Club reports

MILBER & KERSWELL BEER & WINE MAKING CIRCLE

THE circle enjoyed an interesting and entertaining evening at their November meeting. Following a highly successful ‘men’s night’ held earlier in the year, this time it was the ladies turn. Several lady members of the circle entertained with stories, jokes and anecdotes of past and present experiences, the tales ranged from a fascinating insight into a tour of Vietnam, a talk about making miniatures for dolls houses, a recent trip on the Flying Scotsman to experiences with hypnotherapy.

The Chairman, Roger Kohl then spoke about the South Western Counties Federation’s recent annual wine and beer festival held at the Langstone Cliff Hotel, Dawlish Warren, where he won the Loftus Trophy for his white kit wine, three second prizes one for his rose wine, one for citrus white wine and one for three bottles of beer.

The competition for the evening was a dry red wine, which was won by Roger Kohl with Yvonne Burton coming second.

Meetings are held on the second Thursday of the month starting at 8pm at Kingskerswell Community Centre, the next meeting is on Thursday, December 13, which will be celebrating Christmas.

For more information contact the chairman on 01626 863106 or the secretary on 01626 775740

DAWLISH & TEIGNMOUTH CAMERA CLUB

THE club welcomed Newton Abbot Photographic Club. The two photographic societies are rivals in local competitions, but off the ‘battlefield’ they enjoy the images, which they each produce. Newton Abbot recently sent seven of its finest photographers to entertain and inspire members of the Dawlish and Teignmouth Camera Club. The hall was packed and everyone enjoyed a varied and stimulating evening.

The programme included Colin Winstanley who specialises in portrait and glamour photography; images of storms from ex-Met Office expert, David Moore; and behind the scenes technical wildlife pictures from scientist Kirsty Peake. Chris Marsham showed a selection of mostly landscape and travel prints, which were unusual because they had been printed on specialist ‘letterbox’ style paper. There were three AVs (slideshows with sound) on Dartmoor (Peter Brookes), Denbury a story without words (Christina Burton) and Newton Abbot Locations Group (Sheridan Jones).

Discussions between members of the two clubs lasted well after the end of the meeting and spilled over into The Castle Inn just to prove that rivals can be friends. Dawlish and Teignmouth Club will visit Newton Abbot in 2019.

Dawlish and Teignmouth Camera Club meets on Wednesday evenings at Holcombe Village Hall and new members are always welcome www.dawlishteignmouthcameraclub.co.uk

KINGSKERSWELL WI

OUR speaker on November 6 was John Risden, who told us about ‘Royal Dartmouth ’.

The Dart Estuary, 11 miles from Totnes, has a hidden entrance, steep hills either side and a natural harbour 80 feet deep. The town of Dartmouth developed on reclaimed land below the earlier settlement of Townstal with it’s12th century St Clements church, to cater for the needs of ships, & grew into a very strategic port, trading with Europe. It was protected by Kingswear Castle.

The ‘Black Prince ‘ Edward 111 gave Dartmouth Royal Status in 1333.

St Saviour’s Church was built in 1372 to save climbing the hill to St Clements.

Henry V11 added further protection for the town with ‘ Hawleys Fortilus’ – basically a chain across the River to Kingswear which could be winched up to stop ships entering the Estuary. Later Dartmouth Castle was built next to St Petrox Church, and opposite Kingswear Castle. It was the first defence ever built with new cannons – named Murderers! Henry V111 built Bayards Cove Battery.

In Tudor times trade with The Americas developed, including the very important Newfoundland Cod Fishing Industry.

Dartmouth became a wealthy town. The Butterwalk was built with it’s now Sloping Deck restaurant with timber ceiling and Tudor ornate mantle depicting ‘The Pentecost.

In 1592, Sir Walter Raleigh captured a Spanish Treasure Ship, and sailed it into Dartmouth. It contained an incredible 537 tons of spices and 8500 hundredweight of pepper, both worth their weight in gold – valued at £500,000 – £20 billion in today’s money!

In 1646 Cromwell’s army came to attack Dartmouth but

Devon Air Ambulance paramedic Grant Thompson and Dr Alex Cross Grant receive the grant from Freemasons Clive Eden, Ian Kingsbury, Reuben Ayres laid down their arms.

