Torbryan, Church House Inn c1960

Childhood in Broadhempston

I was born at St Joseph Cottages. I remember my first day at the village school, spam fritters, and Mr Matthews from the pub, with his dog called Measles, Marks from the shop, and butcher Lang in his van, who always gave the kids a slice of hogs pudding, happy days, poor but carefree.

May Fayre on Denbury Village Green 5th May 2008

Denbury May Fayre started with a procession in fancy dress from the local school children led by the May Queen and May King. All the entertainments took place on the village green and in front of the Union Inn. There were plant stalls, traditional village games, teas and a display of clog morris dancing by the Heather and Gorse Clog Morris from Combeinteignhead.

Elsewhere on the Village Green there was a collection of vintage cars to admire. This was a really enjoyable day out and although I was busy playing my accordian for the morris dancers, I still found time to look round the other entertainments. I thought the maypole dancing by the older village school children was excellent. Who knows – maybe one day they will become morris dancers!

Former residents of Combe Fishacre

I, along with my three brothers and two sisters was brought up in Combe Fishacre House from 1965 to about 1988. My father lived there with his Aunt and Uncle (Neville and Anne Parry) who bought the house in the 1930's. The house was given to my parents in 1965 when we all moved in. We remained there until we sold it to the Longs in the late 1980's.

Much of our childhood was spent on Normans farm (owned by Frances and Aida Luscombe), where we helped out with milking, feeding cattle, gathering hay, etc. The Matthews were at Combe House (then the Monks, then Grant-Sturges's, then the Collins). Miss McVittie lived in the thatched cottage Old Walls until she died in the late 70's. She gave the cottage to Mrs Barbara Marsh who was formerly at The Combe Fishacre Lodge. Bill and Barbara Marsh used to keep enormous Pyrannean Mountain dogs in the tiny lodge, and used to let them sleep on the bed!

Joe and Mary Lock ran Combe Fishacre Farm from around WW2, but his family had been there since the 1920's. (Frances Luscomb was there til he was 4, then moved to Normans and the Locks moved in). The Locks had 3 sons, Graham, Robert and Keith. Joe's brother Fred ran the farm opposite Normans Farm.

My most vivid memories of Combe Fishacre are of a wonderfully peaceful and rural place, where farming dominated. The twice-daily routing of milking the cows remains clear in my mind. The Lucscombs had free-range hens in the meadow opposite Normans, and used to collect cider apples in the orchards on the farm. Aida used to make us huge trays of clotted cream each Christmas, and we would collect our churn of unpasturised milk from the farm every day.

David Luscomb still lives in the bungalow he occupied in his 20's at the top of Combe Fishacre lane, and Frances is at The Grange in Ipplepen. Sadly Aida died over 20 years ago.

The valley still looks lovely, but all the farming I remember has stopped, with most barns standing empty or having been converted into houses. Combe Fishacre House is still owned by the Longs, and have kept it looking unspoilt.

Combe Fishacre House was built in 1830 by John Shepherd, and he inscribed his name on one of the panes of glass in an upstairs bedroom. It's such a lovely house and has just about all its original features still.

Dornafield Midsummer Promenade

Totnes Rotary Club invited Heather and Gorse Clog Morris to dance at the Dornafield Midsummer Promenade along with other entertainers. The weather was dry and cool for a mid-June evening and just right for some vigorous dancing!

Refreshments were available in the open air bar on this lovely caravan and camp site. A large crowd of holidaymakers and evening visitors made it a succesful charity fundraising event. The dancers rounded off their performance by inviting the audience to join in a massed processional dance which was great fun for the fifty or sixty who accepted the challenge!

Staverton Elizabethan Fayre

Staverton Playing Fields was the location for the Staverton Elizabethan Fayre on August Bank Holiday Monday. Lots of entertainment was arranged including a jazz band, the Babelfish Ceilidh Band, Dog Racing, Punch and Judy, the South Hams Dog Agility team, and the Heather and Gorse Clog Morris Dancers. I was there with my piano accordian to provide some music for the dancers and I think my job providing music was a lot easier than the effort needed by the dancers to perform on the soft grass!

It was a huge event and the tea tent seemed to have queues all afternoon. Fortunately there was no rain so many people chose to sit outside on straw bales with their teas while watching the entertainments.

The dancers provided two spots and at the finish of the second spot had just enough remaining energy to organise a giant Cicassian Circle dance for the crowds - most of those who joined in seemed to be mothers with small children but we all managed OK and the kids loved it. A memorable afternoon!