Club reports

BISHOPSTEIGNTON PROBUS CLUB

THE club heard Teignmouth Harbour Master, Commander David Vaughan OBE, talk about his role and the importance of Teignmouth Harbour. He was appointed by Teignmouth Harbour Commissioners after serving 35 years in the Royal Navy, where he had commanded four submarines.

The Harbour Commissioners are volunteers, responsible for appointing the Harbour Master and ensuring that ships and boats have access to the port and the water from Teignmouth to the Stover Canal. This includes: the need to regularly dredge the river bed; maintain the Den lighthouse; provide buoys; supply pilots for ships; manage 650 moorings for visiting and home-based boats.

Of these tasks, the most critical is the need to prevent the channel bed filling with sand. This needs regular dredging and recently included a £250,000 dredging exercise to deepen the channel which has secured the port’s future by making it more accessible to modern ships that need deeper water to carry larger cargoes. These larger cargoes are key to promoting the local economy and helping reduce the amount of heavy transport on the roads.

Commander Vaughan’s talk generated deep interest and a very large number of questions from club members and interesting answers, including a breakdown of what entered and left on ships from the port; the primary exports being clay for tiles and ceramics, together with granite and ores. Ships unloading in the port brought some 280 thousand tonnes annually, over half of which is animal feed, together with large quantities of building aggregate, slag, salt and feldspar.

BABBACOMBE & ST MARYCHURCH PROBUS CLUB

A RECENT weekly talk at the club, was given by club member Eric Walkom. Eric’s depth of knowledge on things naval is legendary, and this week’s talk about the Ark Royal was proof of this. There have been five Ark Royals launched since Tudor times, but Eric’s talk is concerned with the third one that served from 1938 to 1941.

Design work began in 1933 in the face of German re-armament. Following a shaky launch at Birkenhead in 1938 – there were four attempts to break the champagne bottle – the ‘Ark’ was sent on her first

Teignmouth Harbour Master David Vaughan, left, was thanked by Probus vice chairman Baz Carpenter deployment to the Mediterranean, first to Malta then Alexndria.

This ultra-modern ship had every possible refinement. She could cruise at 31 knots; had 20 cooks using electric ovens, and took with her a six months food supply! What she didn’t have, was Radar!

The Ark carried Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers, Fairey Fulmer fleet fighters and Blackburn Skuas fighter/dive bombers.

In 1939, the Ark Royal was on North Sea patrol hunting for the Graf Spee and then helping out with the ill-fated Norwegian campaign. 1941 saw the Ark in the north Atlantic helping to trap the Bismark and where her Swordfish aircraft managed to damage the Bismark’s steering.

Whilst in the North Sea hunting for the Bremen, the Ark was attacked by a German Uboat but suffered no damage. However, Dr Goebbels saw it as a propaganda opportunity and he put the word out that the Ark Royal had sunk! In fact, whenever news came in about Ark Royals exploits, he would wheel out a statement that it had been sunk.

The Ark Royal went on to serve in the Mediterranean until the fateful day, within sight of Gibraltar, she was torpedoed and despite valiant efforts to save her, she eventually sank.

The Ark Royal was eventu- ally found in 2002 submerged in 3000 feet of water. Eric Walkom, as usual, kept members enthralled with his talk, and the club looks forward to the next installment.

TEIGN FILM MAKERS’ CLUB

THE first new season meeting of the Teign Film Makers’ Club on Monday, September 3, attracted a large audience of club members and visitors.

Not only was it a social evening but the latest club project ‘Sarah’s World’ was to be premiered so members, actors, friends and family had all come to be entertained.

Following the catch up by members after the Summer break, chairman, Ivan Andrews opened the meeting and the serious business of film watching began.

The audience was warmed up with four films resulting from the outdoor filming session in May. Four very different versions of a short story were shown and each demonstrated the technical and artistic talents of the club members who made them.

The main feature (literally) of the evening, club project, ‘Sarah’s World’ was then shown and the tale of young Sarah and her friend Jack, volunteers in an old folks home, was well received by all. This description of the film may seem a little bland but to elu- cidate further would spoil it for those who have yet to see it.

As club chairman Ivan emphasised, this project involved more club members than ever before and he thanked everyone for their participation, enthusiasm and dedication.

In particular the main actors who, although not members, had given their time and talents to help make the project a success.

Special mention went to club member Caron Parke, who came up with the original storyline and directed the film.

Coming meetings include the subject of sound in films and, a new feature of the programme, making a film from scratch during two meetings.

Visitors are welcome to TFMC meetings so, if you have, or think you might have an interest in any aspect of video making (even if it is just watching), why not go along for a free taster to meet the members and see what you think with no obligation.

If you want more information about the programme, events and updates visit www.teignfilmmakersclub.org or visit the Facebook page.

KINGSKERSWELL WI

The speaker at the September meeting was Dawn Ireland, who is a Medical Herbalist.

She took the group on ‘an armchair herb walk’, and explained the properties of common , easily accessible hedgerow plants, such as rose hips which are rich in vitamin C, and have anti-inflammatory properties. A teaspoon of syrup a day helps to maintain healthy joints and is useful in treatment of osteo and rheumatoid arthritis.

Yarrow -is known as the ‘toothache plant’ - chewing on a root helps alleviate the pain. Also the tannin in the feathery leaves speeds up healing of wounds, and taken internally it relaxes blood vessels and helps conditions like chilblains and Reynolds Disease.

Plantain leaves are better at relieving the pain of stinging nettles than the traditional dock leaves.

The blue/ black pigment in elderberries has anti-viral properties, so flu symptoms may be halved, and secondary infections lessened. The flowers also have a similar effect. Both can be made into a syrup for that use.

All parts of the fennel plant can be used – it is good for the digestion, and baby’s “Gripe Water” often contains fennel.

Bay leaves also aid digestion when used as a culinary herb and if taken as a tea two or three times a week helps the circulation and lowers cholesterol.

Plants such as St John’s Wort – sometimes used to treat depression, should be left to the Herbalist to prepare and administer, because of the danger of adverse reactions to any prescribed drugs. It is best to get advice and guidance for any preparation you are not sure of.

This was an intriguing and interesting talk which all memebers enjoyed.

The vote of thanks was given by Josie Charlton.

The competition - ‘a favourite garden tool’, was won by Josie Charlton for her ancient ‘dibber’ and ‘a garden flower’ by Pat Burgess for her magnificent orange dahlia.

At their October 2 meeting at 2.30pm the group will hear about the work of the Animals in Distress centre. The venue is The Community Centre, Dobbin Arch.

Eric Walkom gave a talk to Babbacombe and St Marychurch Probus club