs who support the Guide Dogs mission.

Guide Dogs needs volunteers who can help look after and support the training of their guide dog puppies! This is a full-time volunteering role as the puppy would live with you, and you would be providing the puppy with a vital foundation for its future role as a guide dog for someone living with sight loss. Training and ongoing support is provided by Guide Dogs and your puppy walking supervisor - and all food and vets bills are paid for.

Puppy walking volunteer Chris said: ‘Every day is different – I could be taking the dog out on a walk, getting it used to trains, buses or the seaside! It’s great to be with a dog knowing you are giving something back.

See our community website www.dartmoorlinks.co.uk

‘When a guide dog owner gets in touch with me to say thank you for puppy walking their life-changing dog, it really feels so rewarding and it’s lovely to get their feedback.’

To find out more about puppy walking with Guide Dogs or any other volunteering opportunities, visit www.guidedogs.org.uk/ volunteer or give the volunteering office a call on 0345 143 0191.

5

NOTICEBOARD

Wellbeing for all Three Okehampton based practitioners are setting up a low cost well-being community space, offering a variety of complementary therapies including, massage, reflexology and the Bowen technique to mention a few.

Anna Georghiou, Eve Oliveira and Xristiana Kalouli believe that the widely recognised benefits of complementary therapies should be accessible to all.

The aims of the project include: •

Offering affordable & accessible complementary therapies to people on low incomes, including pensioners and individuals receiving disability living allowance in our community.

•

Offering gentle seated/wheel chair movement and yoga groups for individuals with limited mobility.

•

Breath mindfulness exercises to help relieve anxiety, stress and promote balance and peace of mind.

•

In the near future to offer complementary therapy sessions free at the point of access to people with chronic conditions such as ME and fibromyalgia.

Local support for anyone affected by cancer FORCE Cancer Charity believes that anyone diagnosed with cancer deserves the best possible support close to home.

Every Wednesday, FORCE brings its support services to Castle Ham in Okehampton, where patients, their families or carers can receive complementary therapies, one-to-one counselling, join our walking group or just pop in to seek advice.

FORCE also funds the delivery of chemotherapy for cancer patients at Okehampton Hospital once a week.

The charity is now on the lookout for help from local residents to help with the services its offers in the Okehampton area.

•

Educational talks and demonstrations on the benefits of complementary therapies within different environments.

•

In time develop an outreach service.

The Okehampton Community Wellbeing for All project will initially run once a week at the Eco Hub situated near the Okehampton College reception. It will be open on alternating Wednesday mornings between 11am - 3pm and Wednesday afternoons between 3pm - 6pm. It will run on a donation basis.

Please contact us for more information on 07957 213264 or message us at www.facebook.com/ Okehampton-Community-Wellbeing-for-All

Oly Watts, fundraising development officer, said: ‘We are looking for volunteers to come together every few months to share fundraising ideas, organise street collections and community events throughout the year.’

If this is something you would like to be part of, please get in touch with Oly at FORCE Cancer Charity, on 01392 406150 or by email oly.watts@forcecancercharity.co.uk

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NOTICEBOARD

Free acupuncture for those on a low income Thanks to a second year of grant funding from The Big Lottery, Source Point Community Health CIC in Moretonhampstead is continuing to offer free acupuncture to anyone on a low income suffering from chronic health conditions, either physical or mental.

Acupuncture is a recognised, safe and effective treatment for many conditions. It has a great track record for treating chronic pain conditions, such as osteo or rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, back, neck or shoulder pain, sciatica, headaches and migraine, IBS, trigeminal neuralgia, cancer pain and much more. Acupuncture has also proved effective for a whole range of other chronic health conditions including high blood pressure, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, digestive disorders, insomnia, anxiety and depression.

Founded in 2012 as a not-for-profit acupuncture clinic, Source Point Community Health’s mission is to offer high quality acupuncture treatment that’s affordable to all. Patients pay what they can afford on a sliding scale of £15-55, but for some people on low incomes, this is still too much. To address this,

the Free Acupuncture Clinic (FAC) was set up, offering a course of up to six free treatments to eligible patients. This was so popular in its first year Big Lottery awarded further funding for a second year, which began in September.

This service is available to any person on a low income suffering from chronic illness. A chronic health condition is one that has presented for more than three months and which affects day to day activities in a negative way.

Source Point Community Health provides a welcoming, open plan multi-bed clinic with several highly skilled, fully qualified acupuncture clinicians offering hour long treatments. The clinic is at the King George V Sports and Community Centre, Moretonhampstead and is open Mondays and Thursdays.

For more information, visit www.sourcepoint.org.uk or contact info@sourcepoint.org.uk / 07792 830016.

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NOTICEBOARD

NEDCare gears up for winter NEDCare, the community company offering home care services in North East Dartmoor, is making special preparations for harsh winter conditions.

Director Julia Darby said last year, advance preparations really paid dividends.

‘When the snow hit we had a team of local 4x4 drivers helping our carers to get to their clients in the atrocious weather. This year we’re looking for more volunteer drivers who are prepared to be on call if the weather turns bad’ said Julia.

NEDCare is also advising anyone who needs care – or knows someone who may need care – to get in touch as soon as possible, to make sure they’re ready for Winter.

‘There’s always an increase in the number of people who need care at this time of year,’ Julia said. ‘Cold weather can have an impact on people who were previously caring for themselves well. Requests for information about care services can also often come from family members returning for seasonal visits home to find that their relatives aren’t coping quite as well as they used to.

‘At this time of year we also tend to get more urgent calls from people asking for help within just a few days. As a fully

See our community website www.dartmoorlinks.co.uk

regulated agency it can take time to set up care and support because there are processes in place to ensure that the service is safe and appropriate, so it’s best to call earlier even if just to explore the options.’

The Community Interest Company was set up in 2015 by Moretonhampstead Development Trust in response to the closure of hospital beds at the Moretonhampstead Hospital.

NEDCare have now taken on offices at the hospital, from where they manage their home care service.

Chairman John Willis said: ‘This is a great base for us. The facilities here mean that as well as running our home care service, we can offer a hospital-based bathing service and can hire out rooms to other services on a session by session basis.’

To volunteer for the NEDCare 4x4 Volunteer Force, to find out more about care, or to talk about working with NEDCare, call 01647 279211 or visit www.nedcare.org

9

NOTICEBOARD

Problem Neighbours A family has moved in to the house next door and is being a nuisance, yelling late at night over a loud television and leaving bin bags strewn over the front of the house.

I don’t want to antagonise them in case they become threatening.

What can I do?

It’s best to try to resolve problems by speaking with your neighbour, if it’s safe to do so. Explain the effect their behaviour is having and ask them to stop. If the problem continues, keep a record of incidents, which will come in handy if you decide to take the matter further. A mediator may help you and

your neighbour find a solution. If you’re a council or housing association tenant, they may have their own mediator you can use. If not, you’ll need to find one yourself and pay a fee.

Ask your neighbour’s landlord to speak to them on your behalf. If your neighbour lives in social housing, their landlord should have a policy for dealing with antisocial behaviour. If the landlord can’t help, or you don’t know who it is, your council might be able to. Visit its website for information on the types of complaint it deals with. If you’ve tried everything but the problem persists, ask for a ‘community trigger’. The council

might work with the police and others to create an action plan. As a last resort, you can go to an ombudsman if you’re unhappy with how your council or social landlord has handled it. If your neighbour becomes threatening or violent, you should tell the police.

For the most up-to-date advice, please visit www.citizensadvice.org.uk Alternatively pop into Okehampton Citizens Advice (Ockment Centre) Tues & Weds 10am-4pm and Fri 10am-1pm or call Adviceline on 03444 111 444.

Okehampton and District Local History Society.

This society meets in the Ockment Centre on the evening of the second Wednesday of each month and has an attractive programme of speakers. The topics, chosen by the speakers, cover a wide range, from the workings of a water mill, to family history, to Roman roads in Okehampton.There is usually an audience of 40 or so and the meeting is followed by tea and biscuits and chat.

Visits to local places of interest with experts in their field are organised every summer. In this past year they visited two houses in North Tawton

and had a second visit to Sticklepath. The North Tawton visit was firstly to the new micro brewery at Westacott Barton, where members were given a tour of the ancient farmhouse which dates back to early medieval times, but with 16th and 17th century extensions.

The house and its extensive range of large barns, were all re-thatched only a few years ago and make a most impressive unit of buildings.

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The second visit of the day was to a unique house assembled and constructed on a prepared site in 1872.

It had been imported from Norway in ready-built sections 100 years before IKEA brought in flat pack furniture. Its massive, three storey construction with its large, strong timber frame proved to be half the cost of a stone built house of similar proportions. The house and its construction and costs had all been written up in an article in The Times newspaper of December 25th (sic!) of 1872.

Future talks include one on Cornwall’s Mediaeval towns next March. For more information on the society email Tony Wood at adenwo77@gmail.com

( 01837 52596 5 Fore Street Okehampton EX20 1AN

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NOTICEBOARD

Enjoying the moor and staying safe this winter.

Dartmoor can look beautiful this time of year and of course we want people to come up onto the moor to enjoy the winter landscape; however we do ask members of the public to remember that Dartmoor is a living working landscape.

We all need to take extra care when driving on moorland roads at this time of year, as you will often find the livestock laying on the relatively warm tarmac or just licking the salt from the road. Last year we had over 130 animals killed on the road network on Dartmoor so please help us reduce this by following the speed limit and remembering that the roads on Dartmoor are a shared space.

If we get any snow this winter it can mean a very busy time for the Ranger team and the volunteers that we rely upon, so just occasionally it’s good to step back from the day to day work and acknowledge the important role volunteers play in looking after Dartmoor.

On Saturday, November 17th, Dartmoor National Park Junior Rangers were awarded first prize in the Group category of the National Park Volunteering Awards 2018. The award ceremony took place at the Kendal Mountain Festival in Cumbria.

The Awards recognise the outstanding contribution that volunteers make in helping us to care for these precious landscapes and inspiring others to safeguard them for future generations to experience and enjoy. Entries came from the UK’s 15 National Parks.

Simon Lee Dartmoor Ranger

Valuable financial support for local people The Trustees of Okehampton United Charity meet monthly and incredibly, awarded grants of more than £212,504 to local community groups, organisations, charities and individuals in 2018 based in Okehampton or its hamlets.

Groups who have received grants include Okehampton Pads, Wren Music, Friends of Okehampton Library, Men in Sheds, ACOT, Ockment Centre, Tor Support Services, DYS Space, Play Reading Group, Multicultural Okehampton, Okehampton Remembers, Okehampton Community Archive, ORIG, Open Arms Battle of the Bands, Okehampton Running Club, All Saints’

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Church Sanctuary, Fairplace Church, Mary Budding Trust, Team Chaos, Citizens’ Advice, Meldon Viaduct Company, Okehampton Wellbeing Singers, Living Free, West Devon Art Workshop, Relate, the Work Club, Music Centre, Rock’n’Roll Circus, St John Ambulance, Young Carers, Baby Classes, Okehampton Excelsior Silver Band, Community Links and Okehampton Christmas Lights.

The Charity also supports individuals to pursue sport and art and those who have experienced a crisis.

Okehampton Educational Foundation supports Okehampton College and

Okehampton Educational Foundation also supports young people to continue with their post 16 education and during 2018, 128 young people have received grants totaling £87,700.

If you would like to find out more about the charities or apply for financial support in 2019, please visit the website www.okehamptoncharities.org.uk or contact the charity’s clerk, Karen Percival, on 01837 55179.

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SPORTS CLUB NEWS

Active Okehampton - finding the right activity for you in 2019 Would you like to be more active, have fun, feel happier and healthier, meet new people and be able to take on the challenges of life?

No matter what your age or ability is, we are blessed in Okehampton and surrounding area with a fantastic array of clubs, activity, sports and fitness sessions. Local recreation charity OCRA, working with Fusion, is keen to help people get more active and help you find the right activity.

You could come along to Rusty Rackets, a tennis session for people of all ages and abilities running on Mondays from 10am at the Okehampton courts.

There is also Walking Football on Tuesdays at 6.15pm in which players from 48 to 85 years of age enjoy the game they love during weekly sessions at the All Weather Pitch - a warm welcome awaits.

The area also has a rich fitness sessions scene with great instructors. Whether you would like to try pilates, zumba, aqua aerobics, yoga, Tai Chi, swimming, seated exercise, HIT, circuit training, running or cycling there are groups for all abilities.

Then there’s Walk & Talk, free sociable weekly walks leaving from opposite Okehampton Post Office on Tuesdays (short walk at 10.30am) and Wednesdays (moderate walk at 10 o’clock) aimed at different fitness levels.

If you are suffering from diabetes, mental health issues, high blood pressure, if you are overweight, have COPD, or a history of stroke you can approach your GP/physio or nurse and find out more about the GP exercise referral scheme which runs from Parklands.

Run in the Park is a monthly 2.5 or 5km run for children, adults of all ages and families. They are run by Okehampton Running Club and OCRA on the first Sunday of the month at 9.30am at the Pavilion in the Park.

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LOCAL PEOPLE

Linda Clinch The lady known as the ‘Cat Whisperer’ ‘I’ve always been animal orientated - my Mum used to say animals always found me!’ laughs Linda Clinch. ‘I would find birds with broken wings and try to help them, I’d walk all the dogs in the neighbourhood - I found a lost Afghan Hound one Christmas day and brought him home on a piece of string!’

Linda was born in North Tawton and came to live in Okehampton with her parents when she was about eight years old. Now living in South Zeal with her husband Geoff, Border Terrier Barry and cat Jo Dee, she has turned her love of animals to positive good, having fostered stray cats for the Okehampton branch of Cats Protection since 2001. Having made the decision to help, her large greenhouse in the garden had to go, to be replaced by a purpose-built pen, where fostered cats are homed until they find a new owner.

‘You might have one for just a few weeks - that’s a really quick turnover - but I could have them for months,’ explained Linda. ‘Poor old Marcus I have had since June. He’s a beautiful black cat, he’s only about two-and-a-half years old and he’s an absolute darling, but for some reason people seem reluctant to take on black cats.’

Her own cat Mia, who died a couple of years ago, was given to Linda as a tiny kitten by a local farmer.

‘She was only about two weeks old and fitted in the palm of my hand. The farmer had picked up a load of straw from Hampshire, stopped for a break and found this little longhaired kitten in the load. We don’t know what happened to the mother but the kitten was pretty weak,’ said Linda, who took her in and nursed her back to strength, feeding her with a dropper day and night.