Bit by bit a new layer was added to the town. The Mill Pool was filled in the 1800s and the pannier market built.

In Lord Nelson’s day, the fleet was at sea a long time, consequently many men got married at the same time. William Turner painted a scene in 1811 when 106 sailors were married at St Petrox Church and the wedding breakfast was held on The Green – it hangs in the Tait Gallery.

The New Quay was built in 1836, and ships sailed from there to New York and the British Empire.

The railways arrived in the 1860s.

Nowadays, with it’s interesting history and scenic position Dartmouth is a haven for visitors.

The vote of thanks was given by Elizabeth Stentiford.

The ACWW lunch was held at Langstone Cliffe Hotel on November 15, the WI carol service will be at Exeter Cathedral and to the group’s Christmas meeting on December 11.

Visitors are welcome to join at the Community Centre, Dobbin Arch at 2.30pm.

TORBAY WINEMAKERS

CHAIRMAN Pat Kingdon, opened the November meeting of Torbay Winemakers; it was the 57th AGM with all but two members present. She thanked everyone for their efforts then stood down whilst Roger Kingdon took over the proceedings. The new committee was re-elected unopposed.

Apologies and birthdays were read out and Dave, a long standing member, was welcomed back after serious illness.

Members were then told how successful they had been at the South Western Wine and Beer Festival held at Dawlish recently, with trophies being handed to the winners. John Gilbert won the most points for wine including a cup for Kit Liqueur; Joyce Rivers won the most points for beer including a trophy for Barley Wine; Wag Rivers received a tankard for his India Pale Ale and Les Williams received a diploma for his Light Lager.

The club also won first prize, a bottle of champagne, for the best dressed table of the evening depicting the Hallowe’en theme.

There were three wine competitions this month which were judged by Kevin Murray, a national judge. The results were: chairman’s cup Stage 4: Kit Wine Red Dry: 1st: John Thomas, 2nd: Jean Walker, 3rd: Joyce Rivers.

Winemaker of the Year: Stage 4: Social White : 1st: Jean Walker, 2nd: John Thomas, 3rd: John Gilbert.

Social Red: 1st: John Gilbert, 2nd: Chris Gilbert, 3rd: Jean Walker.

Supper and a quiz finished the evening with the winner being Roger Kingdon.

The Christmas Dinner was due to be held at the Paignton Club on November 24 and the grand Christmas Draw will be held at the December meeting. Anyone wishing to join is most welcome, please contact Pat on 01803 550612.

DEVON FREEMASONS

A GRANT to Devon Air Ambulance from Devonshire Freemasons brings total donations to £2.3 million.

Recently a grant of £4,000 was donated by Ian Kingsbury JP. The Provincial Grand Master of Devonshire, who on the day was accompanied by Dr Reuben Ayres their Provincial Grand Charity Steward to the Devon Air Ambulance on behalf of all Devonshire Freemasons. This has brought the total Masonic support given to air ambulances across the country to £2.3 million since 2007.

The total contribution to Devonshire Air Ambulance since 2007 by Freemasons is £55,000 and when adding the donations made by individual Devon Lodges the total is over £116,000.

The air ambulance operates right across Devonshire and in 2017 assisted 990 patients, more than any other year. 50% of these incidents were medical emergencies (eg heart attacks) with 49% being trauma related (for example road traffic collisions, and accidental injuries). 12% of all jobs attended were to children.

The grant, which comes through the Masonic Charitable Foundation, is funded by Freemasons and their families from across England and Wales.

During 2018, Freemasons from around the country will be presenting 20 regional air ambulances with grants totalling £192,000.

Caroline Creer, Fundraising and Communications Director for Devon Air Ambulance said: “We would like to thank the Devonshire Freemasons for their continued support and generosity. Support like theirs really does mean a lot and helps to keep Devon’s two air ambulances flying.”

Ian Kingsbury JP. Provincial Grand Master of Devonshire said, “We are proud to be able to support the Devon Air Ambulance. Thanks to their team’s tireless efforts, many lives are saved every year.”