West Down - Newsletter

A summary of what is and has been happening in the parish of West Down

Some of the clips about residents have been moved to "Our people past & present"

Pipcott Tea Rooms will not be opening this summer. Bad summers and the recession have led Mike & Heather to feel that the must mothball the facility until the situation improves.

The Ladies of West Down WI returned to the Commodore Hotel for their New Year Lunch- see WI pages

ANNUAL QUIZ NIGHT
Saturday, 21st January 2012
RESULTS
Ist	Hoof Hearted	Points 81
2^nd	Two Old Issians and 4 Friends	79
3^rd	Better Advised	77
4^th	And Tonight's Winners Are	76
5^th	In the Family Way	76
6^th	Trimstone 4 + 2	75
7^th	KP Nuts	73
8^th	3 Trees Minus 1 Tree = a Pear	73
9^th	More Th>n Three Men	71
10^th	Lillies of the Valley	71
11^th	The N'er Do Wells	71
12^th	The Nutcrackers	67
13^th	Densa	62
Best team name "3 Trees Minus 1 Tree = a Pear" A profit of £449.95 was made. Deep in thought!!!

The next meeting of the Parish Hall Committee is on the 22^ndFebruary commencing 7.30 p.m. and they are always looking for new members.

Volunteers still needed!!! The folk who organised the Silver & Golden Jubilees need a rest!! And it would be a shame if this was the first Jubilee ever not to have been marked

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrates 60 years of the Queen's reign. Celebrations will be held across the UK during the first week of June in 2012. Many people have a day off work or school to celebrate the bank holiday on June 5, 2012.
What will West Down be doing to celebrate?

Somebody is needed to volunteer to co-ordinate Jubilee events for West Down, if that somebody could be you - pleaseemail: janet474@btinternet.com

There has been considerable progress in discovering useful ways of developing activities in the village using the funding provided by Active Villages. The football team already have new kit on order, which will be great morale booster for them.

An activity is planned for all those interested in learning how to do map and compass work. Two sessions will be organised, the first will be done indoors, learning how to use maps and the compass, the second will be a practical session outdoors. Will all those interested please contact Ruth Verney or Carole King so that a group can be organised and dates fixed. Young people wishing to take part will be provided with separate sessions and should contact Ann Lewis or Carole King.

A Fishing Club is also planned, this will involve theoretical and practical work and will welcome both beginners and experienced anglers. Participants will be able to use 'starter kits' provided by Active Villages and anyone interested in taking part should contact Carole King.

Active Villages is keen to promote activities that reflect the Year of the Olympics and anyone interested in forming a running group or promoting similar activities would be welcomed.

It is hoped that West Down can take full advantage of this opportunity to obtain funding to enhance village life and all ideas will be investigated and acted upon where possible - so please get in touch!

Carole King

Parish Councillor

This is an extract from

My Life by William J. Facey (1920-1994)

Taken from "West Down, A history and memories of the past" by Margaret Thomas.
The book was published in 1995 but has a certain relavance today.

The greatest change I think is the village in general, being doubled in size by the number of dwelling houses, the arrival of all three main services, namely water, electricity and gas, also street lighting. The reverse being, no religious Ministers and no Policemen living in the village, pubs cut from four to two, no blacksmith, no carpenter, and the only shop left is a small Post Office and General Store, but for how much longer I dread to think. Even the agricultural store has closed owing to retirement.

Those with cars tend to drift off to the Supermarkets and big stores, only using the village shop when they forget something or need something in a hurry. They forget that the gains are gobbled up by queuing time, time on the road and the cost of petrol used. Owing to this craze the delivery vans have dwindled away except for a milk van and coal lorry which now comes from town instead of our local supplier.

Kirk England from Radio Devon is meeting up with the committee on Thursday, 12th January, to interview them re the proposed Community Shop. It will be broadcast as follows:

To listen - the report will be broadcast on this Saturdays Good Morning Devon breakfast programme on BBC Radio Devon. On 94.8fm or listen live at bbc.co.uk/devon. Or listen again via the bbc I player, again via the BBC Radio Devon website. Good Morning Devon is on from 6am until 9am -- and the final report will go out twice in full during that time. Exact time is TBC at the moment

( I hope some of you can access the BBC I player)

This is an extract from a letter that was suposedly sent by Devon Windpower to all houses in the parish. Apparently some did not receive it. (Sorry it didn't load the first time)

ANNUAL QUIZ NIGHT

West Down Parish Hall Saturday, 21st January 2012 7.30 p.m. Tickets £5 each to include nibbles now on sale at the shop. 13 teams only. Maximum team size = 6

A message from Sandra Clement

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the wonderful send off you gave to me. The "talent show" was amazing and very emotional. I was very touched by your precious gifts, thoughtful words in the cards you gave me and individual conversations.