Over the years Linda has fostered all manner of strays, from elderly old ladies and gentlemen, to tiny kittens like Mia. Amongst her Cats Protection colleagues, she is known as the ‘Cat Whisperer’, as she has the knack of restoring confidence and happiness in previously nervous, traumatised animals.

‘I love them all like I love my own cats, I just want for them

what I give mine - a loving home. The pen in the garden is just a stopping off point really,’ said Linda.

All the cats are microchipped, wormed, treated for fleas and vaccinated while in Cats Protection care. Any other ailments are also addressed, so this can mean quite a few visits to the vets before they are classed as fit for homing.

Linda gives names to every cat she fosters, unless they are already named. Sometimes she is inspired by a book, or a TV series - at one point she had Kate, Alex and Sophie, named for the Big Brother celebrities! Marcus was actually named after the comedian Marcus Brigstock, the guest speaker at an event she and Geoff attended on behalf of their removals company, Reddaways.

Incredibly, Marcus is the 162nd cat to be fostered by Linda, who has juggled her voluntary work with bringing up her two sons, now aged 24 and 22, and working for the family business.

And even Barry the dog helps with the fostering process, visiting the cats in the pen and enabling Linda to judge whether they could be re-homed to dog owners.

‘He’s very gentle with them, he does come in quite handy actually!’ said Linda.

Away from fostering cats, Linda loves to cycle with Geoff - they recently raised £697.50 for Devon Air Ambulance Trust through a sponsored event organised by Honiton Rotary Club - and are gradually working their way along the 250-mile Nantes to Brest canal cycle route during holidays in France.

As I leave Linda’s house, I meet Marcus in his pen. She’s right he’s a gorgeous cat. I hope he finds a home soon.

Jane Honey

See our community website www.dartmoorlinks.co.uk

13

LOCAL PEOPLE

Peter Hunt A countryman at heart Self-confessed nature lover Peter Hunt of North Bovey started keeping bees some 50 years ago. He’d always wanted to get involved with these fascinating little creatures and as a local hotelier, the idea that his own honey could be used for culinary purposes in his business was an added bonus.

Rearing sheep which could also feature on the menu was a natural progression - and his Jacob sheep have become a passion in the same way as his hives which now number more than 100!

Peter said: ’My biggest inspiration in life was the naturalist Peter Scott. I’ve always been interested in animals and nature - unfortunately I wasn’t clever enough to study them university and I ended up at catering college instead, but I’ve been lucky enough to incorporate working with people and food and animals.’

Aside from the fact that Jacob sheep, according to Peter, have a fantastic, almost gamey flavour, the quality of their wool is also extremely good. He

has his breeding ewes tested genetically to make sure the micron content of their fleece - or the amount of ‘crimp’ - is going to be consistently high.

The beautifully soft wool is cleaned and separated into the natural brown and white colours of a Jacob sheep - it’s spun at Blacker Yarns in Launceston and a friend from Tavistock dies the white wool using natural colourings.

Watching him feed his ‘girls’, you can see how fond Peter is of his animals - he admits he has to be stern with himself to avoid getting over-attached to them, which, as he says, would lead to him running a nursing home for old aged sheep!

If caring for 30 ewes, a couple of rams, 25 chickens and a Jack Russell called April wasn’t enough, Peter, aged 72, has the odd matter of maybe four million honeybees to tend - based on an average of 40,000 insects per hive.

Clustered in groups of around ten, they

are dotted around Dartmoor, the Tamar Valley and even Cornwall. During the winter they look after themselves, but as soon as the merest hint of spring arrives, Peter will be out and about checking each hive - a time-consuming and quite physical job.

‘Actually, I do think my honey is quite special,’ he said modestly. ‘It’s a bit like birdwatching, which I also love. I was taught the first thing you need to know with birdwatching is to learn your own patch. Bee keeping is a little bit similar, you have to see what grows in particular areas over 12 months. We have quite a lot of brambles in the hedges here, which complements clover really well.

You get the dandelions in the spring which give quite a strong flavour, then

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LOCAL PEOPLE

AMBER & MALLOW you have the celandine and some of the tree blossoms, things like sycamore - if you marry all these flavours together, you get a very special honey.’

According to Peter, last year was ‘amazing’ for honey production, probably the best in the last ten years - despite a difficult start.

‘Dealing with livestock and nature is actually quite humbling. We had a really long, wet winter, the fatality rate was quite high as bees don’t like prolonged wet; most keepers lost a lot, but six weeks into spring the colonies expanded hugely because the weather and the nectar was so good. It was amazing they could increase so quickly.

‘Bees are controlled by daylight hours.

As soon as it gets slightly lighter, they start feeding the queen and she starts to lay eggs. I always think as soon as I see the first snowdrop, it won’t be long until they are out and about.’

Peter, who also acts as a consultant to other apiarists in the area, said beekeeping was fascinating and endlessly absorbing.

‘You are always learning something new and each hive is like an individual. It’s a bit like walking through a housing estate - the houses might look the same but they are all different inside.’

He was also keen to stress the importance of educating beekeepers in order to make sure colonies remained healthy. The threat of the varroa mite, which wiped out many colonies in recent years, appears to be under control thanks to greater knowledge and improved husbandry, but the Asian hornet, which preys on honey bees, has been seen in the UK - just recently in Fowey - and identifying and reporting sightings is of vital importance to ensure the insect doesn’t get a foothold here as it has elsewhere in Europe.

‘They hang around the opening of the hive and literally pick them off as they leave,’ said Peter with a grimace.

‘We have to look after nature, from a conservation point of view it’s vital.

Trees are a classic example - you don’t plant a tree for yourself, you plant it for your grandchildren.’

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Jane Honey

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LOCAL PEOPLE

Pam Jones A busy lady who’s life has been changed by her guide dogs Winnie, a beautiful Golden Retriever/ Labrador cross, is the fourth guide dog that Pam Jones has shared her life with, arriving at her home in Okehampton in October last year. Soft and friendly, she loved watching reflections play across the walls of Pam’s living room as we chatted.

She’s only two year and a half years old, yet is already a very good guide dog according to Pam and her husband, Brian - although she does have the odd blip. ’We still have our moments,’ said Pam. ‘She gets me where I want to go but she is very curious - when I first had her I found myself in someone’s front garden because she’d gone to look at a cat!

Luckily Brian was nearby and came to the rescue!’

home, when the close bond between owner and their new dog is built.

Pam explained that guide dogs generally start working when they are between 19 months and two years old. They start their career with a puppy walker for the first year of life, an important stage during which they are socialised and get used to all the sorts of environments they will need to be comfortable in as a working dog. A period of basic training follows which lasts around three months, depending on the individual dog, followed by advanced training for another two months or so, before their prospective owner gets involved.

Pam suffers from a genetic condition affecting her eyesight; she was only partially sighted by the age of around 14 but managed well until her late 30s when her vision deteriorated further.

By the mid-1990s and living in busy Birmingham at the time, she had little useful sight left and her confidence at being out and about was at a low ebb.

She applied to be considered for a guide dog and her first, Zelia, joined her and Brian when she was 51.

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Pam explained that having a guide dog made a huge difference to her quality of life.

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LOCAL PEOPLE

to trust these dogs. I’d been used to walking quite slowly and some of them really marched along, so you are having to build up the trust, the confidence and the speed - it was quite a steep learning curve!’

Pam and Brian came to live in Okehampton 13 years ago - it’s a move they’ve never regretted.

‘It meant I could get out of the house without having to rely on Brian all the time - it gave me independence again.

Obviously confidence is something you have to build up, it is nerve-wracking when you go to a place for the first time, but once you’ve done it it’s fine. To have that self-reliance can be very liberating.

I couldn’t do without a guide dog now.’

Pam describes how Winnie has had to learn the various routes that she regularly takes, to the supermarket, to the park, to the community centre - and once the harness and lead are on, and

she’s told where they’re off to, she is in charge.

‘Sometimes I think they know far more than we realise, although having said that, they are creatures of habit.

But basically trust is the key otherwise I’d never step out of the front door.

‘When I first did my training it was a challenging for me as well - they took my white stick away from me and I had

‘I feel very comfortable here, the people are very friendly. I joined several different organisations and within a very short space of time I felt I knew a lot of people, which is lovely,’ said Pam, who is a member at All Saints Church, Okehampton Probus and of a local walking group.

A sprightly 75-year-old, Pam is a keen cook, who had been busy making Christmas puddings on the day of our interview. She also loves knitting and crocheting and listening to audio books.

‘I like to keep busy - I’d get restless otherwise! Okehampton has a really good social network, there’s always lots going on - we are very happy here and everyone seems to recognise me and my dog!’ she smiled.

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SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT EDUCATION

A new era for Chagford Primary School Welcoming a special guest and looking forward to a bright future Last term, Chagford Church of England Primary new school building was officially opened by the children’s author Michael Morpurgo and blessed

by Rt Reverend Robert Atwell, Bishop of Exeter. The doors were opened after almost four years after the initial acceptance onto the Priority Schools Building Programme, financed by the Education, Skills and Funding Agency.

This was a momentous day for the pupils, their families, teachers and the wider school community and heralded a new era in educational provision for Chagford and its community. The building secures a school with a 240 pupil capacity in this vibrant and creative community and enables the primary curriculum to be delivered within a fit for purpose and technologically efficient learning environment.

As the headteacher of Chagford C E Primary, this has been both an exciting

and challenging few years. The quality of the finished school which Kier Construction delivered and the extent of space and light which it provides for our current and future pupils makes this design and construction exceptional.

Teaching and learning have been propelled into the 21st century and as a teaching team, we are now able to deliver the broadest curriculum to the highest standard, within a truly inspiring learning environment.

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them include: ‘I love the windows’, ‘The new gymnastics equipment and hall are fantastic’, ‘I like looking into the new hall from the window upstairs’ and ‘I like that it feels calm’.

Although the construction phase of the school has been completed, the demolition of the old school building is currently in progress. Once complete the full extent of our outdoor learning environment will be realised. This will provide a Sports England approved sports field, a newly resurfaced playground and access to our existing amphitheatre and wildlife area for all the children to explore and enjoy. Our planting within our school grounds will be rich in bio-diversity and link into our curriculum across all phases.

As a community we have been extremely fortunate to have such an investment made into the educational future of our children and the finished school is an asset to the whole community to use and develop over the next few years.

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SCHOOL EDUCATION SPOTLIGHT

A young academy going from strength to strength Leadership team looks to the future with ambition Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust is a year old at the beginning of January - and it’s been quite a year for the staff, students and parents involved in this exciting new era for education in the Okehampton area.

The trust, which currently comprises three secondary schools and 13 primary schools, is constantly evolving in line with its mission statement - to provide the highest possible education for all local children, in order to ensure pupils from all backgrounds are able to succeed.

Vice chief executive officer Hazel Fox said: ‘It feels like speed is gathering and we are growing in confidence all the time. We’ve just gone through our first financial audit - we found it quite fascinating and feel proud of how we have done.’

The trust has been striving to improve in all areas across the primary and secondary schools in its membership,

from staff appraisals, continual professional development for teaching and support staff, through to the curriculums and provision of facilities and equipment.

Weekly bulletins are now posted in every school with the latest news - in old fashioned paper form, rather than in an email, following a specific request from staff.

Training and sharing of expertise in all areas is extremely important to the trust - as Hazel said, the leadership team want their teachers to be as motivated and inspiring as possible, so that retention of staff never becomes an issue.

A trust-wide school council has been formed for students and pupils and its first meeting took place in November.

It saw children from eleven schools join together for an action-packed day in which they discussed the role of the council, wrote their first newsletter and put together an action plan for the year ahead, which includes the aim of going ‘single use plastic free’ across the trust.

Educare online training courses are now being offered to staff in a wide variety of topics - a move which came out of a support staff forum held during June.

Hazel said: ‘We have really tried to build the capacity and talent we have within our staff, helping them to enjoy their jobs even more.’

There are now four apprentices working for the trust - it is hoped to promote apprenticeships further in future.

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Teacher Natasha Scamp, who took a lead role in the day, said: ‘It was really, really successful and I’ve had great feedback from the schools who said how excited the children were about meeting each other.’

Highampton Primary School joined the trust in the summer and consultation is currently taking place at Great Torrington School following a proposal to become the fourth secondary school in the trust.

In the coming year the leadership team will continue to focus on the educational experience for all its stakeholders, making sure all voices are heard.

Hazel said: ‘We are a young and ambitious trust - it’s a new era for us and I remain very positive about the future.’

Jane Honey 19

CHARITY FOCUS

K9 Search Dogs Reuniting lost pets with loved ones Sam Clark, who lives near Okehampton, has owned bloodhounds since the early 1990s and has always loved harnessing their incredible ability to track scents, using her fantastic dogs to find missing people.

She found she was receiving more and more frantic phone calls from people who had heard about her bloodhounds, wondering if they could find dogs which had gone missing and she decided to train a bloodhound to track dogs, as opposed to people. K9 Search Dogs, a tiny charity, was started in 2012 and since that time has been involved in reuniting hundreds of lost pets with their owners.

K9 Search Dogs now has three of Sam’s dogs involved in the charity plus a fourth in training, and two bloodhounds based in Somerset, covering areas further away from West Devon.

Amazingly Sam gets phone calls every day asking for help and goes out usually at least twice a week on rescue missions.

‘You always get more call outs in the summer holidays, when people come down to Dartmoor for a week and lose their dogs on the moors - and then of course bonfire night is a nightmare,’ she said ruefully. ‘We had a classic one this year - a lady had gone to a firework party with her three-year-old child and a puppy, and let the three-year-old hold the puppy’s lead! You can imagine what happened!

‘The other big issue is people rescuing dogs from places like

Romania. They come over here, basically as feral or street dogs, get let out of the van or whatever they are travelling in and scarper before their new owner’s even had time to get them into the house! I reckon we are getting calls every week like this.’

Sam explained that in these cases, while her bloodhounds can usually find the dog, actually catching a terrified animal can be as much a challenge as locating it in the first place.

One of the biggest problems encountered by Sam and her fellow volunteers when being asked to find a lost pet, particularly from a family which has more than dog, is being able to give the bloodhounds a scent article which is unique to just the missing one. She advises all dog owners, particularly if they have several pets, to make scent pad from gauze and rub it all over the dog, capturing some fur, seal it in a ziplock bag and keep it in the freezer. That way, if the dog goes missing, her bloodhounds will have a real head start in being able to track its scent.

Another problem is finding enough friendly dogs to take part in training sessions.

