Musbury Diary Summer 2020 Watch the village web site http://musburyvillage.co.uk Church website http://holyford.org MUSBURY PARISH And village notice boards for a resumption of normal service NEWS

The Parish News is normally distributed free of charge to all households in the parish of Musbury , but due to coronavirus this edition is only available by collection from Ann Veit’s garage. It is also available online at the Village web site http://musburyvillage.co.uk

If you know of any parishioner who may not be able to get out but would like a copy please feel free to deliver one but remember to “stay safe”

A Covid 19 Reminder

Musbury Spar is offering a delivery service to Musbury residents for orders over £10. Phone 552292 for details.

The village already has a good network of neighbours , but if you feel anyone has slipped through the net , or are in need of anything yourself this is a reminder of a phone no you can call Emma at The Hind 553553 Summer 2020 Holyford Mission Community www.holyford.org Virtual coffee mornings will soon be taking place on Zoom. There seem to be online singing groups, Pilates classes, quizzes and I am sure many Rector Fr Steven Martin [email protected] 553180 other things. Church Office Administrator Emma Laughton [email protected] 552307 Revd Preb John Lees (Associate Minister) 551351 As I write this it seems that there are signs of some restrictions being Linda Joy (Children and Families Worker) 07599292449 lifted and it is possible that the pub may be able to serve refreshment in Jan Lees (Reader) 551351 the garden soon . One of the blessings of the past few months is the Emma Laughton (Reader) 551400 wonderful weather and I am sure every garden and allotment in Musbury Revd Victoria Chester 07489882824 has benefitted from extra attention . Charles Hill (Reader) 552141 Revd Canon Colin Preece (Retired Assistant clergy) 552154 Judging by the shortage of flour, yeast, Airfix kits, jigsaws, and seeds Revd Nigel Freathy (Retired clergy) 22303 everybody is learning new skills and taking up new hobbies. Revd Jeremy White (Retired clergy) 32299 St Michael’s Church, Musbury Special thanks are due to many people but several people have Church wardens especially asked me to thank Julian and the team. Mrs Sue Irving, Cherry Tree House, Church Hill 552440 Mr Michael Pritchard, Knap Orchard, Combpyne Rd 552297 So “A BIG THANK YOU” to the Spar for going the extra mile with their amazing service to the village , above & beyond in provisions and Treasurer helpfulness. The first place to have flour, Paracetomol and loo rolls Mr Robin Collis, Monmouth House 551105 readily available. Well done! As mentioned before thank you to Annie and Graham for medication deliveries and thank you Emma for coordinating the Covid volunteers.

Thank you to all the sewers and stitchers for doing what you do and last MUSBURY PARISH NEWS but not least Thank you Ann for providing a library and game, jigsaw hub, Village Website: www.musburyvillage.co.uk and for letting the News use your garage as a distribution point.

This magazine is published quarterly by the Parochial Church Council of St. Thank you to anybody I have not mentioned for doing your bit. Michael’s, and is distributed free of charge to all households in the Parish. The cost is borne by the PCC but is largely offset by advertising revenue and by a Stay alert, mind how you go! grant from the Parish Council. The Treasurer will always welcome donations by readers. Jolly The services provided by our advertisers are commended: when using them please mention the Musbury Parish News. Editor Jolly Sargent, Ruffles, Doatshayne Lane 552470 [email protected]

Distribution: Mr David Antell 553454 Contributors please note Advertising: Rod Powell 552681 Deadline for next Issue 14th August