For my part I plan to buy the children a friendship bench for the playground. I am sure it will be put to good use.

Thank you once again to you all.

Sandra Clement

2011

I am sure that the people who live in the shadow of the turbines were very grateful, but if they are supposed to save the planet, why were they mostly shut down over the Christmas period?
(View from Rock Hill across Snowball to Fullabrook Down showing a few of the 22 300' turbines)

Boxing Day Football Match played at East Down
West Down 8 East Down 0 !!!!
Goal Scorers were
Chris Reeves 3
Olly Everett 3
Catlin Coltman 1
Alex Hume 1
(For a full - and amusing-report on the match read page 67 of the North Devon Journal or www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk)

WEST DOWN PARISH HALL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

AND

WEST DOWN COMMUNITY SHOP PROJECT COMMITTEE

Following consultations with the Charity Commission, the Trustees of the Parish Hall have agreed in principle, to grant a lease of part of the Parish Hall grounds to the Community Shop Project, so that your Community Shop can be built on that site.

A small team from both committees will work together to plan the project in a way that is beneficial to both the Hall and the Shop.

The next step is to design an appropriate building to suit the site and apply for planning permission.

This project will cost more than £100,000, so donations and fund raising are very important.

Any help that you can give would be very welcome.

Terry King Jan Oades

Chairman Chair

West Down Parish Hall West Down Community

Management Committee Shop Project Committee

The reason for the power cut affecting the village in the night of Dec 21/22 was emergency repairs to a telagraph pole opposite the school. The water board had reported it to be dangerous and Western Power thought it better to not take time to notify residents but replace it at once at a time that would be least inconvenient. It was so bad that the next gale could bring it down and if this happened while Christmas Dinners were being cooked residents would be most upset.

West Down Lady Walkers are a ladies walking group who meet on the first and third Tuesday of the month in the Parish Hall car park, usually at 10am. and set out from there to undertake walks of various lengths throughout North Devon. They are hoping to receive funding from "Active villages". The last walk this year will be along Woolacombe beach to Putsborough, followed by lunch in the Red Barn on 20th December. The programme for next year will be available at the end of December, For further details, contact Ruth on 862250.

The first installment of turbine compensation has been received from CIC for the Iron Room refurbishment. This will enable the Church to finish the project and partly pay off the loan received from the Diocese.

It is with sadness that we note the death of Gerald Stevens on November 15th aged 89. Although resident in the Parish of Bittadon, Gerald was for many years a member of West Down's prize winning bell ringing team.

Somebody is needed to volunteer to co-ordinate Jubilee events for West Down, if that somebody could be you - please email: janet474@btinternet.com

The Olympic torch will pass through the parish on Monday 21st May as it is carried along the A361 from Braunton to Ilfracombe

Message from Carol King, West Down Parish Councillor.
At the recent Parish Council Meeting, Louise Harris from Active Villages informed us that she has around £3,500 to make available to us to promote activities within the village.
This money could be used to provide equipment and training to existing organisations as well as starting new organisations. It could also fund taster sessions for activities as diverse as indoor bowls, zumba, yoga etc. It is important that the activities encompass all ages, from 5 years upwards. It cannot be used for transport or buildings, but can be used for hiring venues.Any organisations or individuals interested in participating should contact Carole who will organise a meeting with Louise to take things forward. The money needs to be spent within the next 18 months.
(Contact details for Carole can be found on the Parish Council Page)

Change of date for West Down Day
When the 2012 date was fixed it was not known that next year's Spring Bank Holiday & summer half term was going to be a week later to accomodate the Jubilee celebrations. It has therefore been decided to move the event back a week to Saturday 16th June.

The following are extracts from a letter sent by the headmistress-Mrs Clements to the parents of children at West Down School and are of general interest:

"Mrs Carey and myself have been spending time at each other's schools getting to know staff and the children. The Federation is working well with good practice being shared across both schools. You will be seeing Mrs Carey at West Down more often next half term in readiness for her taking on the role of Head of both schools after Christmas. I will continue to be head of both schools for 1 day a week until the end of the Summer term.
Sophie Gray who has been recently appointed as Pre School Leader. She will start her new position after half term.
Congratulations to all who took part in the sponsored read. We managed to raise £370. This meant that this money added to the commission raised by the Usborne rep at Book Camp gave the school over £700 to spend on books.
Congratulations to all the children and staff for 2 excellent Harvest Festivals. The older children once again made a fantastic impression on everyone with their singing enthusiasm and their poignant prayers. It was very touching to hear the story of Grace. The sale of produce raised £78.41 which will go to help children like Grace.
The infant children looked so colourful in their costumes. They all sang beautifully and certainly had the cute factor, they couldn't fail to inthrall all who watched them. It was amazing to see the Reception children rising to the challenge so confidently.
The sale of produce raised £63.15 which will go to support our local charity The Dog's Trust."