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CHARITY FOCUS

‘What we are desperately short of is people with friendly dogs to “get lost” for us. It’s really good for the hounds to search for dogs they don’t know. All we ask is for them to walk for half an hour following a route we give them, and we get the hound to find them,’ said Sam.

K9 Search Dogs relies entirely on donations and the goodwill of volunteers. Sam will do car boot sales and demonstrations at shows to raise money, there is a Paypal donate button on the charity’s website and she is registered with West Devon’s Sea Moor Lotto, which has provided financial support.

These training sessions usually take place in the Sourton area as it’s relatively near to where she is based, but she is happy to travel further afield in order to train the hounds in different areas and with new subjects.

‘Having enough money to pay the petrol of my volunteers is the main thing, and insurance. We all give our time for free, and we don’t charge for call outs,’ said Sam.

She will also take the hounds into urban environments for training. Whether in a town or in the country, it takes hours of work to get them to follow the particular aroma they are aiming to find, rather than the confusing overlaying smells of rabbits, pheasants and other small mammals – or discarded food wrappers and traffic scents.

The hounds track on a long lead and Sam said they absolutely love working, getting excited way before they are actually out on the hunt.

Any dog lover that has been through the agony of losing their much loved pet, even if it’s only for an hour or so, will be able to identify the typical testimonial that Sam and her band of volunteers have received: ‘Oh my God, I thought I’d never see her again. You are so wonderful. Thank you.’

For more information visit www.k9searchdog.org or contact 07721 597926/01566 783233.

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HEALTH & BEAUTY

Important health checks, screenings and vaccinations Dr Emma Chapman explains why they are so necessary

We all worry about our health but by undergoing routine health checks, which take just minutes to perform, you can spot problems in the early stages when they’re easier to treat. Over the next two issues we look at the importance of attending these appointments.

NHS health check This is a check of your overall health.

It can tell you whether you’re at risk of getting certain health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease and stroke.

A nurse will ask questions about your lifestyle and family history, take your height, weight, blood pressure and do a blood test.

Based on the results, you will be given an idea of your chances of getting heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and diabetes and will be offered advice to lower your risk.

You’ll be invited for a check every five years if you’re between 40 and 74 years of age and do not already have heart disease, stroke, diabetes, kidney disease or high blood pressure.

Cervical screening

Vaccinations

Cervical screening is a method of preventing cancer by detecting abnormalities which, if left untreated, could lead to cancer in a woman’s cervix.

All women aged 25-64 are eligible for a free cervical screening test every 3-5 years.

People usually recover from the flu, pneumonia or shingles without any on-going problems. However, these infections can cause serious health problems, and can be fatal. Influenza and pneumonia are the fourth most common cause of death in people over 65 years. Shingles can cause serious long-term complications and can sometimes be fatal. The best protection is to get vaccinated.

About 3,000 cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed each year in the UK. Since the screening programme was introduced in the 1980s, the number of cervical cancer cases has decreased by about seven percent each year.

A nurse inserts an instrument called a speculum to open the woman’s vagina and uses a small soft brush to sweep around the cervix. Most women say it’s slightly uncomfortable but not painful.

You should receive the result of your test within two weeks. Most screening results are normal, but if you are recalled, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you have cancer. In around one in 20 women, the test shows some abnormal changes which will require further investigation and treatment.

If you’re 65 years or over, you can get a free flu jab each year. If you’re under 65 but have a long-term condition (for example, diabetes, heart disease, lung disease), or if you’re a carer, you are still be eligible for a free flu jab.

You can get a vaccination for pneumonia and in some cases septicaemia and bacterial meningitis if you’re 65 years or over, or if you have a certain long term condition.

If you’re aged between 70 and 79 you can get a shingles vaccination.

See the March/April issue of Oke Links for the second part in this series.

Dr Emma Chapman Okehampton Medical Centre

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HEALTH HEALTH & WELLBEING & BEAUTY

Reset, unwind and relax Would you like to know how to reset your inner overwhelm thermostat, start unwinding those knotty strands of stress and experience deep, rejuvenating relaxation?

Participate in a series of stress relief classes or see modern psychology practitioner Gwen Channer privately and you will learn how.

As Phil, a class participant, said: ‘I would like to say how much I enjoyed your classes. I have always been a bit cynical, but the tools you gave us to work with have been very useful, especially in my day to day management.

‘I liked the way the program progressed through four weeks and how each week you brought in a new resource that was beneficial in recognising what each of us was dealing with and how to manage these things better. I feel much more confident in my day-to-day dealings and regularly use those tools you gave us. Thank you for your polite and gentle approach, it has changed the way I go through my day.’

One of the most important aspects of lifting yourself out of an unhappy state is to take responsibility. Not blame or guilt, both are debilitating, but a stepping out of victimhood. The

saying that if you want a happy marriage, all you have to do is be happy and then find another happy person to marry has plenty of grains of truth in it. Many people are unhappy in a relationship because they feel the other party is not being or doing what they ought to in order for the relationship to be good. That may be so, however, the first step is to start with yourself. If you can be happy from the inside out you will be amazed at what that does for all your relationships while also reducing other stress and anxiety.

Gwen Channer

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Spinal touch and bio-stress release treatments They’re ways to keep your back and knees healthy... By Susanna Terry There is no doubt that the health of the spine, and therefore spinal cord, can have a profound influence on the entire organism.

Many people are aware that bad posture can trigger various problems such as lower back pain, neck pain along with headaches and other musculo-skeletal disorders. What may be less obvious is that the alignment of the spine in relation to gravity can also have an impact on the whole body as well as on health in general.

The design of the human frame means the weight of the upper body should be borne at the centre of gravity of the body. This lies on a plane at the lumbo-sacral junction, that is, at the lower back.

This is the ideal situation and it works well for all of us when we are properly aligned. However, if the body is twisted

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then the weight of the upper body will be shifted unduly to the hips or the knees. This is the reason why a person starts complaining of lower back pain or pain in the hips or knees.

And yet, in most cases, all it takes to correct this situation is realigning the body to gravity with a spinal touch treatment.

Combined with bio-stress release, another ‘light touch’ therapy, healing and pain relief can be achieved, often after one or two sessions. These treatments do not involve any abrupt adjustments or manipulation.

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GARDENING Cornus ‘Golden Ness’ AGM credit ©RHS/Mike Sleigh

Spring is around the corner - honestly!

Sally Newbrook from RHS Rosemoor suggests seasonal gardening projects

Sally Newbrook

It is deep winter. In an ideal world, crisp frosty mornings and clear blue skies are breaking through the darkness but in reality, wet and cold weather may be testing your commitment.

However, it won’t be long before tufts of snowdrops and Crocus remind us that spring is on its way.

Last October here at Rosemoor we planted 2,000 Crocus corms in the grass under the large oak tree leading down to the lake.

These will soon be emerging, a small variety named Crocus tommasinianus ‘Barr’s Purple’ with vivid orange stamens was chosen for its early flowering time. Nearby snowdrops Galanthus ‘S. Arnott’ AGM release their sweet honey fragrance, a delicate singled-flowered type donated to us by a regular visitor who gardens on Dartmoor. In the winter garden plantings of willow, dogwood and white-stemmed bramble grab your attention with their radiant stem colour, often looking best in groups of at least three. Two of my favourites are Cornus alba ‘Kesselringii’ with its deep purple/black stems and Salix alba ‘Golden Ness’ AGM for its luminous architectural quality.

While the garden sleeps we take the opportunity to prepare for the exciting year ahead. Here are a variety of seasonal jobs you may want to consider:

Rose pruning One of our biggest jobs at Rosemoor is pruning the huge variety of roses within the formal garden. Late winter is the ideal time to prune shrub and bush (hybrid T and floribunda) roses just before new growth kicks off. Pruning helps keep them tidy, healthy and flowering well. The aim is to create an open structure that reduces crossing branches and allows light in and increased movement of air.

General pruning rules: Keep your secateurs sharp so that you can get a clean cut rather than crushing the stem.

Remove all dead, diseased and damaged material to a point where the stems look healthy.

If a rose is very crowded remove a small amount of old stems at their base.

Make your cuts 5mm above a bud and cut at an angle sloping away from the bud to prevent water collecting on it.

Cut to a bud facing out from the centre of the plant so that the new shoots create a nice rounded shape rather than growing inwards getting tangled together.

Dispose of material rather than incorporating it into your

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GARDENING

Galanthus ‘S. Arnott’ AGM and Helleborus x hybridus credit ©RHS/Sheila Dearing

compost and disinfect secateurs regularly to reduce the spread of fungal spores that cause black spot and mildew.

Of course every rose looks different and they rarely play by the rules but to put it simply: Hybrid T’s with their characteristically large flowers can be pruned the hardest to 15cm from the base leaving a framework of just 3 or 4 stems, ideally choosing the youngest and healthiest.

Floribundas need more of a framework to support their clusters of flowers so prune to around 25-30cm.

The term shrub rose represents a huge number of different rose types and each may require a slightly different approach.

Generally speaking, they need framework of old branches to support the new flowering growth so tread carefully, shortening growth by a third at most.

Pruning roses in the Queen Mother’s Rose Garden credit ©RHS/Sheila Wearing

Planting trees and shrubs It’s a good time to plant trees and shrubs especially those sold bare rooted. Planting in the dormant period gives them optimum time to get roots established before growing shoots put more of a demand on the plant, just make sure the ground isn’t frozen or waterlogged. Roses can be ordered online and buying in this way may give you more options if you are looking for specific varieties.

Mulching

If you’re unsure as to which variety you’ve got the RHS website has some good advice on how to proceed.

Maintenance Now that trees have dropped their leaves and herbaceous plants have died back you can get a much clearer idea of what is going on in the garden. Check stakes and climbing plant supports for damage so that you can do repairs while plants are dormant.

Late February is a good time to get a weed smothering mulch down providing soil is not frozen or saturated. We use a variety of mulches here including a fine shredded spruce bark, our own compost and a heavier bark on larger areas but it really depends what you can get hold of and how much it costs. If using any of your own compost or manure it’s important to make sure it’s well-rotted so as not to burn stems and leaves of emerging plants.

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27

IN FU SU LL RE Y D

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FARMING DIARY

Are priorities right when it comes to inspections?

Farmer Stuart Luxton considers the farm assurance system.

Hello again everyone, Happy New Year and all the best for 2019 - I hope that everyone has a great year. I’m not too sure what will happen with Br**it, but I hope that the effects are not too negative for the South West.

As I write this in November, the weather has just taken a significant turn for the worse with rain and storms forecast all this week. We have been very lucky this autumn, the rain got the grass growing but it wasn’t too wet. This enabled us to keep some of the cattle out in the fields a few weeks longer than usual.

The hope is that the forage saved will help our low forage levels and get us get through the long winter.

This winter will be a little unusual for us, as we have had three consecutive clear TB tests, the last of which was in June.

Our next test is in June 2019. I can’t remember the last winter with no tests.

This in itself is brilliant, but having to handle all your cattle in the same week with no choice is a great management opportunity. We do all our vaccinations, tagging and weighing at the same time.

Now we have to find the time to do all these tasks!

In October we had a farm assurance inspection. We passed the inspection with no problem, but every time we have one of these I feel a little sad.

The inspector arrived by appointment and we wandered round the farm’s facilities and he gave the animals a

cursory glance, we then settled down in to inspect the paperwork.

About two hours later, after finding waste transfer notices, operator numbers, batch numbers etc. we were given a report with two small nonconformances and we received our report.

I raised the matter with the inspector as to why the animals seemed to have so little relevance. His answer was that there is some new software which places more emphasis on the animals - but he, as yet, doesn’t have a new enough electronic gadget to run this software.

staff for all their hard work over the festive season, I hope I wasn’t too grumpy?

The shop will be much quieter now but we are still have some lovely local treats, just remember that our food miles are measured in inches.

Good bye for now, speak to you again in the spring.

Stuart Luxton

As a passionate livestock farmer it is sad that the animals seem to be so unimportant to the inspectors.

About 20 years ago we had a similar farm assurance inspection by a retired farmer. On looking at one shed I apologised that the cattle hadn’t yet been bedded that day. His reply was: ‘Young man, it’s a pleasure to see animals looked after this way, I can see that they are bedded every day and don’t need to see fresh straw.’ Unfortunately, that man had to stop the inspections because the priority was shifting away from animals towards paperwork and this wasn’t his strong point.

For those of you that visited the shop over the Christmas period, I hope that everything was up to our usual high standard. Thank you to all our lovely 29

Launch of new Discretionary Investment service caps off a busy year for Davidsons IFA

2

Management, which has discretionary permissions 018 was a busy year for us. Not only did from the FCA. That means we can make those portfolio we set up our Defined Benefit Company changes without the need to go back to the client each Pension advice service and open a new office time. Indeed, we can make the changes centrally and in Wadebridge, Cornwall, but in November we then apply those changes to all clients with one action. launched our new discretionary investment That is far more efficient and allows us to react to market management service – Davidsons Portfolio Management Ltd (DPM). When Davidsons IFA was conditions more quickly. A discretionary service is not for everyone, but our clients now have the choice - stay with set up one of the guiding principles was to “do it a bespoke, advisory portfolio or switch to a discretionary properly”. That meant taking time to research the model portfolio. markets, assess risk and build a decent portfolio One of the most pleasing aspects to this of investment funds for each and is our continued focus on normal people. every client, regardless of how So many investment services are pitched much they were investing. at the ultra-wealthy, with fees to match.

As client numbers grew, so too did the We have always striven to be accessible number of advisers within the firm. to anyone who wants our service. Anyone That made it harder to control what who has a pension, however small, or an funds were being picked. It also raised ISA or who has simply inherited some the question of fairness - if a client money, should have access to the financial came in to see one adviser they may advice needed to invest in a way that end up with a different portfolio than works for them. So we have ensured our if they had seen a different adviser. So, new discretionary service is available to in 2015 we centralised the process by anyone with at least £10,000 to invest building a suite of model portfolios.

– be that in an ISA or pension. What is That meant we built model portfolios even more pleasing, and somewhat of a for each risk category. Since then, feather in our cap - is we have secured clients have been invested in those Craig Davidson discounts from our investment partners portfolios according to their investment Managing Director - platform providers and fund managers targets and preferences.

– for all clients across the board, not just for the larger That system has worked well, with performance investments. That means all our clients have access to a full consistently outstripping our peers, but our continued discretionary portfolio service at a remarkably low price growth has brought new challenges. Our portfolios are when compared to our peers. run on an advisory basis. That means when we feel a change is needed, we need to visit each client to gain their As we move into 2019 we look forward to continuing our tradition of providing friendly, honest financial advice to consent to the change. That is inefficient and can add a anyone who needs it. significant time delay before those changes are made. As investment markets can move quickly, that presents a risk.