And Finally From The Vicarage Steven Writes

“My boy lollipop One of the phrases we hear a lot now is ‘the new normal’. Are we supposed You make my heart go giddy up to feel secure or unsettled by it? Do you particularly desire a ‘new normal’ or You are as sweet as candy would you prefer the ‘old normal’ back? You're my sugar dandy Ho, ho, my boy lollipop Part of me hankers after the ‘old normal’. My old normal was a diary full of Never ever leave me meetings. These are fewer now, which is no bad thing, but via Zoom. While Because it would grieve me this is useful, I find having to look at myself on a screen depressing… My heart told me so” observing each meeting how much weight I have been putting on since Millie Small 1947-2020 lockdown. Zoom is quite tiring to use, not least when the internet connection fails at a vital point and one is left wondering if everyone else heard what “Greed has taken the whole universe, and nobody is worried about their soul.” was just said (I get round this by copying the facial expressions of others, Little Richard 1932-2020 either nodding and smiling or frowning and shaking my own increasingly flabby face convincingly, hoping nobody twigs I haven’t a clue what is going “There are two things no man will admit he cannot do well: drive and make on). It is much easier to communicate in a room with other human beings I love.” think. Stirling Moss. 1929-2020 The ‘new normal’ may mean more time alone, or more time with close family; When I set out to get the summer edition of the News together, I thought it perhaps more time to get the garden in order and various jobs done. For us might well be a rather thin edition, but I have been proved completely wrong. as a society, the ‘new normal’ may involve a future where we find ourselves Thank you to all contributors, who have certainly made a great effort and thank confined or restricted to varying degrees and various intervals. As you to all the people who have encouraged me to go ahead with publication individuals, our normality may have been shaken by loneliness or the death when I first muted the idea. The idea was to provide some form of normality of a loved one. Adapting to a new normality may be easy for some, but and perhaps a record of life in the period of lockdown. I was told “The News is painful for others. Living through any change can, however, bring about like a clock, one depends on it coming out to relate to what part of the year it opportunities for growth: in wisdom, understanding and humility. is” The early Christians—those who witnessed Christ’s ministry or the ministry of the first Apostles—had to get used to a ‘new normal’. They rose to the I feel lucky to live in Musbury, not only a beautiful part of Devon, but a vibrant challenge, living the Gospel message—that God loves and forgives us, that supportive community that has pulled together in time of crisis. We seem to whether life is normal or abnormal, exciting or frustrating, we can find joy and have been far removed from the worst of the virus, the panic buying and in the stability in the knowledge of this love. This is essentially what must be at the early days before lockdown it seemed we had stepped back in to a time warp. core of living the Christian life for all of us. As soon as lockdown started a group of volunteers got together offering, help with shopping, medication and support to vulnerable people. The Spar shop Living the ‘old normal’ or the ‘new normal’ each presents its own set of started offering food deliveries. Graham and Annie started delivering challenges. Perhaps the key is to seek and pray for stability, something that medications. There are many other people who have been supporting the enables us to fruitfully engage with ‘the changes and chances of this fleeting community as well. Thank you to all of them. world’ (not my words, but from a prayer during the service of Compline). Benedictine monks and nuns take a vow of stability, which means they I am sure people have become more adapt at technology, where would we be promise to live in the same place and community. This is important: the other without Zoom? A reminder that church services are available on Zoom full monks or nuns may drive you mad. You may get bored or frustrated by living details at www.holyford.org alongside others, or by living alone within the same four walls, yet it is important to seek stability. This involves forgiving others (as the Lord’s Prayer reminds us) and forgiving ourselves because God knows and forgives us and wants us to live our lives as fully as possible.

48 Musbury Parish News Summer. 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 1 Stability also entails establishing a rhythm of life, not a series of routines, but a deeper pattern of being which enables us to focus on what is truly important: Some Anagrams knowing God’s love and living in the light of that love so that we can simply share it with others. This can be achieved through prayer and contemplation, giving standalone yeah, —————- a Musbury thoroughfare thanks for the times when we have been given something we didn’t earn or deserve which has caused us to see goodness at work, or, if we are grieving (for carnivorous —————— The current main topic on the news a person, or for a situation past or present) knowing that God will share the burden and weight of that with us as we offer it to him. lodgers thatch. ——————- Popular cider drink I believe Our churches stand as beacons which remind us of God’s stability: his steadfast goodness and mercy towards us. I hope that soon our beautiful Parish Church cable plumper ——————- pudding course will be open again, at least so that people can come in to pray quietly by themselves. Generations have passed through the doors of St Michael’s to offer Elston holstering ——————- A beat combo, from the sixties their prayers and seek stability in a world which is constantly changing. Although the doors of the church are shut at present, the rhythm of worship has booker mortality. ______a goodie recently deceased continued through our online services and services via telephone (see our website for details: Holyford.org or our Facebook page: @Holyfordmission). The goose whether ______. The night watchman cry services will return to church as soon as we are allowed to have them there. Getting back to some sort of normality in church, or at work or at home, as the anchovy diked. ——————— living English artist restrictions change, will require a good measure of energy, patience and ingenuity. Above all it will demand stability, which begins with us as individuals. A goblet pathogenesis. —————- Italian dish commitment to our place and the people around us, and a commitment to putting the loving purposes of God at the forefront of our lives. This begins by knowing parchment secretaries —————- one of the greatest welsh groups that God gives us the power to forgive others because we know ourselves to be forgiven and loved by him. I leave you with a prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr. Ikhnaton syphon. ——————- a regular at the hind?

