What’s On

Tavistock Library online events

The library is offering a full programme of online events (until further notice) with information on Facebook @ TavistockLibrary, and at www. devonlibraries.org.uk/web/arena/ tavistocklibrary, including a book group meeting on the first Monday of the month, weekly Bounce and Rhyme sessions, craft events and talks with Andrew Thompson looking at the history of Tavistock from prehistory to current times. All information about services available will also be posted on our Facebook page and on posters in the library windows for people not using social media. Contact the library via email tavistock.library@ librariesunlimited.org.uk or ring 612218 for further information. 2, 9, 16, 23 30 March: Bounce and

Rhyme 1.30 - 2pm 4 March: World Book Day - a stories extravaganza with stories and poems being shared online by staff and friends in costume all day from 11am to 3pm Three talks before Easter by Andrew Thompson

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(From Tavistock Pannier Market) Upholstery • Fabric Custom Made Footstools Collection & Delivery Service Available

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February

1 February:Tavy Tales Book Group 4 - 5pm 2, 9, 16 February: Bounce and

Rhyme 1.30 - 2pm

March

1 March: Tavy Tales Book Group 4 - 5pm

April

12 April: Tavy Tales Book Group 4 - 5pm 6, 13, 20, 27 April: Bounce and

Rhyme 1.30 - 2pm Three talks after Easter by Andrew Thompson

27 February, 10 & 27 March (restrictions permitting) Bellever conservation and work parties

Volunteers are needed for the regular Bellever conservation work parties held throughout the year. They take place on the second Wednesday and fourth Saturday of the month (Covid restrictions permitting). Dartmoor expert Paul Rendell leads the wonderful team of conservation volunteers on Bellever, carrying out a range of work to protect the moorland site, encouraging biodiversity and managing our treasured archaeology. The team also maintains the stone wall boundary and non-native species of trees that spread onto the moorland, so there is always plenty to do.

If you would like to find out more about volunteering at Bellever, please email Paul on paul.dartmoor@gmail.com or telephone 01837 54727 to have a chat and find out more. All are very welcome!

BID Events

20 March, Paint the town with light

Local businesses, in conjunction with local primary schools and community groups, will create bright and wonderful window displays to bring Tavistock alive for spring. Activities will be taking place on Bedford Square. www.visit-tavistock.co.uk

28 March – 11 April,

Tavistock Easter egg hunt

Another egg-citing and free trail brought to you by Tavistock BID. Collect your sheets from Kaleidoscope, The Visitor Information Centre and the Toy Cupboard, and find all the eggs to earn yourself a goody bag. www.visit-tavistock.co.uk

Until end of March Hunting for Harvest Mice nests

In autumn 2016, Devon Mammal Group began a pilot project looking for harvest mice in Devon. It came to our attention that this charismatic species is under recorded in our county. With just a handful of records we wanted to change this and we would like to survey as many tetrads (10 x 10 km grid squares) as possible in Devon. Devon is a large county, and with over 90 tetrads this is no small challenge. However, we offer training sessions for anyone who wants to learn, in the hope that the new found knowledge will be put to use and more records will come flooding in! We have been running a number of dedicated training days, as well as smaller training sessions across the county, plus Zoom training sessions during lockdown. We have also made a 3-minute YouTube video showing how to look for them, but please don’t forget to let us know if you find any. Between now and the end of March 2021, while the harvest mice aren’t nesting, it’s a great time to look out for evidence of their nests. If you would like to take part in this year’s search and training, or sign up to the mailing list for updates on how the search is progressing, contact Sarah Butcher at harvestmouse@ devonmammalgroup.org. We also have a Twitter feed and Facebook page @ HarvestMiceDVN.