Call us today on 01837 53855 To solve this problem we introduced Davidsons Portfolio

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01837 53855 | enquiries@davidsonsifa.com | www.davidsonsifa.com

PENSIONS | MORTGAGES | INVESTMENTS 30

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FINANCE

Investing: Active vs Passive Investing is all about decisions – Where to invest?

With Whom? How much risk to take?

But perhaps the most debated investment decision is the question of Active vs Passive funds. An active fund will aim to pick stocks that will outperform the benchmark or index.

A passive fund will simply buy the stocks that make up their index, with no ability to use their judgement. Logic suggests the active fund should outperform the passive. They are, after all, making a judgement about what to buy for the sole purpose of adding value, and indeed justifying their higher fees.

Proponents of passive investing believe active fund managers do not consistently outperform their benchmarks – research over the last few years has shown that, on average, active funds consistently underperform their benchmark or index. The argument follows that investing in cheaper funds that simply track the benchmark is a far better long-term strategy.

But while it’s true most active fund managers underperform their benchmark, it’s also true of passive funds. If the passive fund manager is simply replicating the index, then there is no room for outperformance, leaving the only possible outcome an underperformance by the amount of the fees. Passive funds will have a lower degree of risk because the manager is not trying to second-guess the market, but there is an element of guaranteed underperformance.

Cheerleaders for active investment management claim while most underperform the benchmark, some outperform - the point of investment research is to identify those outperformers.

As active funds are more likely to underperform, the key to picking a good one is to identify traits – positive and negative.

Size can be an issue. The fund could be too small, meaning the fixed costs of running the fund are high as a percentage of its assets, or too large, meaning the manager cannot invest a large weighting in the best ideas without breaking shareholder rules. Sometimes large funds incentivise their managers in the wrong way, by encouraging asset gathering rather than performance. Performance could be affected by a manager going through a crisis of confidence or it could simply be the fees are too high.

There are several positive aspects to focus on. These include ensuring the fund manager has the same investing philosophy as you, such as focusing on total return rather than benchmark comparisons, or ensuring they define risk in the same way. If the manager has a considerable amount of their own wealth invested in the fund, that’s usually a good sign their incentives are aligned with yours.

The key to investing is to pick good funds, active or passive. Only active funds have the ability to outperform the benchmark, but you run the risk of picking an average underperformer.

Craig Davidson Davidsons IFA

Let us help you make the right move...

We provide a comprehensive financial advice service, offering specialist guidance best suited to your needs.

PENSIONS | MORTGAGES | INVESTMENTS See our new community website www.dartmoorlinks.co.uk

23 Fore Street, Okehampton, EX20 1AN 01837 53855 www.davidsonsifa.com

31

WHAT’S ON

Regulars

College Gym. Contact: snap.okey@gmail. com, 07851 257733 or 01837 659990.

TUESDAYS (DURING TERM TIME) Tai Chi for good health, relaxation and vitality, 11.40am - 12.40pm, Church House, South Tawton. Everyone welcome. Contact Kate Dixon, kate@forestchi.co.uk Tel: 01837 840959 www.forestchi.co.uk TUESDAYS At Okehampton Library - 10am until 10.30am, Bounce & Rhyme for over one year olds; 11am until 11.30am, Bounce and Rhyme for under one year olds. Last Tuesday of the month, Bookworms - a book club for children aged seven to eleven between 3.45pm and 4.45pm. Free, no booking necessary.

WEDNESDAYS At Okehampton Library, 9.30am until 10.15am, Duplo Builders and Storytime for children up to five. Free, no booking necessary.

THURSDAYS SNAP (SPECIAL NEEDS ACTIVITIES IN THE PARK) SNAP is a social club for children and young people with special needs. The club offers a fantastic opportunity to try lots of fun activities, socialise and make new friends. 7pm - 8.30pm, term time only, at the Pavilion in the Park and Okehampton

FOURTH THURSDAY PARKINSON’S SUPPORT GROUP This friendly support group meets at Castle Ham Lodge, Okehampton. Tea, comfort and mutual support are on offer. Newcomers are welcome. For more information call 01837 55813.

FRIDAYS OCRA DANCE OCRA Dance is a dance group that is open to all, bringing the community together through dance, music and laughter. A variety of dance styles. Have fun learning new routines and be part of a dance group taking part in local events if you wish.

3.45pm until 4.30pm at The Pavilion in the Park. Contact: 07827 787867 or email lynne-inmotion@email.com SATURDAYS LEGO BUILDERS At Okehampton Library between 10.30am and 11.30am, for children aged 5+. Free, no booking necessary.

THIRD SATURDAY OF THE MONTH

in singing around the parishes you are welcome to join the choir at their regular meetings between 10am and 12.30pm.

For more information email ruthfcurtis@ icloud.com FIRST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH RUN IN THE PARK Joint the regular 5k and 2.5k runs around stunning Simmons Park in Okehampton.

Suitable for adults of all ages, young people and families, leaving the Pavilion in the Park at 9.30am.

LAST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH OKEY FOLKY FOLK SESSIONS At the Plume of Feathers in Okehampton.

Singers, musicians, poets, step dancers and audience all welcome! The fun starts at 8pm. For more information call Debbie Jessop, 07773 479375.

January ACTIVE LIFE, ACTIVE MIND MONTH This programme has been running for 6 years to promote health and wellbeing across Devon. Please look out for events at Okehampton Library.

WHIDDON WIDE COMMUNITY CHOIR

8 JANUARY

This friendly choir has been running for several years - if you are interested

This regular new group starts today at Okehampton Library. Bring along your knitting, stitching, crochet or other portable project, for a chat with like-minded crafters. Tea and coffee available at 50p a cup. Every Tuesday from 1.30pm until 2.30pm.

KNIT AND NATTER

8 JANUARY

GOOD ADVICE IS PRICELESS St. Edmund’s Court, Okehampton Street, Exeter EX4 1DU T: 01392 413100 W: www.bhandl.co.uk E: enquiries@bhandl.co.uk

32

PRINCETOWN HISTORY CLUB MEETING Coins, slate and daub: Fieldwork and excavations at Ipplepen - a talk by Derek Gorge at 7pm at Princetown Community Centre.

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WHAT’S ON

9 JANUARY

12 JANUARY

14 JANUARY

TODDLER YOGA

WILSON & WAKEMAN

MEMBERS’ PHONE IMAGES

Toddler Yoga at Okehampton Library based on the book ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’.

Fun, interactive yoga class for parents and children, with some singing and stretching incorporated in the session, which runs from 10.30am until 11.15am. Book through the library.

Damian Wilson & Adam Wakeman play at The Plough, Torrington, during their second full UK tour. Featuring Damian on vocals and acoustic guitar and Adam on piano, vocals and acoustic guitar, expect songs from their individual back catalogues and artists they have worked with, along with tracks from their joint albums, intertwined with stories and memories from their extensive touring careers in a show not to be missed. Box office 01805 624624.

Okehampton Camera Club meeting at the Church Hall in Market Street, 7.30pm. A projected images evening.

9 JANUARY EXETER CATHEDRAL: A PORTRAIT IN DECORATED GOTHIC A talk by Mark Cottle for the The Arts Society Dartmoor. Described as England’s most beautiful Decorated Gothic cathedral

by English Heritage, Exeter Cathedral is a striking example of this style of Gothic architecture. The aim of the lecture is to illustrate the defining features of Decorated Gothic at Exeter and to look more closely at the cathedral as a product of its own time. 10am for 10.30am start at the Charter Hall, Okehampton.

10 JANUARY DRINK WISE AGE WELL A chance to connect with the Drink Wise Age Well project to find out what they provide and how they can offer support. At Okehampton Library between 10am and 1pm.

12 JANUARY PARK RUN A free 5k run for all abilities at the National Trust’s Parke Estate, Bovey Tracey.

The run starts on the drive to Parke House at 9am promptly. Further information on 01626 834748 (weekdays only) or parke@ nationaltrust.org.uk 13 JANUARY HELP THE RANGERS DAY One of the regular conservation days organised by Dartmoor National Park Rangers - this time in the Haytor area with practical work being carried on habitat management and archaeological sites as well as keeping this iconic Dartmoor location looking good. 10.30am until 3pm.

Please contact Bill Allen, Sector Ranger for the Haytor area on 07711 104545 or email ballen@dartmoor.gov.uk

15 JANUARY DISORDERLY DEVON Lewdown Local History Group host an illustrated talk by Kevin Dickens. A century of crime and lawlessness and how our ancestors eventually became better behaved. The talks starts at 7.30pm at Stowford Parish Hall. Visitors £3. For more information call 01566 783396.

15 JANUARY MANATON MONTHLY MARKET A tempting range of local goodies including pies, pasties, jams and chutneys, organic fruit and veg, speciality bread and cakes, local lamb, pork and beef, cheeses, ceramics, pottery, flowers plants and jewellery. Held in Manaton Parish Hall between 10.30am and noon.

16 JANUARY CHAIR YOGA At Okehampton Library. Yoga on chairs helps improve balance, co-ordination, muscle tone and is great for arthritis.

Suitable for adults of any fitness. Free, no booking necessary. 3pm until 3.45pm.

Charity Lunches

In aid of Devon Air Ambulance Join us at the restaurant throughout January, February & March, on Fridays & Saturdays, for our charity lunches in aid of Devon Air Ambulance.

Prices start at £17.50 per person for two courses. #

A Family Run Hideaway in Devon See our community website www.dartmoorlinks.co.uk

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33

WHAT’S ON

16 JANUARY

24 JANUARY

26 JANUARY

MORETONHAMPSTEAD HISTORY SOCIETY

GEOFF NORCOTT: TRADITIONALISM

WIDECOMBE MARKET

Illustrated talk on the History of the Ball Clay Industry at Heathfield and Kingsteignton. 7.30pm at the Union Inn, Moretonhampstead.

The star of BBC2’s The Mash Report and Live At The Apollo takes to the road with this extension to his sell out spring tour and Edinburgh Festival residency. The world is changing at a dizzying rate. Geoff is trying to hold modern views, but worries that tradition is becoming a dirty word. As a satirical comic, Geoff has also written for programmes including Channel 4’s Alternative Election, featured as a guest on Question Time (BBC1), Daily Politics (BBC2), and supported Katherine Ryan on her UK tour. See Geoff at Exeter Phoenix box office 01392 667080.

19 JANUARY TIBET: MONASTERIES, MONKS AND FESTIVALS Well known, talented and much travelled photographer, Pam Kemp, will be giving an illustrated talk at Sampford Courtenay Village Hall at 7.30pm. Tickets costing £6 and including refreshments at the end of the talk are obtainable from the New Inn Sampford Courtenay or by calling 01837 851659.

23 JANUARY PROSPER OKEHAMPTON An open meeting to discuss proposals to protect the high street and boost business.

See What’s on Extra for more information.

23 JANUARY THE WELLIED SLEUTH DIGS THE DIRT ON DARTMOOR A talk by Tim Harrod for The Lustleigh Society at Lustleigh Village Hall at 7.30pm.

25 JANUARY COMMUNITY WELLBEING EVENT Run by West Devon CVS at the community centre in Hatherleigh. See What’s On Extra for more information.

24 JANUARY CHARITY PUB QUIZ At the Bearslake Inn near Sourton, to raise funds for North Dartmoor Search and Rescue Group. £5 per person to enter, suggested teams of four. Fee includes nibbles - there will also be a raffle on the night. To book please call 01837 861334.

34

24 - 26 JANUARY, 31 JANUARY - 1 FEBRUARY SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS Phyl’s Follies annual pantomime at Postbridge Village Hall. For tickets email postbridgepanto@gmail.com or call 01822 661255.

26 JANUARY CLAIRVOYANCE EVENING At Bratton Clovelly Parish Hall, with psychic mediums Clare Hinks and Kevin Hicks. The evening starts 7.30pm and finishes at 9pm. £5 on the door. All proceeds going to the repair of the parish hall. For further information call 01837 871147.

26 JANUARY CARL PALMERS ELP LEGACY Carl Palmer is a drummer’s drummer.

A consummate professional, a brilliant technician and a dynamic showman, he has thrilled listeners and audiences alike for nearly four decades with some of music’s most memorable bands including Atomic Rooster, The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, Asia and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

See him at The Plough, Torrington. Box office 01805 624624.

An interesting range of produce, from olives and olive oil to locally grown vegetables and plants. Cheeses, apple juice, honey, home made bread, cakes, jams; chutneys etc are all there with the core stalls being beef, lamb and pork from local Widecombe farms. 10am until 4pm at The Church House.

28 JANUARY AN EVENING WITH ALAN BASTIN Okehampton Camera Club meeting at the Church Hall in Market Street, 7.30pm.

Appraisal followed by demonstration of Capture One. 29 JANUARY BINGO At the Victory Hall in South Zeal - eyes down at 7.30pm. Raising funds for the village church.

31 JANUARY OKEHAMPTON U3A MEETING At the Ockment Centre, Okehampton at 2.30pm, featuring a talk entitled ‘Okehampton of Yesteryear’ by Mike Wreford. Mike, who is the author of books on the West Country, will entertain with stories of old Okehampton, touching upon dark and dastardly characters who inhabited the town and its jails. His talk will be illustrated with memorabilia and photographs. 01837 54391.

February 1 FEBRUARY MARTIN KEMP: BACK TO THE 80S DJ SET The hottest and most in demand 80s night in the UK! Currently selling out every venue the event goes to in record time.

The 80s icon and UK national treasure will

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New Year

Jacqueline Bourne Nutritional Therapist

Take some time out this winter to look after yourself with our selection of services and wellness providers.

07932 083623

New You!

Time Well Spent Are you overwhelmed by your business administration and struggling to get it all done? Use a Virtual Assistant to free up time in your business or your personal life.

Contact: Chris at Time Well Spent 01837 214667 chris@time-well-spent.co.uk www.time-well-spent.co.uk

Feeling tired? Do you suffer from persistent illness, colds and infections?

Lack energy? GOOD NEWS! Optimum health is definitely achievable in 2019 and beyond.

Mary Lovell Hypnotherapy Re-train your brain with Hypnotherapy, NLP and Mindfulness to reduce stress, clear your mind, achieve goals and create a happier life. 10% discount with this advert.