Barbara & Francis Verdigi, formerly of Pembroke, have circled their wagons and settled down in Bickleton, near Barnstaple. I have their address including e mail. If you e mail the website I will give you the details. Barbara particularly asks for e mail addresses.

On Sunday 9th October St Calixtus Parish Church celebrated Harvest Festival. The Church was decorated with flowers, fruit & vegetables which last, together with gifts of food were taken to the Freedom Centre in Barnstaple.
Pride of place in the Church was given to the traditional harvest loaf which was made by Venners bakery in Ilfracombe. It was complete with a harvest mouse.

In the evening the village sat down to a Harvest Supper of ham salad & West Down's wonderful puddings.

After the meal we enjoyed some entertainment including "the Church Mouse" by John Betjemen", and the story of "Prinderella, her two sugly isters and her sticked wet mother" (with apologies to Cinderella). The evening finished with the Rev'd Iain's solo rendition of Delilah (with no apologies to Tom Jones).

A profit of £190 was made which will be donated to the Freedom Centre, an organisation responsible for the management of a range of projects dealing with the care, education, relief of poverty, suffering and hardship of vulnerable groups.

Car park signs have at last arrived. Let us hope that drivers will now use the car park. They have no excuse not to.

Public consultation on the Conservation Area Designation.There will be an exhibition/consultation at the Parish Hall between 3p.m. and 7 p.m. on Thursday, 13th October. The consultation period runs for six weeks fromThursday, 29th September. All parishioners in the core area (and any other interested parishioners) should be aware of this and attend the exhibition.
There is a proposal that the historic central core of the village be made a conservation area.
It covers from the school to Brook Cottage & Eaton Place to Gills Farm- as set out below.

A letter from Devon Wind Power is being sent to all residents around the area of the wind farm advising them that they are monitoring the potential for any incidence of interference with television reception. A telephone number is given for affected residents to contact to arrange an assessment of possible interference and any remediation steps required to ensure acceptable television reception.

We have had a response from thePrincipal Economic Development Officer for Devon County Council correcting misinformation published earlier

Devon County Council has responded to our enquiry regarding the roll-out of improved broadband connectivity to our community. They have confirmed, that contrary to the alledged withdrawl of grant funding to aid rural areas of Devon, that working in partnership with Somerset County Council, Devon hassecured in excess of £30 million of grant funding from central Government to roll-out enhanced broadband services. The Parish Council now understands that although the roll-out of this service will take up to 3 years to be delivered, the actual connectivity speeds will exceed those possibly achieved under a smaller pilot scheme. North Devon District Council are fully supportive of the Devon and Somerset Local Broadband Plan. This also has the endorsement of all the MPs for the area and the Local Enterprise Partnership, including many businesses and organisations from North Devon. In view of this significant investment of public money that is planned over the next 3-4 years, the Council has taken the prudent decision to not invest its resources independently in our area at this time as this would provide a sub-optimal solution and potentially render the area ineligible for further connectivity investment from the wider Broadband Delivery UK funded Programme.

The County Council is encouraging communities to get involved with the plans for the roll-out and more information will be posted on the following website www.connectingdevonandsomerset.co.ukas implementation plans evolve..

Karen Bridgford

(Don't hold you breath - expect to be last. Yesterday my upload speed was 130!!!)

Message
from Vicky Randle of Ilfracome Police Station

From 19 September this year, communities across North & West Devon be able to dial 101, a new national police non-emergency telephone number; our current non emergency number 08452 777444 will be phased out. People who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired will be able to text phone 18001 101.

The weather for the first two Parish Walks was
not ideal- it was August but the walkers are dressed for winter

A rest to admire the view of the village from
Easterground - see how long the grass has grown in our wet summer

Pete the collie didn't mind the weather

Our cricketing vicar- batting for the Mission Community Churches against Heanton village. The village won.

The Licensing of the Rev 'd Iain Robertson as Priest in Charge of West Down & its fellow parishes in the Villages Mission Community took place on the 20th July. Iain was lately Team Vicar in the Diocese of Birmingham but is a west country man, hailing from Shepton Mallet.This is a picture of Iain with The Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Exeter.

Usually we only have good news to impart, but sadly this peaceful village has been hit by a wave of crime & vandalism. A shed was broken into & a tractor damaged - it will cost £500 to repair. Plants were ripped out of tubs outside houses and in one case whole planters stolen.