How to look for Harvest Mice: youtube. com/watch?v=nhttOGQriY0&feature=y outu.be

AUCTIONEERS & VALUERS

www.eldreds.net

Free Auction Valuation Service

Email images and contact number enquiries@eldreds.net or telephone (01752) 721199

27th March to 11th April National Parks Fortnight

Forthcoming Auctions

Tuesday April 27th

Model Railways, Toys, Coins, Militaria, Medals & Collectables

Plans are being put in place for people to celebrate National Parks Fortnight which is scheduled to take place from 27 March to 11 April. Covid-19 restrictions permitting, it is hoped people will take the opportunity to enjoy the Dartmoor safely during ‘Discover National Parks’ fortnight. Dartmoor National Park Authority is monitoring the latest coronavirus advice and responding accordingly. It is hoped that, should restrictions lift or change, some events can be put on for people to enjoy safely within the rules. For the time being, people are encouraged to keep an eye on the national park’s social media pages and website as information will be updated on a regular basis. Alternatively, sign up to receive newsletters with the latest updates at dartmoor.gov.uk.

Tuesday March 23rd

Antiques, Pictures, Silver, Jewellery, Watches & Gold

Please contact our Roborough offi ce for free valuations & professional advice

Live Online Auctions

01752 721199 enquiries@eldreds.net 1 Belliver Way, Roborough, Plymouth PL6 7BP

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Tavistock Local History Society

The society, founded in 1984, exists to advance the education of the public in relation to the history and heritage of Tavistock and the surrounding area. In normal times, we usually meet monthly on the second Tuesday from September to April, and during the summer, we organise external visits to places of local historic interest, including an all-day coach trip. However, due to the pandemic our meetings have had to go online. During 2020, we successfully used Zoom to host talks on:

‘The Victorian construction of history and the Drake Statues’ by Andrew Thompson, a society member, archaeologist and historian ‘The remarkable Lady Shelley: socialite, traveller, close friend of Wellington - and visitor to West Devon’ by Clive Charlton ‘On the Road in 17th Century Devon’ by member and leader of the Thorington Collection project Kevin Dickens ‘The Traders of Tavistock’ by Linda Elliott, the author of two books on the past Tradesmen and women of Tavistock, and the ‘Windows in Time’ initiative

‘Tavistock’s Policing Past’ by member and former society chairman Simon Dell. Our programme for 2021 has been planned with Zoom meetings from January to April, outdoor meetings from May to August, and (hopefully) meetings back in the Parish Centre from September to December. (There will not be a coach outing in June) 2021 programme:

Tuesday 9th February 7.30pm (Zoom) ‘Understanding Landscapes

Archaeology at Calstock, Cothele & Bere Alston’ with Chris Smart who is a landscape archaeologist specialising in the heritage of Roman and medieval in Devon and Cornwall. Tuesday 9th March 7.30pm (Zoom) AGM followed by ‘A History of the Census’ with Tony

Vigars. The census will happen again on Sunday 21st March 2021 and will be online. The 1921 census is the next one due to be released to public view in 2022. Tuesday 13th April 7.30pm (Zoom) ‘White Horse Hill’ with

Dartmoor National Park Authority archaeologist Dr Lee Bray. Tuesday 11th May 7.00pm (outdoor visit) ’The Merrivale

Landscape 5,000 years of human activity’ with member Andrew Thompson – heritage consultant, archaeologist and historian. Tuesday 8th June 7.00pm (outdoor visit) ‘Lydford: Burgh, Mint & Stannary Prison’ with

Andrew Thompson. Tuesday 13th July 7.00pm (outdoor visit) – ‘Powdermills:

19th Century Gunpowder Factory’ with Drew Campbell, author of ‘Powdermills – The story of the Dartmoor gunpowder factory’ (2019). Tuesday 10th August 7pm (outdoor visit) ‘Gunnislake Chapels & Church’ with member

Stephen Docksey. Tuesday 14th September 7.30pm (Parish Centre) – ‘Powdermills:

Its History & People’ with Drew Campbell. Tuesday 19th October 7.30pm (Parish Centre) – ‘Turner in Cornwall & Tavistock’ with

Dorothy Kirk. Tuesday 9th November 7.30pm (Parish Centre) – ‘The Railway

to Princetown’ with Brian Poole. Tuesday 14th December 7.30pm (Parish Centre)Social & Members’ Projects Evening.