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Future Bodies Gym

Your Complete Retreat

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Suitable for all shapes, sizes and abilities. We have an exciting new class timetable, including a new class start time of 9.30am, perfect for those who have just finished the school run.

Open: Mon-Fri 6.30am-9.30pm Sat 8am-6pm & Sun 8am-4pm Fatherford Farm, Exeter Road Okehampton EX20 1QQ 01837 659554 fc

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On this retreat, release old hurts, heal and reconnect with your inner self and learn how to create a life filled with compassion, joy and balance

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35

WHAT’S ON

be taking to the decks at Exeter Phoenix and spinning all the best hits from the 80s.

Spandau Ballet have sold millions of records worldwide and Martin is a huge TV personality starring in the likes of The Krays and Eastenders. 8.30pm. Box office 01392 667080.

Building the Kariba Dam - a talk by David Lemon at Princetown Community Centre, 7pm.

6 FEBRUARY GRANDPARENTS’ DAY

An exhibition staged by Moretonhampstead History Society opens at Green Hill Arts. See What’s on Extra for more information.

An opportunity for grandparents to visit North Tawton Primary School and support the Macmillan Coffee Morning. While you drink your coffee and eat your cake the choir will sing for you. A range of work will be on display for you to enjoy too. So if you are a grandparent of pupils in the school please do come along. 9.30am until 11am.

2 FEBRUARY

6 FEBRUARY

WALK WITH WINNIE

THE MEDIEVAL ERA - SAMURAI CULTURE

2 FEBRUARY THE MURDERER’S GIFT

From Scorhill to Kes Tor and back, taking in the Tolmen Stone. Meet at Scorhill Car Park for a 10am start, the walk takes approximately one hour, 40 minutes.

Book at www.dartmoornordicwalking. co.uk £8 per person, dogs free. For more information email Denise@ dartmoornordicwalking.co.uk 2 FEBRUARY COMPLINE AT CANDLEMAS Music, Celtic prayer and stillness by candlelight at the church of St Michael the Archangel in Chagford, with harpist Elizabeth-Jane Baldry. 6pm.

5 FEBRUARY

A lecture by Suzanne Perrin for The Arts Society Dartmoor. Suzanne is a lecturer at University of Brighton and University of Cape Town. She teaches on the Asian Arts course at the British Museum and the V&A and founded Japan Interlink in 1995 to promote the understanding of Japan in educational and cultural circles. 10am for a 10.30am start at The Charter Hall, Okehampton.

7 FEBRUARY AUTHOR VISIT At Okehampton Library. Tony Plumb and the Moles of Ellodian by J M Smith.

3.45pm until 4.45pm.

PRINCETOWN HISTORY CLUB

9 FEBRUARY WELLFEST A fun health and wellbeing event being held in Moretonhampstead. See What’s on Extra for more information.

9 FEBRUARY TAILS AND TRAILS A walk organised by Dartmoor’s Daughter, with Dartmoor tales provided by 14th generation farmer Tich Scott. 10am until 4pm. For more information or to book, go to www.dartmoorsdaughter.com 9 FEBRUARY PIG RACING At Whiddon Down Village Hall. Each race is sponsored by local businesses and a prize is given to the lucky owner of the winning pig, with betting on the tote and a raffle. Tickets £5 to include a pasty, soft drinks, tea and coffee will be available, bring your own alcohol. The evening begins at 7pm. To book tickets and buy a pig at £3 each call Jenny on 01647 231179 or Clare on 01647 231643.

10 FEBRUARY GUIDED WALK AROUND SHOVELDOWN AND KESTOR Walking from Batworthy above Chagford, you can explore the Shoveldown Bronze Age ritual complex including several stone rows, 4-fold cairn circle, standing stone and possible stone circle. 10am until 1pm.

Step back in time...

Dartmoor Railway offers a relaxing way to see the beautiful Mid Devon countryside. Induge in a traditional cream tea at the station café or genuine Buffet carriage then travel the line from Sampford Courtenay to Meldon Station.

Look out for special events throughout the year at:

www.dartmoorrailway.com Call for tickets 08000 232383 between 1pm & 11pm

Okehampton Station, Station Road, Okehampton EX20 1EJ 36

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WHAT’S ON

11 FEBRUARY

The National Trust’s Finch Foundry will be open during half term with talks, machinery demonstrations and a sensory trail with stickers and badges to win.

OKEHAMPTON CAMERA CLUB MEETING

16 -24 FEBRUARY

For more information and to book go to www.dartmoorsdaughter.com

At the Church Hall in Market Street, 7.30pm. Viewing and appraising WCPR Traveling Print Portfolio.

FAMILY ACTIVITIES Half term fun at Lydford Gorge with a range of activities for all the family to enjoy. Call 01822 820320 for more details.

14 FEBRUARY SNAKE DAVIS BAND

16 FEBRUARY

Sax is the favourite instrument for many folk, and for good reason. Saxophone, in the right hands, is so emotional, so passionate; it sings, screams, whispers.

Snake Davis is one of the world’s most respected and in demand saxophone players, working with some of music’s biggest artists such as Eurythmics, M People, George Michael, Take That, Cher, Tina Turner and Beyonce. See Snake and the band for a Valentine’s Night special at The Plough, Torrington. Box office 01805 624624

CABARET NIGHT

16 - 24 FEBRUARY HALF TERM FUN AT CASTLE DROGO Hunt around the garden and grounds to find the boxes in the Drogo nature trail.

11am until 4pm. £1 per trail, normal admission applies.

16 - 24 FEBRUARY SENSORY TRAIL

At Hittisleigh Village Hall. Mains Gas will entertain with music by stars such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole.

17 FEBRUARY SNOWDROP SUNDAY At Andrew’s Corner, Belstone. See What’s on Extra for more information.

18 FEBRUARY LETTERBOXING WALK Want to find out more about letterboxing?

Come on this free walk with Dartmoor expert Paul Rendell. Meeting point: 10am at Bellever Forest at Postbridge car park (SX646 788). Duration: 4 miles, time 3 hours. Explore Bellever, learn about Dartmoor Letterboxing and find a few too!

To book email paul.dartmoor@virgin.net

FACTORY, OKEHAMPTON Lewdown Local History Group hosts an illustrated talk by Rod Martin. Find out more about the little earthenware bottles which are often unearthed in gardens and why bottled water was being sold many years ago. The talk begins at 7.30pm at Stowford Parish Hall. Visitors £3. For more information call 01566 783396.

19 FEBRUARY BELLEVER PAINTED ROCKS WALK The perfect way to enjoy Dartmoor and to find some painted rocks and stones! Start at 10am from Bellever Forest car park at Postbridge (SX646 788). The walk lasts around two and a half hours and will be about three miles. Aimed at children over seven years old as well as adults. Most of the rocks to be found will have ponies on and were painted by Wendy Emlyn.

The walks are free but you must book; donations please in aid of The Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust. Book for all above activities via paul.dartmoor@virgin.net 20 FEBRUARY MORETONHAMPSTEAD HISTORY SOCIETY Illustrated talk entitled ‘Doccombe Manor: The Murderer’s Gift’. At 7.30pm at the Union Inn, Moretonhampstead.

19 FEBRUARY THE GUNN MINERAL WATER

See our community website www.dartmoorlinks.co.uk

37

WHAT’S ON 21 - 23 FEBRUARY SNOW WHITE Traditional family panto presented by the Courtenay Players. See Music and Art for details.

21 - 23 FEBRUARY BUN FIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL! Performed by Hatherleigh Players. See Music and Art for more information.

wooded wilds of Dartmoor; you need to find somewhere safe to build a shelter, make a fire and cook your rations.

Survivors are grouped into teams of around 6 people to undertake these woodland challenges during a great fun day for all the family. Organised through the More than Meets the Eye project. Meet at the Woodland Centre, East Dartmoor NNR, Yarner Wood, TQ13 9LJ. Follow the Brown signs from Bovey. £2 per person, book

the members to pursue common interests.

They include Walking, French and Spanish conversation, Family history, Social Bridge, Mahjong, Singing and more. Open to anyone not in full employment.

01837 54391.

by emailing Andy at andy@ moorthanmeetstheeye.org

21 FEBRUARY FIDGET SPINNERS Make your own fidget spinner from scratch at Okehampton Library. £2 per child, booking essential - call 01837-52805.

Suitable for age 7+. From 10.30am until 11.30am.

25 FEBRUARY OKEHAMPTON CAMERA CLUB Meeting at the Church Hall in Market Street, 7.30pm. This evening, Bideford Camera club members will be visiting.

21 FEBRUARY

27 FEBRUARY

ROUSE, YE WOMEN

10TH BIRTHDAY OPEN MIC NIGHT

A folk-song opera about the lives of women chain makers in the Black Country in the 1900s through rousing, heart-felt traditional song and music. The women started work as children and spent their entire lives making chains for the equivalent of 50p a week, until trade unionist Mary MacArthur led a ten-week strike for fairer wages. See Townsend Production’s show at The Plough, Torrington at 8pm. Box office 01805 624624.

21 FEBRUARY WOODLAND SKILLS Imagine your plane has crashed in the

Computer Problems?

Music, poetry, comedy and all forms of entertainment at The Globe Inn, Chagford.

Either join in or just come along to enjoy a great night out. First drink free for all entertainers. 8pm until 11pm. For more details call Graham Flight on 01647 433485.

28 FEBRUARY OKEHAMPTON U3A MEETING At the Ockment Centre, Okehampton at 2.30pm. A social afternoon to show what groups there are within the organisation and what they do. Groups are formed by 01822 600105 or 07768 852555 help@berecomputing.co.uk www.berecomputing.co.uk

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March 22 - 24 MARCH

CHAGWORD

LITERARY FESTIVAL

The very successful Chagword Literary Festival returns for a fourth time in Chagford this March.

The excellent line-up of authors will be announced in January - and this time there will be a special Children`s Bookfest on March 9th with events for all ages led by three acclaimed writers/performers.

Of particular interest to book groups and writers` groups will be the Chagword Short Story Competition, open to both children and adults, closing date Friday, February 8th.

Full details, entry forms and rules on www.chagword.co.uk.

Brochures with the full festival programme will be available from February 2019.

We have included as many events as possible here in the magazine but for a full and comprehensive list please see our new community website: www.dartmoorlinks.co.uk All event listings are FREE. Send details to editorial@ okelinks.co.uk or upload directly to our website by pressing the SUBMIT button advertising@linksmagazines.co.uk

WHAT’S ON EXTRA

January 25

Community Wellbeing Event West Devon CVS in conjunction with Wiser Money’s Transitions Project invites you to its Community Wellbeing event at the Community Centre in Hatherleigh from 3pm until 6pm.

This enjoyable event will be a great opportunity for all agencies, services and community groups already active in the area (or keen to be) to promote and market what they do and what they can offer locally, to the benefit of residents of all ages in the rural community.

A spokesperson for West Devon CVS said: ‘The areas of interest we hope to have represented are ones that appeal to both older and younger people, covering transport, housing, financial advice and welfare, police and fire services support, learning, advocacy, environment, good health and fitness as well as social and creative activities.

‘The underlying aim is to help local people find out what activities and services are already available and to identify any gaps, while at the same time encouraging residents to get involved, perhaps by taking up volunteering to help others in the community and to have a voice.

‘The event will be free and open for everyone to attend. We plan to offer delicious hot food, some wonderful local entertainment as well as some mini wellbeing activities and challenges for all ages to enjoy.’

For more information call West Devon CVS on 01837 53392.

The office is in the Ockment Centre, Okehampton and is open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays between 9.30am and 2.30pm.

February 9

WellFest 2019 An exciting new health and wellbeing event called WellFest 2019 will be kicking off for the first time in Moretonhampstead on Saturday, February 9th. The event is designed to bring together local health and wellbeing organisations to showcase the diverse activities and services in the North-East Dartmoor region. WellFest 2019 will be packed with fun and interactive presentations and activities for all ages. There will be a range of delicious healthy food and refreshments on offer as well as timetabled talks and music at this free day-long event.

WellFest is being organised by Wellmoor, a health and wellbeing initiative which is part of the Moretonhampstead Development Trust. The idea for the event emerged from conversations between Moretonhampstead Health Centre, the RD&E community nursing and therapy teams and North-East Dartmoor Care (NEDCare.)

Camilla Rooney, event co-ordinator, said: ‘WellFest 2019 aims

to bring together statutory and voluntary services and organisations under one roof.

It is a celebration of increased collaboration between local people working together in both sectors which encourages a more holistic look at healthy lifestyles and wellbeing.

‘WellFest 2019 is about having fun with health. We hope that there will be something for everyone, from drop-in head massage and mindfulness workshops to volunteering opportunities and advice on home care.’

WellFest 2019 takes place from 10 am until 4 pm at Moretonhampstead Parish Hall. For more information about WellFest 2019, go to www.wellmoor.org.uk

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WHAT’S ON EXTRA

January 26

Clairvoyance night There’s an opportunity to participate in an evening with a real difference in Bratton Clovelly this January - and raise funds for a good cause.

Bratton’s parish hall will be the setting for an evening of clairvoyance with village resident Kevin Hicks and special guest Clare Hinks, which will raise money towards the upkeep of the hall.

Kevin said: ‘When I lived in Essex I was giving clairvoyant demonstrations on a monthly basis all over East Anglia. Since leaving Essex I limit myself to the odd demonstration to help out local spiritualists movements.

‘I haven’t had the pleasure of working alongside another medium on the platform before so the evening promises to be very interesting, which I am really looking forward to. My aim as a medium is to provide you with validation, clarity and or closure and a nice connection/message from your loved ones in spirit.

‘I hope that people who attend the evening leave having felt that they have been part of something special and the experience provides some good insights.’

‘I sought Clare after watching her in Launceston and was blown away by the clarity of her evidence. Clare is an outstanding medium.

‘The evening will consists of Clare and I giving evidence that the spirit/soul survives after physical death by being an intermediary for the spirits who wish to communicate with their loved ones.

After the event we will be available for any questions that may arise.’

The evening starts at 7.30pm and finishes at 9pm. Entry £5 on the door with all proceeds going to hall funds. For further information call 01837 871147.

Clare said: ‘I have been connecting with spirits since I was a child.

Over the last five years I have really embraced my spiritual journey and have spent a lot of time doing one to one readings and small groups.

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41

Tavistock’s main venue for Films, Theatre, Live Music and Live Broadcasts

Welcome to...

MUSIC..................... live broadcasts....