With every good wish and blessing, below mind. ———————— a tennis event cancelled this year.

Fr Steven. stalest unforgivably —————— a music event cancelled this year. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Menuhin scattered ——————- a half decent football team courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Dorrie Joanie ——————— a Brazilian seaside resort

Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; mud Portland ———————- the so called leader of the free world accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as He did, this sinful world featherbed gravestone. ————— Sunday lunch as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right Avon steed —————- our local area if I surrender to His Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life earthed footed monkish. ————- a prog rock classic and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. lands mattocks ————- a local land mark Amen.

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

2 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 47 Letter from Trill Farm Wordsearch Word Search! Can you find 12 DevonName: towns? Date: I’m writing this as the sun rises and the dawn chorus allows me to hear the cuckoo here for the first time since I arrived, twelve years ago. Find and circle each of the words from the list below. Words may appear forwards or backwards, horizontally, vertically or diagonally in the grid. With the pandemic taking hold in the world population, we are experiencing a cleaner and quieter, friendly place to be. As I open my front door and see my benches and chairs arranged in a half circle welcoming the view of the P O I I V Y B R I D G E J M woodlands and ponds in the half light of the morning, I feel proud and part of this landscape, this valley leading towards the sea. I am proud that the M S U E P N G A O N N T O S diversity and wildlife is returning during my time here, proud that this valley is showing its natural beauty. B I A X M I N S T E R R O K I realise I am hugely privileged to be here surrounded by wildlife and able to I D E S G C R E D I T O N E feel the rising energy of Spring burst through and transform the landscape, turning the trees green, enabling flowers to open and warming the insects D M M Z V J M L S U A N E X waking out of winter.

E O E R C Y C C E F H O A M It is easier to be true to yourself when you’re not rushing around and you can see yourself as you are - part of nature and part of its process. The F U A F N O C F N P E T M O Farm is closed to visitors and courses this Spring and with Jane, Tamsin and Mariel working from home, my daughter Lara and her family have O T A S H B U R T O N I R U moved into the guest house and are doing the lambing and online sales. It has been a special time together. R H S W U B R C O U U N Q T Spring is a time for birth of the new and to nurture. I really hope there is a D O F K C O L Y T O N O X H possibility for the world to do things differently. With the small businesses here, adapting how they operate, we are showing our resilience in change. U K C O T S I V A T E H E M We have always focused on demonstrating the importance of supporting and working with nature, the environment, valuing community and ensuring V V E R R L B A O A O L X A business is responsible. Would it be too optimistic to believe this was something that could become a global approach to trading, food production E H G I E L K N I W X E Y R and working with each other? I hope that people and politicians will now appreciate that the real issues of climate change, waste and diminishing resources need to prioritised.

Exmouth Totnes Tavistock Crediton Ivybridge Romy Fraser Ashburton Winkleigh Sidmouth Axminster Bideford Colyton Honiton