All are welcome to try out our Zoom meetings by using the ‘contact us’ link on our website tavistockhistory.co.uk and requesting a link for a particular meeting. Our membership comes from all over West Devon and beyond, and we encourage anybody with an interest in local history to join us. Annual membership is £16. For more information go to our website, or for general enquiries, contact the secretary, Tony Vigars, on 07746 577598 or tony.vigars@ hotmail.com. We have also published a number of booklets, including an index to all 27 of Gerry Woodcock’s ‘Tavistock’s Yesterdays’ and the bestselling ‘About Tavistock’. We are actively engaged in a number of local historical projects, including preserving the Thorington photographic archive, digitising the Ward and Chowen archive, and transcribing and mapping all the burial memorials in Tavistock.

Show Up and the Edwin Davis Memorial CIC

On April 28th 2018 my husband, Edwin Davis, took his own life by jumping from the viaduct in Tavistock. It was a brutal end to his lifetime battle with a form of bi-polar illness and left me and my four children devastated. Right from that first day though, I was determined to find a way of using this experience to help support better mental health in young people: to try and be part of slowing down the appalling rate of suicide in this country, the biggest killer of men under 45 with an average of 16 men a day finding this their only way out.

But how? I didn’t want to be a ‘fire starter’. One person I approached about setting something up pointed out that most charities started following a death in the family or a trauma, last 18 months on average. Whatever I did, I wanted to have longevity. Over the next year, travelling to meet people who worked in the field of mental health, who had started up their own charitable endeavours, or who were creative thinkers, it dawned on me that I was actually doing work in this field already. I have worked as a teacher in secondary schools for 35 years and seen the impact high-quality arts and drama education can have on young people, their sense of self, and their confidence which has such a profound impact on good mental health. I have also always done outreach work in primary schools. Over the last few years funding for the arts in secondary schools has got smaller and in primaries has, in some cases, pretty well dried up and so I could see a niche for providing this. But where to get the funding? This is when the seeds of Show Up started to grow. A company that would provide the weekly workshops, the scripts and the productions - as I had done over the last decade - and another company that would provide the funding for this work: the Edwin Davis Memorial Community Interest Company. On the second anniversary of Ed’s death – d-day as I call it – I handed in my notice at Okehampton School so that I could devote my time to achieving my goal and setting up the two companies. It was a leap of faith, but one I had to take. I knew that a decent website was my first priority – my calling card if you will. In this digital age it is essential to look professional online as this is the first place most people will see you. A business acquaintance and now friend put me in touch with the design company FatCalf Media based in Tavistock, and I met Tim, the director, who immediately grasped what I was trying to do. I invested my own money in this and Tim backed me all the way, giving me a discount and providing not only the name for Show Up and its tagline - all about the drama - but also the fantastic look of the website which really captured the company’s intention. Check it out!

We met a few obstacles starting as we did in summer 2020: making the films for the website in lockdown was pretty interesting, as for example children in one school had to balance on the edge of a sink to be seen clearly on camera, and stay two metres away; and we had to create a social distanced film studio in my kitchen! But what I learned, very rapidly, was when I reached out to past students, members of staff I was working with, parents and the students themselves, they were only too happy to help and came to support immediately. Some of what they said about the effect of the drama work they had done with me was deeply moving. In essence, for many, they said, it was what gave them a sense of self and a confidence to be that self. This was what Ed and many like him lose, somewhere along the way, so they don’t have the inner self-esteem that builds resilience in our oftendifficult world. Their words made me