VOODOO ROOM Saturday 19th January

LENNON RETROSPECTIVE Friday 1st February

Paying tribute to Jimi Hendrix & Cream - Voodoo Room are a stunning “Power Trio” featuring some of the UK’s finest musicians

John Lennon Tribute UK is a UK based tribute to John Lennon covering The Beatles years as well as Johns solo years.

WHOLE LOTTA LED Saturday 16th February

MANOEUVRES – OMD Saturday 19th February

2019 sees the 50th anniversary of the release of one of the greatest albums of all time – Led Zeppelin II.

Quality instrumentation and amplification are used and are key elements in reproducing the sound they strive to achieve

DIRE STREETS Friday 22nd February

STRAIGHTEN OUT STRANGLERS Saturday 23rd February

The two-hour theatre show includes faithful renditions of classic studio tracks along with extended live versions from some of the legendary Dire Straits concerts.

STRAIGHTEN OUT are the premier Stranglers tribute band out there... with an extensive set-list that spans two solid hours

REBECCA DOWNES Friday 1st March

ONLINE BOOKING AVAILABLE FOR ALL MUSIC EVENTS AT...

The core of their music is the Blues, but they embrace elements of rock, soul, funk and jazz to deliver an exciting, passionate performance.

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Tuesday 22nd January

THE QUEEN OF SPADES

Wednesday 30th January

LA TRAVIATA

The penniless soldier Gherman has fallen in love with Liza, even though she is engaged to his friend Yeletsky

Richard Eyre’s production contrasts the superficial glamour of 19thcentury Parisian high life culminating in the heart-breaking final act

Thursday 31st January

COFFEE SHOP Did you know that The Wharf has its own coffee shop open 6 days a week (except Sundays) serving a varied menu to suit all tastes and at very reasonable prices.

I’M NOT RUNNING

I’m Not Running is an explosive new play by David Hare, premiering at the National Theatre and broadcast live to cinemas.

With an outside seating area running alongside the canal, on a hot sunny day there can be no better place in Tavistock to enjoy a cream tea or slice of cake!

wharF gallery......

Why not come along and visit our Art Gallery which is free to enter and open to the public every day except Sundays.

We change exhibitions each month and feature many local and national artists.

The image below is from our recent exhibition FACES FROM FAR OFF PLACES by local photographer Tommy Hatwell www.tommyhatwell.com

www.wegottickets.com

To promote yoursobusiness to 23,536* readers for - call 01822 615627 advertising@linksmagazines.co.uk Dates and times shown may vary, please check our website all up to date information: www.tavistockwharf.com

WHAT’S ON EXTRA

January 23

Prosper Okehampton an open meeting Okehampton, despite recent recession, austerity measures and rural location is a vibrant town. The last few years has seen an increase in initiatives to boost the town – the weekend markets, new events and self-help groups have all contributed to the vibrancy. But on the other hand businesses have found it increasingly difficult to maintain a reasonable level of economic viability.

The town has seen the closure of three of its banks, the hospital and many high street retailers. A further threat to our retailers is the recent trend in buying online.

Retailers and small businesses are the lifeblood of Okehampton. With their decline, so will the many events and attractions organised, funded and managed by the Chamber of Trade come under threat.

uk & overseas coach tours

I’m proposing to introduce our very own local currency, the Okehampton Pound - OK£.

Participating businesses and retailers will accept the OK£ as a discount voucher against goods purchased. The advantage is that the OK£ can then be used by that retailer to purchase goods or services from the other participating businesses, thus ensuring the circulation of the currency.

It is envisaged the currency will be issued initially to residents within the Okehampton area as a Crowdfunding incentive to invest in a Community Interest Company. This company will be responsible for management and administration as well as promoting and marketing the town, particularly to attract tourism. In this way it is hoped to

GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT

increase footfall of residents and visitors.

At present this is my personal take of how we can not only maintain economic viability but increase it, allowing the town to prosper. It needs the backing of the local councils and businesses as well as the support of the people.

With this in mind, an open meeting to discuss these proposals has been set for Wednesday, January 23rd at 7pm in the Charter Hall. All are welcome.

Paul Vachon Paul.vachon@mac.com

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WIN W WIN W WIN W WIN W WIN WI WIN WI

WHAT’S ON EXTRA

January 11

Okehampton Lanterns 2019 In its third year since its revival in 2017, The Okehampton Lantern Project is now taking another step forward. In 2019 we are extending the preparation stages, so we can work with more people to make a wider variety of lanterns. The exact date has yet to be decided, but it will be nearer the spring equinox when the clocks change and we can celebrate the end of the long dark nights and welcome in the summer.

The exact date has yet to be decided, but it will be nearer the equinox when the clocks change, and we can celebrate the end of the long dark nights and welcome in the summer.

The project will start off on January 11th with a story swapping evening for all ages at Wren’s headquarters Ebenezer Hall at 6pm. You are invited to bring a typical tea time treat from your region and swap stories and folk tales. From these stories we will decide on the theme of our big images for this year.

The lantern makers will then come down for a first visit to run some lantern making workshops and then return for a two week run up to the event.

There will be family lantern making workshops all February half term week, when we will also be starting the music workshops. The music workshops will be running on a weekly basis until the finale itself. Watch for details of dates and times.

If you run a local group and would like us to visit you to run a workshop do let us know and contact us via the contacts below.

There are other ways of getting involved - as well as making lanterns or playing in the band, you can volunteer to help steward on the procession, or help with collecting from the public during the event.

We are aiming to make the event even bigger, as we have stored the images from last year and can add new ones so that the procession can be longer, or we can have two processions working their way through the town and meeting at the finale. You can help make these decisions by coming to the January 11th event.

The workshops are all free thanks to very generous funding from Okehampton United Charity.

For more details contact Wren Music Ebenezer Hall, North Street, Okehampton, EX20 1AR, tel 01837 53754 or email Marilyn@wrenmusic.co.uk Marilyn Tucker Wren Music

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WIN N WIN WIN W WIN WIN I N WI WHAT’S ON EXTRA WIN W N I N WI W WIN WIN IN WIN W N WIN WI WIN WIN WIN N WIN IN W WIN W WIN W I N I W N I WIN IN WI WIN W WINMarch 3 N WIN W W N IN W IN W W2INtickets forIN W Win I I N WI N WI IN WI WIN IN W N N N IN W Tea WIN W Afternoon W I N IN W IN W WIN WIN IN with I N WIN I W N Jenni Murray, presenter of W I N WI WIN IN WI WIN N W N W Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour IN W WIN IN W I N WI WIN IN W Oke Links and The Plough Arts Centre (Great N I N W WIN WIN Torrington) have joined forces to offer readers the W WIN IN W chance to win two tickets to see Radio 4’s Jenni W I N WI Murray perform her one woman show. Includes tea NW and cakes during the interval!

The show takes place on March 3rd at 3.30pm at the Plough Arts Centre in Great Torrington.

The inimitable Jenni Murray celebrates great women from around the world, rescuing some from obscurity and shining a new light on familiar names. She has met and interviewed many of the women featured.

They led while others followed. They stood up and spoke out when no one else would. They broke the mould in art, music and literature. Each of them fought, in their own way, for change. Encompassing artists, politicians, activists, reporters and heads of state from past and present, A History of the World in 21 Women celebrates the lives, struggles and achievements of women who have had a profound impact on the shaping of our world.

Jenni Murray has been at the helm of BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour for over 20 years. She talks about the programme’s 64-year history and her most engaging and most terrifying interviewees, from Barbara Castle to Kaffe Fasset, Monica Lewinsky to Tom Hanks, Jack Nicholson to Margaret Thatcher, through to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

There will be an interval for tea and cakes at 4.15pm and after the interval a fundraising auction of 10 x high value lots in aid of the Plough Arts Centre which is a Registered Charity.

To enter our prize draw and win the two tickets just answer the following question: What time does Woman’s Hour start on Radio 4?

You can email your answer to: jane.honey@linksmagazines.co.uk Please makes sure you put Jenni Murray in the subject box and provide your full name, email address and telephone number so we can contact you. Or send the answer and your contact details by post to Jenni Murray Competition, Oke Links, The Sanctuary, Kilworthy Hill, Tavistock PL19 0EP. The winning correct entrant will be drawn out of a hat on Friday, February 15th. The winner will be contacted and will also be announced in the March/April issue of Oke Links.

Good Luck!

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See our community website www.dartmoorlinks.co.uk

Breakfast Sat & Sun 9-10.30am Closed Mondays

45

WHAT’S ON EXTRA

February 2 – March 23

The Murderer’s Gift Moretonhampstead History Society have obtained a Heritage Lottery Fund grant via the ‘Moor than Meets the Eye’ project to research, record and present the history of Doccombe Manor.

After taking a leading part in the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket in 1170, William de Tracy tried to save his soul by granting ‘one hundred shillings of land in Moreton[hampstead], namely Doccombe’ to the Benedictine monks of Christchurch Canterbury. The Manor remained a church property until ownership passed in 1864 to the Gregory family of Dunsford. The manor was broken up and sold up to its tenants and local farmers after the First World War. Unfortunately, the new Methodist owner decided to close the Gregory

Arms pub! It had been very popular with the workers of nearby Blackingstone Granite Quarry, some of whom lived in the hamlet and cut 80% of the granite used to build Castle Drogo.

Seventy years later the remaining part of the manor, about 400 acres of Mardon Common, was bought by 6 local farms.

It has several prehistoric features medieval boundary lines, evidence of tin-workings, and several remains from its use by the Americans to practice for D-Day and the invasion of France.

Finally, Doccombe manor strictly safeguarded its valuable third ownership with Moretonhampstead manor of the 900 acres of Teign Valley woods, including St Thomas Cleave named for Becket, now part of a pioneering project to restore natural woodland species by its joint owners, the National Trust and the Woodland Trust.

The history society’s exhibition of their findings can be seen at Green Hill Arts and Heritage Centre at Moretonhampstead along with an accompanying booklet.

February 17

Snowdrop Sunday in aid of Children’s Hospice South West Situated at about 1,000 ft on the northern slopes of Dartmoor in the village of Belstone lies the garden at Andrew’s Corner. Created over the last 50 years by the Hill family, the garden has matured from essentially a 70s garden of island beds with heather, dwarf conifers and maples, to a semi

woodland garden filled with unusual trees, shrubs and bulbous plants.

The garden has many areas of snowdrops, both common and the more unusual, with about 100 different cultivars spread around the garden. The garden will be open from 11am to 4pm

Representing the region’s finest artists

Dartmoor’s Art Gallery NB. We are closed during January for refurbishment but are still taking bookings for workshops online

Are proud to present:

‘Allegorical & Metaphorical’ an exhibition of fine artworks by David Brooke and Richard Slater RI

Workshops: Felting, Drawing, Jewellery & Acrylics in Jan, Feb & March

Saturday 2nd February - 23rd February

Chapel Lane, Horrabridge, Yelverton Pl20 7SP • 01822 258529 www.wildwoodartsdartmoor.co.uk • info@wildwoodartsdartmoor.co.uk 46

with sales of snowdrops, hellebores and cyclamen. CHSW goods will be for sale, as well as hot soup, cheese scones, bacon baps, hot drinks and cakes.

Indoor space available for those who prefer to view the garden or consume refreshments in relative warmth.

At this time you will usually see early crocus, dwarf daffodils and hellebores, along with the intoxicating scent of Daphne bholua Jacqueline Postill. Views across the Skaigh Valley to Dartmoor help create a wonderful backdrop to this peaceful garden.

To promote your business to 23,536* readers - call 01822 615627

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MUSIC & ART

Until February 24

Rosemoor Winter Sculpture Exhibition Last year, over 40,000 visitors enjoyed the eclectic mix of exhibits that are set against the backdrop of the RHS Rosemoor garden at Great Torrington. This year, the exhibition has been freshened up with a high proportion of new exhibitors.

The central focal point is the commemorative display marking the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, of an ‘Unknown Soldier’ and 100 ceramic poppies. This display plus many of the other sculptures will be lit up by the illuminations too to make them extra special. Most of the sculptures featured in the exhibition are for sale.

To make the most of your visit to Rosemoor there is also a special Winter Wonders Garden Trail which includes many specimens from its national collection of hollies.

For more information on events at RHS Garden Rosemoor visit www.rhs.org.uk/rosemoor Normal garden admission applies (free for RHS members). The garden is open every day between 10am and 5pm.

January 9 - April 3

Art for All Thanks to funding from the Okehampton United Charities, a new series of Art for All workshops are being held at the Ockment Centre in Okehampton in the New Year.

Available to people living in Okehampton or Okehampton Hamlets, the art workshops take place on Wednesday afternoons between 1.30pm and 4.30pm. The first course covers block printing in which participants make decorative printing blocks, exploring pattern and colour and runs from January 9th until January 30th.

The second course, between February 6th and March 6th, includes card and gift tag making using relief printing methods. The third course concentrates on clay modelling and will run from March 13th until April 3rd.

Ten places are available on each course for residents of Okehampton or its hamlets, at a cost of £8 per four week course, which are run by West Devon Art Workshops.

Booking is essential as spaces are limited - to find out more call 01822 258351 or email westdevonartworkshops@ gmail.com

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MUSIC & ART

February 21 - February 23

Snow White It’s panto time in Okehampton, as local amateur dramatic group the Courtenay Players present their production of Snow White.

The show tells the tale of good against evil, as Snow White’s stepmother, the evil queen who is driven by jealousy of the beautiful Snow White, is determined to rid herself of her stepdaughter.

With a cast of 40, including eighteen children, the show promises to be a night of fun and frolics!

So why not make a date in your diaries and let the Players blow away the winter blues.

Performances are at the Charter Hall in Okehampton on Thursday, February 21st to Saturday February 23rd at 7.30pm.

There is a matinée performance on the Saturday afternoon at 2.30pm.

Ticket prices are £7 for adults, £5 for children in full time education or £20 for a family ticket (two adults and two children).

Tickets are on sale from The Fairplace Church 50/50 shop in the Arcade, Okehampton from February 11th.

February 21 - February 23

Hatherleigh Players perform The Bun Fight at the OK Corral!

Players’ chairman Alan Jones said as soon as the group read the script for The Bunfight at the OK Coral, written by Limelight scripts, they were all hooked immediately by the fast moving, hilarious traditional pantomime, set in the Wild West!

The plot: Belle (an infamous Dame) is the new owner of the Tumbleweed saloon. Belle’s saloon staff, Molly and Polly and a large group of dancing girls, try to keep the locals happy but Belle ends up barring everyone! Molly’s father, after many years of gold-mining, finally strikes it rich! This attracts the attention of the baddies, The Frisco Kid and his sidekicks, Bonnie and Calamity.

