June 1999

THANKS: To all who supported our Coffee Morning at Alwyns - brought gifts for the stall, raffle prizes and gave donations. Thanks to all those who helped with the Coffee, Raffle and Stall in any way. Ł425 was raised towards the Flower Festival in August. Stan & Eileen Tucker

GET THE MOST FROM YOUR POST: Richard Lethbridge now has a mobile ‘phone in his van so anyone wishing to contact him regarding the mail etc. should call him.

THANKS: Chris and Rita Arscott of Atherington would like to say a big “thank you” to Walter White, Richard Beer, the Parish Council and friends and neighbours, who supported their recent successful planning application.

SCOPE: The collection for SCOPE, held by Stella Burrows, raised Ł14-02. Thanks to all who contributed.

CHURCH PORCH SALE: By St Mary’s Guild at St Mary’s, High Bickington, raised Ł52 towards the Flower Festival. Thanks to all who supported this.

THANKS: Eric Bolt, who is recovering from a hip replacement, sends his thanks to everyone for their cards, telephone calls, visits and gifts in hospital and since he has been home.

St. Mary's Guild - Rosemary Munson

We had a successful meeting in May with 11 members present at Miss Thorne's home. The coffee morning date in June has been changed to the day before as you will notice in the following announcements.

Our next meeting is on Monday June 14th at Miss Thorne's home.

We have a Coffee Morning on Wednesday June 23rd 10a.m. - 12 noon at Roundhouse Cottage, Seckington to raise funds for the Flower Festival.

The Outing to Otter Nurseries and Sidmouth is on Monday 12th July, leaving High Bickington at 9.00a.m.

Please support us, thank you.

Christians together in High Bickington

The June meeting is to be held on June 14th at 7:30pm in the home of Mr & Mrs Burrows, Welcome Farm, High Bickington. Copies of the study book we shall be using will be available if you haven’t got one yet. The theme is the life of David and last month’s introduction gave us a good taster of what to expect. The study is very simple to understand, but also very practical.

Please come and join us if you can.

From the archives - Researched by Richard Lethbridge

Richard writes - on March 10th 1967 an article appeared in the Western times about the late Herbert Pidler’s ringing career. Mrs Pidler has kindly allowed me to put this following piece in the Ramblings this month. Thank you Doris for allowing us to share Herbert’s story.

MR PIDLER HAS RUNG AT 195 TOWERS

Bitten by the bell-ringing bug when he was still a boy Devon farmer Mr Herbert Pidler (59) expects to reach a milestone in his bell-ringing career this summer. A visit to just five more towers will see him reach the 200-mark in entries in the little red book which lists the different towers he has rung at since he started bell-ringing as a teenager way back in 1923.

It was ringing at Exeter Cathedral early in 1924, followed by visits to the towers at Chudleigh, Newton Abbott, Highweek and Upton (Torquay) soon afterwards which saw him firmly established as a as a regular member of the High Bickington team, and today, over 40 years later, he is still to be found regularly in his place in the High Bickington tower.

Followed father. It was no surprise really that Mr Pidler should take up bell- ringing, for his father, the late Mr R G Pidler, was an enthusiast before him, and he followed in his footsteps three years ago when he was elected chairman of the Devon Association of Bell-ringers. There are few towers in the Westcountry which have not had a visit from Mr Pidler, and he has also rung in Cornwall, Somerset, Dorset, and as far afield as South Wales.

Each June the High Bickington ringers have their annual outing, leaving their womenfolk behind, and strike out towards new territory and new towers. “Finding new towers now is beginning to get a little difficult,” says Mr Pidler, “but we always have a great time.” Every new tower goes down in the record book, which in itself is almost a local history of bell-ringing, for in each case the weight of the tenor bell is carefully listed.

Judge as well. In the same book is the beginning of a record of the towers Mr Pidler has visited in his capacity as a judge, starting at Morchard Bishop in 1938, but this record later peters out. “It got to be so many that I just couldn’t bother to keep track of them, “ explained Mr Pidler. In recent years though, he has tried to reduce his judging commitments. “It gets to be such a tie, and the trouble is that if you agree to be the judge at one tower - it is very difficult to turn down an invitation to go to another place,” he said.

Being a judge, of course, requires staying n one vantage listening spot for hours on end and an additional “hazard”, if that is the right word to describe it, these days is that most competing teams turn up with their own tape recorders at the ready. “It has been known for teams to re-play these afterwards themselves and, no doubt disagree with the judges’ findings,” joked Mr Pidler.