more determined than ever to ensure as many children as possible in Devon and beyond would get the opportunities that the Show Up experience brings. The website was launched on September 12th 2020 and much to my delight donations immediately came in to the linked Just Giving page set up for the Edwin Davis CIC. This money is very welcome of course, and I can’t thank donors enough, however these funds are a drop in the ocean compared with the amounts needed to keep Show Up delivering to schools across the Tavistock, Plymouth and Exeter area who have already signed up. I want to work with schools for a minimum of one academic year because the longer I am part of the fabric of a school, the more profound the impact on students. I am also keen to expand as much as possible, for example I want to develop digital projects, and I want to train up another teacher, who I am working alongside at the moment so we can double delivery by next year. My weeks are now spent delivering workshops for four days and seeking out funding wherever I can in the remaining time. I am not yet a registered charity so can’t apply for funding to many of the ‘big boys’ like Comic Relief and Children in Need. As a result, I am looking to local manufacturers, retailers and individuals who see the importance of what I am doing. Any contribution is very welcome and will immediately help one of the schools. These are difficult and unpredictable times for all of us but being part of a community and helping that community is one of the best ways to navigate our own mental health and wellbeing. We all need to ‘Show Up’ for our young people and for each other. I leave you with these thoughts: ‘The true purpose of arts education is not necessarily to create more professional dancers or artists. It’s to create more complete human beings who are critical thinkers, who have curious minds and who can lead productive lives.’ (Kelly Pollock 2019) ‘If you think your child’s academic studies are more important than the arts, think again. (Plato 400BC)

Harriet Davis

If you are interested, know of any funding streams or just want to find out more, please go to showupnow.co.uk or email harriet@showupnow.co.uk.

Rocky Shoreline near Godrevy by Shirley Kirkcaldy

Evening stroll, Michael Hill

March to June Wildwood Arts Exhibitions

Organising exhibitions during lockdown is difficult. However, Wildwood Arts will be holding a ‘shared exhibition’, combining a joint exhibition of Michael Hill and Shirley Kirkcaldy’s work, together with the annual Spring Exhibition.

A ‘Shared Perspective’ brings together the works of Michael Hill and Shirley Kirkcaldy, in an exciting collaboration that promises a fascinating insight. With their individual styles bridging the gap between abstraction and realism, they both remain authentic to their subject matter, focusing on the mood it evokes and their unique perspectives. From seascapes to landscapes, painted in oil and mixed media, the exhibition will encompass the true essence and energy of the southwest environment: its changing light, alternative weather conditions and different yet common viewpoints. Whilst the Spring Exhibition will comprise of Wildwood artists and an array of work bringing the promise of brighter times, with a spectrum of colours representing the Southwest and spring. The exhibition catalogue and virtual exhibitions can be viewed online at www.wildwoodartsdartmoor.co.uk from 6th March until June, or in the gallery should Covid-19 restrictions be lifted. You can also find details of all our artists and their work on the website. In addition, Wildwood is offering a ‘click and collect’ or local delivery service.

Horse among the seed heads, Richard Slater

Sea trout, Michael Moss

JO MADGWICK UPHOLSTERY

TRADITIONAL & MODERN BESPOKE HAND CRAFTED

01822 852138 /07707475327

Call me to arrange a free estimate A Shared Perspective & Spring Exhibition: March 6th 2021

Featuring new work from Michael Hill & Shirley Kirkcaldy and other Wildwood artists. View on-line from 06/03/2021 at: www.wildwoodartsdartmoor.co.uk

Fruit Couronne

Here at Dartmoor Ice Cream HQ, we have spent the winter trialling new recipes including some lovely seasonal baked goodies. We have all enjoyed this recipe, which Roz our inhouse baking guru and farmer’s wife has adapted. The original idea comes from a traditional French recipe. Couronne means ‘crown’, named after its ring shape. It is an enriched sweet bread full of dried fruit, pistachios, flaked almonds and dots of marzipan. We all found it completely delicious and it could be served as a lovely treat for Easter.

Ingredients

145ml milk 75g caster sugar 75g butter 1 egg 1 tsp salt 350g strong white bread flour 2 sachets of dried yeast 30g softened butter Zest of one orange and one lemon 100g cranberries 100ml brandy 50g shelled pistachios 50g flaked almonds 200g marzipan 2 tbsp icing sugar mixed with 1-2 tsp lemon juice

Method

Steep the cranberries in the brandy overnight. In a small saucepan, warm the milk together with the butter and sugar, over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved and the butter has melted. Put to one side until the mixture is cool and then whisk in the egg. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and make a well in the middle. Add the yeast and milk and combine the dry ingredients into the wet with a fork. Once they are well incorporated, knead the mixture until you have a smooth dough. Put the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with a clean tea towel. Leave for a couple of hours or until doubled in size.