Throw into the mix the Temperance League ladies, a bunch of very well spoken Indians, Doc Holliday, Mayor Wright-Burke and the short-sighted Sheriff Wyatt Twerp (to mention but a few) then you really have the ingredients for a fast, fun, action-packed pantomime!

Alan added: ‘At Hatherleigh we are also very fortunate to have an amazing group of young players who work hard as the chorus and supporting roles. The young people love to learn new dances, taught and choreographed by our very own Jessica Squire.

See our community website www.dartmoorlinks.co.uk

Bun Fight at the OK Coral is to be performed at the Hatherleigh Community Centre starting Thursday, February 21st and Friday, February 22nd at 7.30pm. Then at 2pm and 7.30pm on Saturday, February 23rd. Early Bird tickets will be for sale at the community centre foyer on Saturday, January 19th and then available weekdays from R.T.I.S. Tickets can only be reserved when a payment has been received. Cheques payable to The Hatherleigh Players.

Hope to see you there, yee haw!

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NATIONAL TRUST

Winter months at the foundry Over the winter at Finch Foundry it might seem quiet while we are closed to the public after Christmas and during January, but we’re still keeping busy.

The machinery needs around two weeks of maintenance each year and the safest time to do this is during the winter. We have an assessment made of all the machinery, which includes reports of what’s gone on during the year. We’ll focus on the belts and high-wear areas such as the bearings of the wheels, everything gets a clean and an oil and we test everything thoroughly before we reopen.

The collection also needs some TLC, we treat our metalwork to protect it from rust, we check all our wood for pests such as woodworm and complete reports so we can map if damage is getting worse or staying the same.

We also check the stores to make sure nothing unwelcome has taken up

residence, and have a good tidy as well.

We’ll reopen again between February 16th and 24th for half term and during this, in addition to our usual talks and machinery demonstrations, we will be offering a fun sensory trail with stickers and badges to win.

Finch Foundry Add some colour to Experience your weekend the this autumn at Gibsideand sights, sounds smells of a water powered forge.

Go crunching through fallen leaves and discover a forest teeming with wildlife and autumn colours, with walking routes for all ages and abilities.

nationaltrust.org.uk/gibside Call 01837 840046 for details nationaltrust.org.uk/finch-foundry When you visit, donate, volunteer or join the National Trust, your

helps usTrust to look 2018. after special places <in the region> <like ©support National The National property property Y and Proeprty Z> in for ever, for everyone.

Trust isX,an independent registered charity, number 205846. © National Trust 2016. The National Trust is an independent registered charity, number 205846. Photography © National Trust #nationaltrust Photography © National Trust Images. #nationaltrust Images\Ben Shapcott.

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NATIONAL TRUST

Gorge activities in the winter The walks to Lydford Gorge’s Whitelady Waterfall and the bird hide are open during daylight hours through January and February - a great way to escape the modern world for an hour and burn off some calories. Please be aware that if high winds are forecast then the walks will be closed for safety reasons.

There will be notices on the website if the gorge walks are closed – see www.nationaltrust.org.uk/lydford-gorge. We have a lot of trees growing on steep banks in thin soil which are more likely to fall or drop branches when it’s wet and windy so please choose to visit another day.

There are loads of family activities this February half-term at the gorge, again, visit the website or call 01822 820320 for more details.

The shop and both tea-rooms will be open from Saturday , February 16th to Sunday, February 24th, 11am to 3.30pm. Pick up a warming cuppa or stop in for a tasty lunch-time snack.

From Saturday, March 2nd the full gorge, including the roaring Devil’s Cauldron pothole, will re-open.

Get back to nature Add some colour to at Lydford Gorge your weekend this Find the waterfall and autumn at Gibside bird hide on your first adventure ofleaves the Go crunching through fallen and discover a forest teeming with wildlife and autumn colours, with walking routes foryear all ages and abilities. new

nationaltrust.org.uk/gibside Call 01822 820320 for details nationaltrust.org.uk/lydford-gorge When you visit, donate, volunteer or join the National Trust, your

helps usTrust to look 2018. after special places <in the region> <like ©support National The National property property Y and Proeprty Z> in for ever, for everyone.

Trust isX,an independent registered charity, number 205846. © National Trust 2016. The National Trust is an independent registered charity, number 205846. Photography © National Trust #nationaltrust Photography © National Trust Images. #nationaltrust Images\Chris Lacey.

See our community website www.dartmoorlinks.co.uk

51

NATIONAL TRUST

Castle conservation continues apace The winter months are a very busy time at Castle Drogo.

There’s a lot of important conservation work being done inside as well as in the gardens and estate. The building project to make the castle watertight is well into its final phase and the builders are busy on the north end of the castle. If the weather is on our side this winter, the main scaffolding will start to come down in spring. Inside, the conservation team is hard at work doing the winter deep clean as well as the exciting task of unpacking furniture and collection as they start to plan the return of Drogo to a family home throughout 2019. The castle will re-open on Saturday, March 9th.

This is the time of year to make New Year’s resolutions and get some inspiration for the year ahead. There are plenty of opportunities to help you do this at Castle Drogo. The Teign Gorge and Fingle Woods have miles of walks through the woodlands and by the river for those looking to walk (or run) off some of that Christmas excess.

Castle Drogo’s visitor centre is the perfect place to warm up after a long walk with a hot chocolate, hearty stew or book from the second hand book shelf. The visitor centre is open

everyday (except January 14th to 27th and Thursday, February 28th).

If you’re looking to try something new there are lots of volunteering opportunities, from welcoming visitors or telling the stories of the castle, to working behind the scenes with the staff or out on the estate. Visit the Castle Drogo website or contact volunteering officer Alice Coombs on 01647 434114.

February half-term fun Saturday, February 16th to Sunday, February 24th, 11am-4pm: Hunt around the garden and grounds to find the boxes in the Drogo nature trail.£1 per trail, normal admission applies.

Add some colour the to Blow away your weekend this cobwebs this autumn at Gibside New Year at Castle Drogo

Go crunching through fallen leaves and discover a forest teeming with wildlife and autumn colours, with walking routes for all ages and abilities.

Call 01647 433306 for details nationaltrust.org.uk/gibside nationaltrust.org.uk/castle-drogo

When you visit, donate, volunteer join the National When you visit, donate, volunteer or join theor National Trust, your support your helps us to look after special places <inafter the region> <like Trust, support helps us to look special places property X, property Y and Proeprty Z> in for ever, for everyone. for ever, for everyone. © National Trust 2017. The National Trust is an © National Trust 2016. The National Trust is an independent independent registered number © National Trust registered charity, number 205846.charity, Photography 205846.

Photography © National Trust Images.

Images.

52

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FEATURE

Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust Ensuring a future for these iconic ponies Ask any visitor what Dartmoor means to them and they will inevitably say ‘Dartmoor ponies’! Ensuring a sustainable future for these animals is vital for the preservation of traditional bloodlines, for the ecology of the moor and for the benefit of tourism – a key income source for Devon.

There have been many achievements and hundreds of ponies have found homes through the Bovey Tracey-based Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust (DPHT) since it was established in 2005 yet the plight of the moorland pony is still serious.

Elizabeth Newbolt-Young of the world famous Shilstone Rocks Dartmoor pony stud at Widecombe founded the DPHT. She said: ‘It was clear the diminishing number of traditional, single colour Dartmoor ponies running on the moor had reached a point when something needed to be done, so the origins of one of our most popular native ponies would not be lost.

as the ponies gain a sensible value. This is vital to enable farmers to continue to breed the best ponies and to manage their herds.

‘We work with the Dartmoor Pony Society to carry out inspections of youngstock to ensure they meet quality and type expectations for the traditional Dartmoor. We also co-fund castration of colts, a direct saving for the breeders and vital for the ponies to be more manageable and saleable to private homes. This reduces the cost for pony keepers and helps to make the ponies a more viable “crop”. We fund stallion vasectomies as part of our support to controlling breeding on the moor and are involved in research to find alternative methods of managing the pony population.’

‘Pedigree ponies have achieved success as family ponies and in the show ring all over the world; but many of us fear the loss of moorland bred animals with the tough, hardy attributes of feral stock living high on Dartmoor.’

The DPHT continues to seek new sales avenues for ponies belonging to members of its Recognised Pony Keeper Scheme and to develop those already established, including conservation grazing with the National Trust and other organisations around the UK. There are now Dartmoor born and bred ponies as far afield as Cornwall, Dorset, Norfolk and even Scotland – also ensuring a ‘gene bank’ of potential breeding mares, should there be any sort of devastating disease outbreak on Dartmoor.

Dru Butterfield, who runs the charity, said: ‘Over the years we have taken a lead in developing markets such as conservation grazing and sold well over 1,000 ponies to homes all over the UK on behalf of farmers. Instead of being worth just a few pounds, our free handling and basic “starting” not only enables more ponies to be found homes, whether as conservation grazers or as pets, riding or driving ponies, it also ensures better income for Dartmoor farmers and pony keepers,

The Trust leases land at Bellever, near Postbridge, where it provides the public with free guided walks to learn about the moor’s history, archaeology, flora and fauna – and the way of life on Dartmoor over the centuries. It also runs a herd of up to 26 ponies – providing free grazing for pony keepers to enable some of their youngsters to mature, perfectly demonstrating the role of equines in land management and improving biodiversity, in partnership with the Forestry Commission.

54

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FEATURE

DPHT is also undertaking a research project in conjunction with Plymouth University to provide scientific evidence of the impact ponies make on the landscape and biodiversity of our environment.

As well as the Trust’s ‘showcase’ for the Dartmoor pony at its centre in Bovey Tracey, perhaps the ‘flagship’ of the DPHT’s work to promote the temperament of the Dartmoor pony is through an innovative Equine Assisted Learning Programme.

Ponies Inspiring People is primarily aimed at young people with a range of life challenges in both mainstream and special needs schools. Most visible from the range of courses is ‘Fresh Tracks’, a special category of the famous Ten Tors Jubilee Challenge.

Says Dru: ‘Over eight to ten weeks of training – particularly building self-confidence - our ponies have helped up to 18 teenagers a year to overcome the demands of trekking across tough Dartmoor terrain. Fresh Tracks has enabled them to re-form their minds and hearts and take their new skills and can-do attitudes back to home and school life.’

The students benefit from the closeness, unconditional love and attention from the ponies. Students’ responses have been very positive and they show resilience to new situations, acquiring skills that are transferable into everyday life.

One parent explained: ‘The change is incredible: he is so much more confident and comfortable with life; he is taking responsibility for himself and getting prepared for the day

See our community website www.dartmoorlinks.co.uk

ahead; he doesn’t get so stressed and worried. Our family life has improved so much you wouldn’t believe.’

According to one teacher: ‘Before doing FT, if I had suggested to these lads that we do a ten mile walk on Dartmoor, they would have laughed at me, but in school we started to see more enthusiasm, more positiveness and self-control.

Taking on this challenge they didn’t just walk up and down the tors, they climbed mountains – in their minds - and came back asking to do it again.’

Reliant on huge support from volunteers and good partnerships with local famers, the work of the Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust to ensure a long- term future for the native Dartmoor pony and promote their amazing temperaments and flexibility continues.

Clare Stanton

To find out more about the work of the DPHT, to adopt a Dartmoor pony, volunteer for the trust or to buy a pony, please visit www.dpht.co.uk or call 01626 833234.

55

WALKS WITH WINNIE DOG WALK

Walks with Winnie This walk has been kindly written (and walked) for us

by Denise Horner of Dartmoor Nordic Walking with her dog, Winnie.

www.dartmoornordicwalkng.co.uk www.pentranger.co.uk ‘Dartmoor Nordic Walking’ and ‘Walks with Winnie’ are on Facebook.

Distance: Approximately 6k Time: Approximately 1hr 40mins. It may take longer as there is a lot to see.

Difficulty: Hilly, but smooth ones!

Park at Scorhill: SX664879. The car park is rather small, so it can be hard to find a space at busy times of the year.

This walk is from Scorhill to Kes Tor and back, taking in the Tolmen Stone - reputed to have healing powers - and Scorhill Circle. This is an open walk, so do be aware of the weather, however, there are woods nearby should you need to shelter. Plenty of places for the dogs to swim though!

From the car park, take the gate on to the moors and follow the track left and up the hill. The path will bring you out onto the open moor where you will have

views on Kes Tor to your left, Fernworthy Forest beyond and Cosdon Beacon to your right.

The track will then take you down the hill towards North Teign River, but before that you will see Scorhill Circle on your right. It supposedly had 70-80 original standing stones but now has 34 left. It is said you cannot lead livestock or horses through it.

Walking back from the Circle head towards the river, taking in the leat on your right, crossing over the stone bridge. Continue on the path towards the river crossing over two clapper

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56

bridges, one being the Wallabrook Bridge.

Take the path slightly left which runs parallel to the stone wall by the woods, keeping them on your left hand side.

Continue to the corner of the wall Batworthy Corner - and here you will see Kes Tor in front of you. Stay on the nice wide path all the way up to the tor. The views from here are far reaching and amazing. You can easily see Fernworthy Forest where the reservoir is. Another great walk from here. You could keep going for miles . . .

Heading back now, the way you came to the corner of the wall - Batworthy Corner - this time keeping the wall on your right until you come to the corner by the river. Walk down close to the riverside and left. You will come across a clapper bridge with metal straps holding it together. Cross this bridge turning right, staying close to the water’s edge. You will come to the Tolmen Stone. A large stone with a hole in that you can actually pass through. You may need to be a bit agile though! The stone is said to have healing powers to cure various ailments.

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WALKS WITH DOG WINNIE WALK

Leaving the stone behind, track back to the left, the way you have come, with the river on your left and you will eventually come back to the path you came down from the car park on. This track will now be on your right and will take you back up the hill and to the car park.

If you would like to join us on this walk, meet at Scorhill Car Park for a 10am start on Saturday, February 2nd. Dogs welcome. Please book your place at www.dartmoornordicwalking. co.uk £8 per person, dogs free. For more information email Denise@ dartmoornordicwalking.co.uk

Map for guide only.

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57

FOOD & DRINK

Wines to fit a lifestyle Jason Mules explains what makes a wine vegan and vegetarian friendly As the sobering chimes of Big Ben welcome in another year, the realisation of resolutions dawn. Lose weight; exercise more; quit smoking and drink less are popular aspirations as well other lifestyle changes.