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46 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 3 Nature Watch Problem ======Summer migrants have been slow in arriving. Chiffchaffs arrived and started singing their name in mid-March. Blackcaps followed soon afterwards. You have a new job working for the local division of an understaffed virus However, the Swallows and Sand Martins that one expects in early April prevention agency. There has been an outbreak of Covid-19 and the were late and few; I didn’t see my first Sand Martin until 2 April (I would previous employee had to go into self isolation after developing symptoms. normally expect them in late March) and my first Swallow didn’t come until She left you with the following information about Covid-19: 19 April; they are still few and far between. The weather in April was poor over Spain and this may have held them up. Plenty of people have reported - On any given day the number of people infected on the next day will be Swifts to the Devon Birds website but I have yet to see one; they no longer equal to a constant R times the number of people infected on that day nest in the village. Cuckoos have been reported from the Dartmoor fringes times the proportion of uninfected people out of the total population. but I have not heard one; they are, at best, rare here and just pass through on their way to Dartmoor or points north. - As of today, your first day of work, there are currently 1000 infected people and the total population is 1,000,000. The annual passage of Red Kites through the county has started and birds are being reported every day on the Devon Birds website. Look out for them - Due to the hard work of the staff at the vaccines and miracle cures during silage cutting operations as they hang around waiting for flushed or department a cure for Covid-19 will be available after 30 days. However, shredded mice. Blackbirds are feeding young in the garden, and I am sure due to a lack of funding they will only be able to produce 15000 doses of that Blue Tits and Great Tits are both feeding young in the nestboxes. They the cure. will have a hard time finding enough insect food if the cold weather persists for long. Currently, R is estimated to be around 1.2, will all the infected people be able to get the cure after 30 days? The British Trust for Ornithology is celebrating 25 years of Garden Birdwatch. This scheme is unique in being supported by its members – you Your boss has asked you to figure out how small R needs to be so that all of actually pay a subscription to take part. However, for a limited period you the infected people can get the cure when it is ready after 30 days. What is can join without paying (www.bto.org/gbw). You keep a record of the birds your best estimate? you see in your garden each week – the species and the maximum number – and submit the results on-line to the BTO at the end of each week. I am not among the elite who have sent in over 1,000 weekly records (there are 1,185 of these), but I’m approaching 900! Two hundred and fifty gardens have sent in records for the whole 25 years, and there have been big Quiz for the young at heart changes during this time. The biggest gainer has been the Goldfinch which has moved from 20th to 8th in order of abundance, closely followed by the Woodpigeon, which has moved from 12th to 2nd. Other species that have 1. How many zeros are there in the number one thousand? increased, but to a lesser extent, are Nuthatch, Long-tailed Tit, Jackdaw, 2. Who is Anna’s sister in the Disney film Frozen? Coal Tit and Magpie. The biggest losers are Song Thrush, Greenfinch, 3. What is a young sheep called? Wren, House Sparrow and Starling, with Blackbird, Collared Dove, Chaffinch 4. How many weeks are in a year? and Great Spotted Woodpecker also declining, albeit slightly. These results 5. In what country is the Great Barrier Reef? help in the annual assessment of which species are declining or increasing 6. What does water turn into when it is frozen solid? nationally, and they are particularly important now, during lock-down, as 7. What is half of the number fifty? other surveys have been suspended. 8. Name as many planets in our solar system as you can (a point for each) 9. What is the biggest ocean on Earth?

4 Musbury Parish News Summer. 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 45 Musbury Village Hall Every few years a group of organisations publishes 100 club estimates of the numbers of birds in the UK. The latest The results for the last 3 months of 100 Club draws, as follows:- paper was published early in 2020. It deals only with March - £60 draw breeding birds and the 1st No. 30 Sue Leach £30.00 estimate is 85 million pairs 2nd No. 87 Peter Casey £20.00 in total. The commonest 3rd No. 66 Andrew Moulding £10.00. species is the Wren, with 11 million pairs, followed by April - £30 draw the Robin, with 7.35 million. 1st No. 16 Ian Doulton £15.00 Red Kite There are a further 19 2nd No. 73 Annie Stark £10.00 species with over a million 3rd No. 35 Mike Lock £5.00 pairs: House Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Blackbird, May - £30 draw Chaffinch, Blue Tit, 1st No. 50 Caroline Griffin - £15.00 Dunnock, Meadow Pipit, 2nd No. 101 Martin Platts - £10.00 Great Tit, Pheasant, Willow 3rd No. 33 Rod Powell - £5.00 Warbler, Chiffchaff, Starling, Blackcap, Goldfinch. We are relaunching the 100 club in November 2020, or once the current Jackdaw, Skylark, Song situation allows us to. Thrush, Whitethroat, and The Village Hall committee are still looking for a secretary, as no one has Carrion Crow. The overall stepped forward, following the appeal in the last edition of the News. total has changed little since the last estimates As stated before the Committee will have no choice but to close the were published in 2013, but Village Hall if no one can be found. If you are interested in filling this there are winners and role please call Debbie on 01297 35898 losers. The latter include Turtle Dove, Chaffinch, and Greenfinch; among the gainers are Chiffchaff, From the archive Summer 1990 Bush vetch Blackcap and Red Kite, the Go ahead spring clean last up from 1,600 pairs in On Thursday the members of the go-ahead club got together to have a 2012 to 4,400 in 2019. spring clean around the village. Some of the things involved washing all the tables and chairs down the hall, painting the goal posts up the playing Our lanes seem particularly fields, painting the benches at Northfields and lots more. bright with flowers this year; appropriately red (Red Campion), white (Queen All the money we collected went to the Church Urban Fund. To collect the Anne’s Lace, Stitchwort) and blue (Bluebells). Now these colours have been money we split up into groups and went around different parts of the joined by the yellow of buttercups and Yellow Archangel, and the purple of Bush village collecting sponsors. When we had finished all the jobs we had a Vetch and Common Vetch. Blackthorn had a rather short flowering season this barbecue up at Mrs P Langdon’s house . When we added up the money year as the warm weather moved flowering on quickly. As I write Hawthorn is in the total amount was £128.30p full flower, covering some bushes with its creamy white flowers giving promise Stacey Goodwin 11 years old of a good autumn berry crop.