What of the future? Mr Pidler’s father was also a judge and also, incidentally, captained the High Bickington ringers before his son. Another family link is provided by the fact that Mr Edgar Cole, of Ashreigney, who is the secretary of the Devon Association of Bell-ringers, is a cousin of Mr Pidler.

What does the future hold for bell-ringers? Mr Pidler firmly believes that despite the present day tendency to unite church livings, which some times leads to a requirement for less ringing for services and a subsequent slackening away of interest on the part of some ringers, overall there will always be keen enthusiasm to keep the art alive. “Once you’ve got the bug, that’s it,” he commented. “As long as the older ones are prepared to teach, then youngsters will continue to come along.”

Local councillor. Mr Pidler’s own son, Brian, is a ringer, although illness has prevented him from taking part recently as much as he would wish, and throughout the country there are similar instances of sons following in their father’s footsteps in campanology.

When he is not ringing, or judging, Mr Pidler is busy farming his 170 acres at Dadlands, High Bickington, following the fortunes of the Torrington Farmer’s Hunt, or else attending meetings of Torrington Rural Council, of which he is a member and of which his father was chairman for some years. His present ambition is to add those five towers to his list - and to eventually chalk up 50 years of bell-ringing.

HIGH BICKINGTON WI - Josie Maskell

We held our May meeting in the Church Hall. Four members had been on a coastal hike at East Prawle and enjoyed their day out - after a wet start the weather turned warm and fine.

The members who went to the Devon Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve near Holsworthy had a lovely sunny day and a very good guide but felt that there wasn’t enough to see. We were taken to a Culm grass area (wellies needed here) and saw some early butterflies and a few wild flowers and different lichens on the trees. A study of the hedges showed us how important layering is to preserve the wild life. An excellent tea was provided for us afterwards.

Our Secretary informed us of several forth coming events, one being an invitation to Marks & Spencer, for fashion, food and wine tasting. We were shown the schedule for the North Devon Show - the theme this year is herbs. Those who attended the Spring Group meeting at Umberleigh said what a good evening they had followed by a lovely supper.

We have received an appeal from the Children’s Hospice for help with replacing napkins and place mats and several members offered their help. The Spring Council meeting at Exeter was attended by Rosemary and Angela who thoroughly enjoyed their day and reported back to us.

Plans for the Autumn Group meeting were discussed and decisions taken with many offers of help. Time for the four resolutions to be read, discussed and voted on. Several of us will be joining other Institutes at Umberleigh on May 11th for more discussion on these.

The competition for a floral arrangement in an egg cup was won by Eva Burke. The raffle was won by Doris Timms (nice to see you back again Doris) and the flower of them month by Jean Checksfield with a dicentra.

p> Our next meeting is on June 2nd with Wendy Kite - all about Tea. Do come and join us.

High Bickington Methodist News - Hazel Pearce

Our Sunday School Anniversary Services will take place on Sunday 27th June at 11am and 6.30pm. Come and support the young people on their special day.

Saturday 5th June, Cream Teas will be served from 3-6pm in the Schoolroom, proceeds for Sunday School funds.

Our thanks to Mr John Fry who led the May Family Service. The question “What do we do with our noses?” produced many answers! The household sale on May 15th raised Ł118 for Chapel funds. Very many thanks to all who provided the goods for the sale, helped set out and price the items and then sold them.

Over the past few weeks the 5-7’s have visited the play area, made balloon faces and paper kites, while the 8-11’s have played outdoor team games, been up to the play area and had a very interesting visit from Mr Palmer of Filleigh who brought seven birds of prey with him, we were fortunate to see these beautiful birds so close.

Our prayers and wishes for a speedy recovery go to Laura Clarke who has glandular fever and had to spend a short time in hospital, also to Mrs V Parker who is in hospital for transfusions.

High Bickington United Anglican and Methodist Churches

The United Rogation Service on May 9th at 2.30pm started in the Methodist car park, Mark Thomas and Robert Domleo were the leaders. The first reader was Rosemary Munson. The second visit was to Little Silver Residential Home where two of the residents, Guy Johnson and Leslie Adams read the lessons. The third place was Weirmarsh Farm where Glenda Tucker read the lesson. Higher House Farm was the fourth visit where Stella Burrows read the lesson. The final visit was to Over Weir Caravan Park where the manager, Alan Sawyer led the singing on his organ and Mary Burgess read the lesson. Light refreshments were then served by Robert and Judith Domleo at Higher Fisherton Farm.

There is no United Service in June, the next one will be on Sunday, July 11th.

More words of wisdom?