Vegetarianism and veganism are an increasing lifestyle choice and with that comes the responsibility of making sure the food and drink consumed is suitable. The global market for vegetarian/vegan products was worth $51 billion in 2016 - it’s a fast growing sector that is expected to rise further.

As with food products, an ever-growing number of wines are available in the UK suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

As we all know, wine is made from grapes - wine is fermented grape juice. Yeasts, either natural or cultured, convert the grape juice sugars into alcohol. So far this all seems to be vegan-friendly. However, the reason that not all wines are vegan or even vegetarian-friendly has to do with how the wine is clarified and a process called ‘fining’. All young wines are hazy and contain tiny molecules such as proteins, tartrates, tannins and phenolics. These are all natural, and in no way harmful. However, we wine-drinkers like our wines to be clear and bright.

Most wines, if left long enough, will self-stabilise and self-fine. However, producers have always used a variety of aids called ‘fining agents’ to help the process along. Fining agents help precipitate out these haze-inducing molecules.

Essentially, the fining agent acts like a magnet – attracting the molecules around it. They coagulate around the fining agent, creating fewer but larger particles, which can then be more easily removed.

Traditionally the most commonly used fining agents were casein (a milk protein), albumin (egg whites), gelatine (animal protein) and isinglass (fish bladder protein). These fining agents are known as processing aids. They are not additives to the wine, as they are precipitated out along with the haze molecules.

Fining with casein and albumin is usually acceptable by most vegetarians but all four are off limits for vegans, because tiny traces of the fining agent may be absorbed into the wine during the fining process.

In addition, the move to more natural winemaking methods, allowing nature to take its course, means there are more vegan and vegetarianfriendly wines. An increasing number of wine producers around the globe are electing not to fine or filter their wines, leaving them to self-clarify and self-stabilise. Such wines usually mention on the label ‘not fined and/or not filtered’.

Apart from mentioning whether it has been fined or filtered, wine labels typically do not indicate whether the wine is suitable for vegans or vegetarians, or what fining agents were used.

I’ve picked out some of our wines that are veggie and vegan friendly: Paul Mas Viognier/Sauvignon Blanc, £8.99 - This fantastic French white from the Languedoc region boasts flavours of grapefruit and fresh tropical fruits and is an absolute winner with vegetarian quiche.

Guigal Côtes du Rhône, £11.99 - A big, bold, heavy hitter from one of France’s top wineries, a blend of Syrah and Grenache. A perfect match with hard cheeses.

Parker Favourite Son Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, £8.49 A cool Aussie Cabernet from the stand out Coonawarra region that gives dark fruit, cassis flavours and an elegant chocolate edge. A veggie lasagne match in heaven.

Hill-Smith Eden Valley Chardonnay, £11.99 - A superb offering from the Hill-Smith winery. The cooler climate here gives a nutty flavour Chardonnay with peach and lemon undertones. A whizz with risotto.

Today many winemakers use clay-based fining agents such as bentonite, which are particularly efficient at fining out unwanted proteins. Activated charcoal is another vegan and vegetarian-friendly agent that is also used.

58

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Jason Mules Waitrose, Okehampton

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FOOD & DRINK

breakfast cookies Gorgeous goodies and super healthy too! Easy 1 ripe banana Starting the new year with goals and ambitions is great but how many of us stick to them? There is a rise in people cutting down on meat, dairy, highly processed foods, sugar amongst other things for both personal choice or medical need.

Mooplehog in Okehampton has an imaginative menu including food suitable for vegans, vegetarians and all those who increasingly are incorporating plant-based food into their daily lives. Expect comforting home-made flavoursome soups, typical British stews, traditional daals alongside authentic middle-eastern falafel made by Yossi, our friend, who grew up working in his grandfather’s falafel shop in Jerusalem.

We make a raw cake range that’s both gluten free and free from added sugar. We also make a range of traditional sponge cakes as well as purchasing from Okeside Cottage Cakes, a friend who lives just along the road. Our take on American peanut butter and jelly is a smoked chilli peanut butter made locally and a home-made chilli jelly topping a sourdough crumpet. Simple but so effective.

Much more than just a café we have a range of gifts, local produce and a community corner for papers, flyers, business cards and magazines. The last Saturday of each month is our monthly evening buffet night. Our first Natural Beauty Night is on January 11th, a fun evening of making and taking home goodies both for men and women, bearded beasts especially welcome too!

1/3 cup sunflower/canola oil 2/3 cup unrefined sugar OR 1/3 cup agave 1 tsp vanilla ¾ cup plain flour ½ tsp baking soda ¼ tsp salt 2 cups rolled oats Cinnamon and nutmeg (to your taste, optional) ½ cup mixed nuts 1/4 cup mixed seeds ½ cup dried fruit 1/4 cup Pulsin’ bar chunks (optional) Heat the oven to 200c.

Mash the banana well with a fork/your hands. Add the oil and sugar and mix well with a fork. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, any vegan powdered spice/flavour you like and mix these ingredients well, until the mixture is quite moist.

Add oats, any nuts, seeds and protein chunks and mix really well with your hands to make sure the ingredients are well distributed and stuck together.

Make small balls with the dough and place on an oiled baking tray.

Flatten the balls with the palm of your hand, making sure there is a reasonable gap between each disc.

Bake for 10-15 minutes.

Leave to cool on the baking trays and once they are slightly hardened, twist and lift to remove them from the tray and place on a cooling tray for a further 10 minutes.

QUIRKY serving home-made brunches, healthy CAFÉ snacks, teas, coffees, shakes and cakes!

Locally sourced plant-based menu Open: M&T 0830-1700 • W closed T&F 0900-1700 • S 0900-1600 • S 1000-1400

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c @Mooplehog 59

HISTORY

The Yanks are here and they’re drinking all the beer...

Turning back the clock on Moretonhampstead during the Second World War Life in a Dartmoor community suddenly changed 75 years ago, with the arrival of about 1,500 American men. For the next few months the mainly white US army officers were billeted in Moretonhampstead, while the mainly black GIs built and lived in a tented camp on nearby Mardon Common. As part of the current Heritage Lottery funded ‘Moor than meets the Eye’ project, Moretonhampstead History Society has worked with the Mardon Commoners to uncover, literally and by research, what they were about and how it affected the lives of Moretonians.

Mardon Common covers about 450 acres. About 800 to 1,000 ft above sea level it John Reddaway farms next has been traditionally used to Mardon and remembers by local farms exercising seeing them there in 1944.

He is helping with his their commoners’ rights for tractor to clear the earth rough grazing and cutting embankment mentioned in bracken for winter bedding. the article.

Today as it is grazed and ‘swaled’ rather less; there are more trees, gorse bushes and sprawls of bracken that have had to be cleared outside the nesting season, revealing the remains of the American activities.

The predominant feature uncovered is an earthen embankment following the curve of a contour line for about 600 yards from the south-east corner to the south-west corner of the moor.

It is flanked in places by long wide trenches or ‘scrape outs’ that supplied the earth to build up to a level of about 4ft, while in one section there is a cutting between banks of a similar height. About two-thirds of the way along there is a significant gap across a small road that for good reasons has since been 60

GIs outside tobacconists opposite The White Hart in Moreton

called ’bailey bridge’, though none survives. Accompanying research shows this embankment was what the Americans called variously a ‘cordway’, a ‘palingway’ or a ‘treadway’.

Logs or strips of paling were laid along the top of the embankment for wheeled and caterpillared vehicles to move over. The earth-moving dozer tractors of the 433 Engineer Dump Truck Co and the amphibian tractors of 539 Ordnance Heavy Maintenance Co that worked and practised there probably explain memories of ‘trains’ being seen on Mardon by young locals who snuck up there.

Alongside the embankment and scattered around the moor are masses of slit trenches or ‘foxholes’, dug to give some protection on open land from aerial attack. V-shaped ones overlooking the approaches to the moor were probably for small anti-aircraft firearms and four large pits along the ridge known as Mardon Down contained enfilading artillery or mortars to hit the enemy ‘in the crossfire’. More difficult to explain are longer trench systems some with iron pins along them (for holding corrugated iron support earths?), that are more reminiscent of the previous world war. A few small quarries also remain where dirt paths and green lanes were upgraded to tarmac roads, although the Americans’ suggestion to ‘straighten’ the present A382 from Bovey Tracey unfortunately remains largely unfulfilled. Small personal items such as Zippo lighters, K rations cutlery and instant coffee packets ‘made in Indiana’ have also been found over the years but as yet none of the Harley Davidson motor bikes supposedly buried there!

There have also been finds of beach pebbles that bounced off the military vehicles as they came up the narrow lanes from the main depot at Torquay, where parts of the US 29th Infantry Division were assembled and trained for D-Day and the invasion of France. The troops on Mardon were combat engineers; their slogan ‘We keep ‘em movin’ summed up their role in repairing and building means of communication for the

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HISTORY

The US troops giving out candy & coke to local people before they left in July 1944. The girl drinking from the bottle still lives in Moreton. The boy holding hands with a girl was a London evacuee - his brother stayed on here & still lives in Moreton.

GI & Jack Loram on his donkey called Squeaker outside The Bell Inn in the centre of Moreton

infantry and artillery units, such as railways, roads, bridges and tunnels – hence the earthworks on Mardon.

How did this affect Moretonians? Apart from grumbling about the pubs running out of beer there seems to have been remarkably little friction. Perhaps it helped that the town has always been a cross-roads with lots of outside contact and a history of previously welcoming parole prisoners in the Napoleonic war, a New Zealand force a century later and evacuees from the London Blitz. They enjoyed listening to the GI’s jazz band at dances, being given tins of fruit and candy bars, rides in their jeeps and sneaking up to see Joe Louis, the world heavyweight boxing champion, fight a demonstration match on Mardon. In turn they introduced their ‘American visitors’, as they were known, to fish and chips, pasties and rough cider.

The main friction was between white and black GIs - following a violent incident in the town centre, whites and blacks were only allowed into the town on particular and different nights

See our community website www.dartmoorlinks.co.uk

A white & a black US military policeman outside The Bell Inn in Moreton after a stabbing incident there between white & black GIs in April 1944

of the week. Moretonians are proud that they stood up against the racism. Mrs Wotton who ran a servicemen’s canteen on Cross Street recalled 50 years later that some white soldiers refused to eat alongside their black colleagues. She told them she ‘didn’t care if anyone was black, or white or purple’, they should eat together or leave. They left.

392nd Engineer Service Regiment General, the principal unit trained on Mardon, fought in all the major campaigns in France and Germany between July 1944 and August 1945 to gain the Meritorious Service Unit Plaque for its ‘superior performance’ in helping to win the war.

Moretonhampstead is also proud of the heritage that remains on Mardon from the part it played in preparing for that victory.

It will be featured as part of a forthcoming exhibition in the town – see What’s On Extra for details.

Bill Hardiman Chairman Moretonhamsptead History Society 61

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Premium Plaster

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As a Eco friendly company we don’t use...

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Retreat in comfort with year-round climate control, courtesy of Rundle & Dorey’s super insulated conservatory ceiling. Perfectly pairing snug warmth in the depths of winter and cool comfort on hot summer days, an insulated conservatory ceiling will give you back the luxury living space you dreamed of - all year round. You will love the look of your new vaulted ceiling with its’ plastered finish which will beautifully match the ceilings in the rest of your home.

• Reduces heat loss by up to 95% • No planning permission is required • Government Approved 5% VAT • Fitted usually in just 1 day • FREE No-Obligation Site Survey • 10 Year Insurance-Backed Guarantee • Covering the whole of the UK

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Bring something exceptional to your home with our vast selection of carpet and flooring

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KEEP WARM IN YOUR CONSERVATORY THIS WINTER

Later that day

Before

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May / June 2018

Issue 34

Issue 31

Design and Installation Waterfalls and Streams Planting and Stocking Water Features Renovation Leak Repair

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69

TRADE SECRETS

Alex Just VET AT OKEFORD VETERINARY CENTRE What made you want to become a vet?

I’m probably quite typical of a lot of vets, I enjoyed science at school and had always had pets around me growing up. I spent quite a few holidays at my local veterinary practice helping out where I could and was attracted by the variety of work and the job satisfaction the practice staff seemed to have.

What qualifications do you need for your job?

To train to become a vet you need to go to university and study for five or six years. The entrance requirements for the veterinary degree are good grades in science and maths A levels.

What attributes make a good vet?

You need to like people as well as animals! Like most jobs good communication is important to help owners understand what is wrong with their pet and what treatment options are available. You also need to be adaptable - animals can be unpredictable and sometimes they might do something you are not expecting!

Do you specialise in treating any particular animal or condition?

For the last 13 years I have worked as a small animal vet treating pets. When I first graduated I worked abroad for a charity looking after working donkeys and mules and then worked in a mixed practice where I did farm work as well as small animal work. I enjoy all aspects of my job but have got a particular interest in heart disease in animals and help coordinate cardiac clinics within the practice.

How does a typical day unfold?

My morning normally starts with appointments. These may be routine health checks, vaccinations or check-ups for animals on long term medication. I may see a poorly animal that needs treatment to go home with or I may need to admit the animal to do blood tests or further investigations. The practice has a team of vets and nurses who all help each other out so when I admit an animal one of my colleagues may take over responsibility of that case if I am still seeing patients.

The morning is often busy with appointments and there will also be operations going on at the same time. Ideally operations are all done by lunchtime but occasionally some will be done in the afternoon as well. After lunch there are more appointments, prescriptions to dispense, blood and lab samples to report, phone calls to respond to. There may be house visits and animals that have been in for the day need discharging.

What is the best aspect of your job?

Probably for me the best part is getting to know the owners and their pets and helping them to have a long and happy relationship. It is always fun to make an unusual diagnosis or treat something very rare but those sorts of cases only happen once in a while.

What is the most challenging part of your role?

I think it is saying goodbye to much loved pets at the end of their lives. I know what it’s like to lose a pet myself and it is such a sad time - as vets and nurses we can’t help but feel the owner’s sadness.

What would you say to anyone thinking of becoming a vet?

Work hard at school and go for it! You need good grades and once you’re on a course there is a lot to learn. Spend as much time as you can in a veterinary practice, talking to the staff, learning about what goes on and it will stand you in good stead for your course application. The veterinary degree is a great qualification to have, it opens so many doors and the life of a vet is never boring!

Dedicated Small Animal Veterinary Care in the Okehampton & Chagford Areas

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OKEFORD VETERINARY CENTRE LTD School Way, Okehampton EX20 1EU ( 01837 52148 The Old Exchange, Chagford TQ13 8BZ ( 01647 432488 70

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