44 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 5 Seaton Wetlands Musbury Garden Club Until very recently, I have not been able to visit Seaton Wetlands but I With the last Garden Club talks on Season 10’s Garden Club programme receive regular updates from the Wardens. The site is open but all the hides cancelled, it is ironic that many of us are spending more time in our gardens are closed until further notice. The winter birds like Lapwings and Teal have and allotments than ever. Seed and plant swapping have been the order of the all left. There are plenty of Shelduck on Black Hole Marsh but I have not day, particularly valuable with no access to Garden Centres. seen many further up the valley since things dried up; earlier they were regularly visiting flooded fields. Watch out for mother Shelducks Planning had already begun for the next programme of talks, so, all being well, shepherding broods of grey-and-white ducklings along the road as they try there is much to look forward to. We should have ‘Gardening without plastics’, to get to the river and thence to the estuary. a jaunt round Britain in Bloom and a practical demonstration of seasonal A few waders have been reported on their northward passage, including a pair of Avocets and, recently, a female Ruff (or Reeve). Others have flower decorations – just to give you a flavour of what is to come for Season included Grey Plover, Common Sandpiper and Greenshank. There have 11. been several sightings of Ospreys on their way north, but none stayed long, We were sad to learn that Neil Lovesey, a favourite speaker died recently, as is usual in spring. The quiet conditions on the Marsh and in the hides have encouraged having been ill for a long time. Many of you will have enjoyed his very practical nesting birds and one hide has a pair of Swallows and a Woodpigeon talks and may have visited Picket Lane Nusery at South Perrott which he nesting in it! However, the Sand Martin bank (which featured on Farming owned. Today last week) has yet to attract any birds although a tape of their calls is being played daily. The same ploy will be tried to attract Swifts to the boxes Here’s hoping for a summer of bumper crops, beautiful spaces to sit in and not on a tower that have been put up for them. Kestrels have returned to two of too much watering the nestboxes after a year’s absence. Karen, Val and Sue Mike Lock

Moles

Musbury Village Show The children at Musbury Moles have been enjoying the spring sunshine, painting and rebuilding the wildlife garden. Unfortunately the Covid 19 virus made us close our doors on Friday 20th March. We have been working behind We were very sad not to be able to hold the Musbury Plant & Craft Sale in the scenes to ensure we can open on the 3rd June. We shall be welcoming May and we delayed cancelling the 2020 Musbury Village Show and the the Moles back for the last part of the summer term. Garden Charm Competition for as long as there was hope of staging both This will be a little different from the normal fun activities that go with the end events or of finding some sort of alternative. Sadly nothing seemed feasible, of the year. However we are more than determined to make our Moles have a which is so frustrating when the gardens, veg. plots and allotments seem to great and safe time in the last few weeks of the term. We have 3 children be benefiting from their owners' lockdown and the beautiful spring weather. venturing up to the primary school and we shall be making their transition as We are now looking forward to 2021 when we intend to organise the smooth as possible in these times. The staff have been upskilling whilst they have not been in Moles. Cat will carry on her level 3 Forest School Leader Musbury Village Show and both the Garden Charm and Veg. Plot and course and when completed we shall have two trained Forest School Leaders Allotments Competitions to make up for 2020. in Moles. We are hoping that you are all keeping records of your gardens and your We are lucky to have space inside and out. Being an outdoor preschool our outstanding produce so they can be called upon to enter photographic children are used to outdoor learning and the benefits it has on their learning. classes in the 2021 Show. This is great for the return of our children as outdoor learning has many benefits and is advised by the government for children’s return into education. Lesley McGowan Lock

6 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 43 19h 19a

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42 Musbury Parish News Summer. 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 7 Stockers Maidenhayne Lane Musbury Axminster Devon EX13 8AG

27 January 2019

Dear Don,

Thanks for coming around on Friday.