If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all the evidence that you tried

Diplomacy is the art of saying “Nice doggie!” ...until you can find a rock

If at first you DO succeed, try not to look astonished

For people who like peace and quiet: a phoneless cord

Multitasking - screwing up several things simultaneously

Everyone has a photographic memory - some just don’t have any film

All those who believe in telekinesis - raise my hand

Wear short sleeves! Support your right to bare arms

If things get any worse, I’ll have to ask you to stop helping me

There’s an exception to every rule - except this one

TAW VALLEY GARDENING CLUB

Our venue for thus month was Eggesford Garden Centre, where the subject was ‘Rare and Unusual Plants’. We had some time to wander at leisure around the Garden Centre, browsing through the array of plants, shrubs and perennials, then were taken in for tea or coffee and a talk on some of the new and usual varieties on ‘offer’ this year.

There were variegated Artemesia’s, a beautiful Fuchsia called ‘Firecracker’ which has purple, white, and yellow leaves and orange trumpet flowers (this I could not resist, despite all the promises not to buy anything before I went!), Surfinia’s and other species of Petunias with unusual colours; terracotta, double flowers in purple small flowers in pinks, Osmanthus with holly like leaves, giant Bizzy Lizzy’s, purple leaved Hebe’s, pink Lily of the Valley, I could go on and on. Needless to say there was a lot of reaching into purses, wallets and handbags. A nice short trip and a good display of plants plus a very interesting run through from Peter one of Centre’s staff. Well worth a visit!

Our next trip is to The Old Mill, Blakewell, 16th June, 6.45 p.m. Anyone who would like directions or would like to know more about our club should contact Barry Checksfield.

Judi Waring

When we came to Week (continued) - Margaret Bolt

Christmas

The Christmas after we came to Week and all my earlier ones at Hacknell are remembered partly for rabbitting parties, for the men in the daytime, followed by card parties in the evening, but mainly for poultry picking and feathers!

For my mother it was the end of many months of hard work and a multitude of problems, rearing geese, turkeys, ducks and chicken to reach their peak of growth and fatness at Christmas. From the time of the stock breeding birds laying their eggs in the Spring and these "sittings" of eggs being put under broody hens of old fashioned heavy breeds such as Rhode Island Reds and Light Sussex, (taking the eggs away from them every day kept the stock birds laying) through the anxious time of hatching, when the young could be trampled by the hen or stick to the inside of the shell and need dampness to help them to break free it was a worry - that is always presuming that the eggs are fertile, that rats have not eaten them, that the hen has not gone off her broodiness and let the eggs get cold when the chicks died in their shells.

The number of eggs in a sitting and the precise number of days before hatching varies with each breed. After hatching, each brood stayed with their hen foster mother, in separate coops, being free to roam by day, as they became older. Then as well as danger from rats, sparrow and buzzard hawks were sometimes a problem.

Feeding was carefully adjusted, from a diet for healthy growth, containing chopped eggs, finely shredded greens, dandelions and stinging nettles with meal, to one with boiled potatoes squashed into wet meal, known as "mix meat” to fatten them. As the birds became more mature, fights would break out between the stroppy young turkey males, sometimes to the death, but usually with some damage caused by sharp beaks and talons.

Despite all these setbacks my mother loved her poultry rearing. I was never very keen, especially after being knocked down a few times by a big stag (male) turkey who used to lie in wait for me no matter which gate or door I used. I think he had a shorter life than usual!

In the 1940s all our turkeys were black or very dark grey, known as bronze, quicker maturing anaemic looking white breeds came later. Guinea fowl, the noisy but useful early warners of intruders, bred freely at Hacknell, being experts at hiding their eggs in hedges until laying a clutch of approximately fifteen they then would go broody and batch them, before proudly clucking their offspring to the farm yard for food.

Runner ducks had to be kept shut in until they had laid their eggs, usually by 11 a.m. (if my memory is correct). They travelled long distances shovelling for slugs and snails in the muckiest of places and were always the last of the poultry to return home to roost.

ATHERINGTON & UMBERLEIGH WI - Judith Domleo

At the Resolution meeting in May, VCO Sheila hale came to guide us through the four resolutions for the Intermediate General Meeting at the Albert Hall, London, in June. The four resolutions were:
“The Decline of the Agricultural Industry”, “A Test for Ovarian Cancer”, “Women’s Human Rights” and “Genetically Modified Foods”. Robert Domleo came to speak and answer questions on Agriculture and Genetically Modified Foods. Our delegate has been told to vote for the Agriculture and Genetically Modified Foods and to use her vote at discretion after she has heard the debate at the IGM on the other two resolutions. We were joined by members from High Bickington, Alverdiscott and Huntshaw WIs.