Tip the dough onto a floured surface. Roll out into a large rectangle, approximately 50cm x 25cm. Mix the softened butter with the orange and lemon zests, then spread over the dough using a spatula. Sprinkle with the pistachios, cranberries, flaked almonds. Chop the marzipan into approximately 1cm cubes and dot around the dough. Roll up the dough into a long sausage and then slice the dough-sausage into two halves by cutting it up the whole length. Turn the cut sides up to face you and then plait the two halves together. Once you have plaited the whole length, create a circle with the dough and squeeze the dough from the two edges together to make a wreath shape. Line a baking tray with either parchment or greased baking paper and move the couronne onto it. Brush the top with egg wash. Cover loosely and allow to rise for about 40 mins in a warm place. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees or gas mark 4 and bake for 20 mins. Reduce the temperature to 160 degrees/gas mark 3, cover with foil loosely and check after a further 20 mins. Bake until golden brown, then transfer to a cooling wire. When completely cool, drizzle with the icing. If all this is too much effort, we will be selling our own in the Tavistock Farmer’s Market and online!

New look, same Arundell

The Arundell is an institution and for many almost a second home, not just for locals but for sporting enthusiasts all over the UK. After sixty years in the same family, when new owners Simon Village and Arabella Monro took it on and immediately embarked on a fourmonth refurbishment programme, there was much interest, if not consternation from far and wide. To everyone’s relief and delight the result of the refurbishment is quite simply fantastic. It’s the same Arundell, with its warmth, hospitality, worn flagstone floors, and feeling of home - only rejuvenated and uplifted with the introduction of gentle, country colours, beautiful fabrics and original yet restored furniture. The outcome is a perfect blend of old and new: simple but comfortable bedrooms each with a Roberts Radio, a stunning wood floor in the bar and the renovated rococo restaurant. However decoration was just the tip of the iceberg, as a complete overhaul of the wiring and plumbing, plus some long overdue structural work was also required, including a new cedar roof on the cockpit. Looking ahead, the new owners plan to focus on the core ethos of the hotel as one of the UK’s premier sporting institutions providing traditional field sports, comfortable beds, and glorious food. Although the fully-booked 2020 shooting season was cut short by lockdown, guests that did manage to experience the changes, loved them. Masterchef Steve Pidgeon is back in the newly overhauled kitchen as executive chef and his new menu, with its focus on local and wild ingredients, has been receiving rave reviews. All ingredients are hand selected with an insistence on dayboat-caught fish, wild salmon and venison, with all other meat sourced via Philip Warren. The wine list, procured through vintner Chris Piper, is wellpriced and chosen to complement the food, with a carefully selected reserve list available on request. With the hotel’s doors currently closed, the focus has turned to the fishing season and filling all 22 miles of the fishing beats - including a new stretch of the River Lyd and membership of the Endsleigh Fishing Club. Each fisherman can enjoy wild, unspoilt fishing on his own mile-stretch of river. Complementing the sporting and culinary aspects, is the new Deli & Vintner. Located in the old schoolroom, it opened on 23 January to provide the local community, fishers and holidaymakers with delicious homemade Arundell products to cook in their own home. Breads, cheeses, charcuterie, pastas, olive oils, dressed partridge breast, venison and premarinated barbeque packs are just some of the products available, together with wonderful soups and sourdough sandwiches to take away. Arundell staff will be on hand to prepack essential holiday hampers for those passing through. While for special occasions such as Valentine’s Day, the Arundell chefs will be creating delicious fourcourse dinners so people can enjoy ‘The Arundell experience’ at home.

www.thearundell.com Lifton • Devon • PL16 0AA