If you can help in any way please contact Vicky our PCSO.

Did you know the West Down Junior Football team is called the West Down Turbines?

Faster Broadband?

Devon and Somerset Councils have been successful in their joint bid to secure £30million of Government funding towards the roll out of superfast broadband.
On http://www.connectingdevonandsomerset.co.uk there is a survey form. If enough of us complete it, they may just consider us. - One can always hope! Please tell your friends & neighbours about this page. I suggest you stress that you want to be able to fill in tax/gov forms on line & download TV etc. And if possible run a business. Currently with my speed it would take 6 days to download a film

Did you know the Mobile Library visited the village fortnightly? See timetable on local amenities page. If you don't use it, we will lose it.

Results of the District council election - First two elected

Malcolm Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat)	678
Pat Barker (Conservative)	597
Lesley Slade (Liberal Democrat)	557
Edward Short (Conservative)	416
Mike Harrison (Green Party)	274
Rosemary Brian (Green Party)	205

One down (or up) only another 21 to go. Viewed from West Down

Another "far away family" has signed the guest book

The 2010 International Boxing Day football match (West Down v East Down) was cancelled- Pipcott field doesn't have underground heating, so the matches were cancelled on safety grounds

Pipcott Field just before Christmas

On September 3rd, 2010 St Calixtus joined with Heanton & Marwood at St Michael & All Angels, Marwood, to celebrate the official formation of the Villages Mission Community. Bishop Bob, Bishop of Crediton, received from each church their Mission Action Plan and a report on the work of their churches. A joint choir raised the roof and the evening rounded off with the usual refreshments.

West Down bell ringers came first (out of eight) at a competition at Mariansleigh on 11^th September.

What better tribute to Mervyn.

West Down bell ringers entered the Devon Association of Ringers Three Tower competition on the 24th July. They came fifth (out of 12) overall. they were third at Atherington & fourth at Ashreigney

See separate web page for the results of the village hanging basket & container competitio

Pictures of the Village Day will appear in the village day pages of this website but the results of football & race are as follows.

Football
Winners - under 9s West Down Trophy - Ilfracombe
Runners up - under 9s Modelszink Shield - West Down School
Winners -under 11s West Down Trophy - Ilfracombe "B"
Runners up - under 11s Modelszink Shield - Berrynarbor School
Man of the Match - under 9s Dean McIntosh (Ilfracombe School)
- under 11s Mikey Comley (Ilfracombe School)

Race
First - Vickey Skelton
First man home - Nathan Broome
Over 50s winner - David Watts
Local winners Joe Clifford & Caroline Verney

West Down bell ringers came fourth in the Devon Association of Ringers Major Final on12th June 2010.The team consisted of Messrs M Nicholas, T Jeffery, N Wiliams, T Sellick, T Barrable & G Rogers.

Do look at the pictures of 2010 panto - Sleeping Beauty

Read about the Iron Room Rebuild in the Church pages of the website.

Did you know that West Down had been filmed for Google Earth. Can you recognise the two ladies caught on camera? I feel that they have overdone all the pictures of our lovely Devon lanes, pretty though the wild flowers are!

We got some more snow in 2010 - see pictures

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Christmas at St Calixtus -see pictures of Nativity walk and the Christmas tree.

See pictures of West Down on Christmas Day and the seasonal lights.

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West Down Churchyard

Do you have a relative buried in our churchyard?
Do you wish to be buried here?
Anyone resident in the Parish has a right to be buried here.
But with a regular income of only £600 a year the congregation is struggling to keep the churchyard tidy.
Thank you to all who turned out to help with the clear ups.

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Read the report on the memories afternoon.

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Pipcott tea rooms have closed until April 1st.

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The Coffee morning raised £165.Thanks to all who attended

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St Calixtus has new residents. Swallows have nested in the porch. We think there were 4 babies and they took to the air on 12th July.

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District Council legal costs of car park revealed in May minutes

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More pictures of the Village Day can be found under organisations and provisional date for next year is 19th June.

If you missed the flower festival you can catch up by looking at them in the church section of this website.

While we have been away

On Thursday 30th April 2009 Rt. Revd. Michael Langrish, Bishop of Exeter came to West Down. He lunched in the Crown Inn with representatives of the farming community and then visited Pipcott Tea Rooms.

The application for a wind farm at Fullabrook Down received planning permission.

The Women's Institute celebrated 60 years.

We had Snow !!!!!!

We got a new minister at St Calixtus - Revd. Sarah Wood

We lost our Post Office :-(

And gained a tea room