Several members attended the Spring Annual Council Meeting at Exeter University. We were told about the 2000 National Craft Spectacular being held at Tatten hall, Cheshire - some of our work may be there! There was an interesting presentation on “The Eclipse of the Sun” by Jack Wickings from the Norman Lockyer Observatory, Sidmouth. The Guest Speaker was Barry Johnston - son of Brian, who gave an amusing account of his life in the world of entertainment. Eight members went to the Devon Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve at Vealand Farm, Pancrasweek, near Holsworthy. It was bought by the Trust in 1994 and comprises 12 acres of culm grassland and 25 acres of semi-improved rushy pasture. Hedgerow management aims to have some hedges at different stages of growth from recently steeped (layed) to fully grown and ready for steeping. They contain Hazel, Willow, Ash and Oak. A few had almost disappeared through neglect. Members were asked to try and identify the species in different lengths of hedge. It was a gloriously sunny day which made such a difference.
Pancrasweek WI provided us with a delicious tea which included Saffron yeast buns and cutrounds - just like mother used to make!

Six members went on a trip to Witon House near Salisbury, the home of the Earl of Pembroke. It has a fabulous art collection, including many Van Dyck paintings, magnificent Palladian architecture making the 450 year old house an ideal setting for the films “Sense and sensibility” and “Mrs Brown”. We also had a tour of the Wilton carpet factory where we learnt the differences between Wilton and Axminster carpets. A very interesting and enjoyable day. Two members have been on a six day holiday to Normandy on a “Monet Study Tour”. We visited Monet’s garden at Giverny - there were irises of every colour and many other colourful flowers - truly a painters paradise. The countryside was looking at its very best. Paris was included in the tour where Monet’s exhibition of his water lily paintings was in the Tuileries Gardens and we visited the Musée d’Orsay to see many of his earlier paintings and many of his contemporaries including Degas, Van Gogh, Manet and Renoir. We visited Rouen where Monet painted pictures of the beautiful cathedral. The French trip was truly memorable.

A plant sale at Umberleigh raised Ł45. At our next meeting on Tuesday, June 8th, 7.30pm at Umberleigh Hall, Rev Tony Cox will give an illustrated talk on “A Visit to the Holy Land”. All visitors are very welcome.

Thought For The Month - David Brown

The Lord will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." (Mathew 25 v 40)

The events in Kosovo have recently been very much on my mind. There have been almost continuous, heart-rending, television pictures showing thousands of refugees made homeless by an inhuman, senseless, policy of 'ethnic cleansing' that is being ruthlessly pursued by the Yugoslavian government. As if to add insult to injury many of these same people have had to endure the extra pressures placed on them by host governments demanding that they 'move on' because it is unable to cope with the sheer size of the problem.

As I have pondered and prayed about the desperate plight of these people my mind has returned to the account of Mary and Joseph when they arrived in Bethlehem only to find that there was 'no room' at the inn. I also remembered a moving story that I had read, some time ago, about a small, Russian, orphan boy who had heard for the first time, from some visitors to his orphanage, the story of the birth of Jesus. It went something like this.

'We told them about Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem. Finding no room in the inn the couple went to a stable, where Jesus was born and was then placed in a manger. Throughout the story the children, and staff, sat in amazement as they listened.'

'After we had completed the story, we passed out cardboard, wood, pieces of old flannel and asked each child to construct a miniature manger. As we looked at the manger made by six-year-old Misha we noticed that it contained two babies. We asked the interpreter to find out the reason for this.'

'Crossing his arms in front of him, little Misha began his explanation. He repeated the Christmas story without error until he got to the part about two babies. He then started to ad-lib!

He said, "And when Maria laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked if I had a place to stay. I told him that I have no mummy and daddy so I don't have a place to stay. Then Jesus told me that I could stay with him. But I told him that I couldn't, because I have nothing to give him. But I wanted to stay with Jesus very much so I thought of a gift that I could give him. I thought, "maybe if I keep him warm, that would be a good gift". So I asked Jesus, 'If I keep you warm, will that be a good gift?' And Jesus said to me, 'If you keep me warm that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me.' So I got into the manger and then Jesus looked at me and told me I could stay with him for ever."

As little Misha finished the story, his eyes were full of tears. Putting his hand over his face, his head dropped to the table and he sobbed. He had found someone who would never abandon or abuse him. Jesus was someone who would stay with him forever.'

I am sure that anything that we can do to help the Kosovan refugees, or anyone else in need, will warm the heart of Jesus who, himself, is God's most precious gift to the world. It is also true, of course, that the very best gift that we can offer to Jesus is to accept Him as our personal Saviour and Lord.

Go to July 1999 issue