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Ash Thomas
Ash Thomas maps
Historic maps of Ash Thomas and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Ash Thomas maps
Ash Thomas photos
We have no photos of Ash Thomas, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Halberton| Tiverton| Cullompton| Sampford Peverell| Chettiscombe| Uffculme| Bradninch| Washfield| Hele| Holcombe Rogus| Stuckeridge
Ash Thomas area books
Displaying 1 of 26 books about Ash Thomas and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Ash Thomas
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Devon memories
When I Was A Boy
My name is Peter Labdon and I lived with my father Wilf, my mother Ruby and my brother David in Halberton from 1933 to 1943, between the ages of two and twelve. We lived first in Norway House, at the top of the road to Lower Town, and then around the corner in Rockville, fronting the High Street in the centre of the village. I went to the village school in Mr. Hesketh's time and my friends were George Chidgey, David Diggle and Fred Osmond . I am writing such memories as I have at greater length than is possible here, so if anyone of my generation is around and able to contact me I'd be grateful. Phone is 01502 712366 and e-mail peterlabdon@supanet.com I'll add some more later. Thanks for the memories.
Flying Our Kite at Knightshayes Court
Yesterday our family went for a walk around the parkland surrounding Knightshayes - a grand Victorian estate owned by the National Trust between Tiverton and Bolham and only a mile from our home in Hawks Drive. Although it was a damp January day, the views from the top of the main drive over the countryside were lovely. The house itself looks just like this picture apparently taken in 1896 ! The trees are bigger of course ! At the top of the grassy slopes we felt a stiff breeze so we tried flying our kite and our granddaughter Anna who is not yet two held on to the string and was fascinated by it!
Heathcoat Community Centre
The Westexe Park sadly no longer has the beautiful flowerbeds featured in this 1955 view. I walked through this park today leading a party from the Tiverton Walk and Talk Group from the Heathcoat Community Centre. Even the grass has been neglected and has lots of mud and duck poo!
Our walk took us up Longdrag Hill and Patches Road on a circular route of around three miles. I found it pretty tough as I was pushing my granddaughter Annalise Norfolk in her pushchair! I was glad to get back to the level ground of the park where I could let her out of her pushchair - she loves to stand on the grass and be surrounded by inquisitive ducks!
Finally we went in to the Community Centre where I collapsed in a heap and enjoyed a deserved coffee!
An Outing For A Picnic by The Grand Western Canal With my Granddaughter
Our granddaughter Anna Norfolk stays with us each Tuesday and Friday starting with breakfast and we try to keep her entertained with things to do around our home town of Tiverton. One recent February day felt like the first day of Spring so we planned an outing while making her favourite breakfast of fishfingers and tomatoes and toast.
We planned a sunny walk with her pushchair near the river view shown in this picture but first she wanted to play football in our lounge! Then we prepared Grandma and Grandad’s picnic. We got the “55 bus” from Tesco Express to West Exe then took Anna for a run around Heathcoats Factory shop with Grandma to choose material to make a pushchair blanket. From there we walked to Country Babies shop to ask about nappies! Its all go with a 22 month old toddler!
We gazed down at the ducks from West Exe bridge - its a really beautiful view southwards down the River Exe. From... Read more
The Peoples Park in Tiverton
This beautiful view of the main entrance to the Peoples Park contrasts sadly with the vista today. Many of the mature landscape trees have gone although the lodge by the ornate gates still stands as this continues to be owned by our council.
Nearby there is now a memorial stone commemorating the US Army 4th Infantry Division which was stationed nearby in the build-up to the D-Day Normandy landings of June 1944.
As a regular user of the park I have been saddened to see the stone standing neglected with its growing covering of moss and the associated tree planting vandalised. I have drawn the condition of both the memorial itself and the planting to the Veterans of the US 4th Infantry Division and also alerted our Mid-Devon Council in the hope that we may restore both of them, plus the nearby landscaping of the park. Hopefully we may once again see the glorious standards shown in the photo above.
4th US Infantry Division in Tiverton
I live in Tiverton but only recently discovered that our town hosted the US 4th Infantry Division in the later stages of the 2nd World War. I have been helping the veterans of this Division (The Ivy Division) with plans to restore and replant a memorial stone and memorial tree in our Peoples Park. This prompted me to find out more about their stay and I learned that their Regimental Command Post was sited at Colliepriest House in January 1944 while the troops prepared for combat in the Normandy landings that year.
The troops moved on to the South Devon coast and embarked for the Utah beaches on D-Day in June 1944 but left behind a legacy in Tiverton in the memories of local residents for their friendly behaviour during their long stay in our town. These have been documented in the archives held at our Museum of Mid-Devon Life here in Tiverton.
The Norfolk Family Move to Tiverton
Tiverton is an attractive market town in mid-Devon but I have to confess I had never heard of it until the first of the family moved here in 2005! Elizabeth and I were spending a weekend in Exeter with our son David and his partner Amanda and thought it would be nice to call in to have tea with cousin Robert in Tiverton. While we were there David and Amanda went for a walk around Robert's house and saw a newly built little house for sale and they fell instantly in love with it. In a matter of weeks they had bought it, given up their jobs in Milton Keynes and moved to Devon to look for a new life, new jobs and as it turned out a new family. It wasn't long before they announced they were expecting a baby so Elizabeth and I started visiting them in Tiverton and then decided to move as well so as to be here ready to greet our first grandchild. Annalise... Read more