We publish quarterly and distribute free to 300 or so households in Musbury. Our actual readership is rather higher than this as we know our magazine is passed around friends & family in the outlying area. In addition, and although we are primarily a community magazine, through the church it also reaches our sister parishes of Coyton, Colyford, Southleigh & Branscombe. We carry a quarterly diary on the back page of each issue, and we know our readers generally don’t throw out before the next one arrives…thus ensuring all our advertisers have a constant presence amongst our readership. This year we also expect to make the magazine available online. Our magazine is in A5 format and is laser-printed in black & white and published quarterly. We discussed the proposal for a quarter-page advert (approx 50mm wide x 70mm high ‘portrait’) in each of these four issues this year at a total cost of £50

19b 19g

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8 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer. 2020 Musbury Parish News 41 Henry Hoare Weather Watch The following is an edited letter received from Andrew Whittington about the connection of his father John who has died aged 93 and his What a time of contrasts! February was very wet indeed, with 205 mm (8”.) connection with the village. of rain, well over twice the 15-year average of 73 mm (3”). March started th Both he and my mother, Sheila, were very fond of the village of Musbury off much the same, with 79 mm (3”) of rain up to the 19 – and then it and the church of St Michael. My mother's father was Henry James Hoare stopped, so that the month’s total was very close to average. The rest of who was born and grew up in Musbury. He joined the Devonshire the month was bright and sunny, albeit with a cool and often strong east or Regiment in the First World War and served on the Western Front north-east wind, which dried things up pretty quickly. April continued in the where he was severely wounded at the Battle of the Somme in October same vein, with daytime sunshine and, early in the month, night frosts, but th 1916. After treatment for his injuries he was sent to Totteridge, then in these ceased after a drop of rain on 6 and it became pleasantly warm. Hertfordshire but now a London suburb, for his recovery. It was while After almost a month without significant rain, a depression moved up from th th he was there he met my Grandmother, Alice Andrews. After their the south to bring rain on 16 and 17 – just in time for those who had marriage they lived in the North London area, initially at nearby planted their maize a few days before. Further warm and sunny days Whetstone. From just before the Second World War, however , they lived followed but rain on the last days of the month brought the total to 48 mm in Mill Hill, in a house they named "Musbury". (2”), a little below the average of 62 mm. May started sunny and, at times, very warm. However, as I write on 10th, the wind has changed to a strong My mother, the middle of three daughters, was born in 1927. As a child north-easterly and the temperature is dropping fast. Keep those tender she visited Musbury many times, and amongst the endless stories she plants under cover! The (very cautious) long term forecast is for a July with spoke of eating copious amounts of clotted cream whenever she temperatures a little above average. And, if you believe in old weather lore, stayed with the relatives who were still in Musbury. the Oak was very definitely before the Ash this spring, so ‘We shall only get My mother married my father in 1948 and they kept in touch closely a splash’. Let’s wait and see! with her relatives there. I can remember in the early 1960s coming to the area several times and being on Charmouth beach while my Mike Lock Mum went to her folks in Musbury. In latter days my parents would go to Musbury most years and stay on a nearby farm. I believe it was during this time that they became attached to the church, being church people themselves and seeing it as the focal point of the village. It really was a return to my Mum's roots that was adopted wholeheartedly by my Dad too. He truly loved the countryside and saw the Musbury area as the loveliest of all. Once my parents were in their 70s driving to Devon became much more difficult and they kept in touch by the kind inclusion of them in the circulation of the parish magazine. My mother died in December 2018 at the age of 91. Parish Records There is still at least one of my relatives in the area, Penny Emerson was my Mum's cousin so it's lovely to know that we are still _represented _there. _ Burial

I hope everyone is keeping safe in these difficult tinies. 07.04.20 Terrence John Knight Yours Sincerely

Andrew Whittington

40 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 9 Houses that no longer exist On the subject of old house names, have you heard of these? Mounthill & Mount Pleasant Coages (1841-1871) – Further up Mounthill Lane, past Woodhayes, on the right as it begins to level out.

As you are probably all aware the hospital is virtually closed at the moment Hob Knapp (1841-1901) – On the right as you go up Pudleylake Road, just and all clinics have been closed. Essential clinics are being held centrally in past the footpath before you get to the tree plantaons. Exeter and clinicians are prioritising appointments as much as possible in the current climate. Everyone is doing their very best in this unique and Wood House Court (1840-1841) – Connue up the East Devon Way from extremely difficult time. the church and, when the concrete track bends le at the top, go straight When I was informed that I was in shielding isolation for 12 weeks I was on for about 100 metres. devastated. What was I going to do? Now in my 8th week I am having trouble fitting everything in. Do you know of other houses and buildings in Musbury that have I started with the felt animals in the window to amuse children of all ages up disappeared? I would love to hear about them. to 90 +. Then I was running out of reading matter and thought many others were probably in the same boat so the old bookcase on the carport came in ********************* to use. It has grown and grown, people taking books, people bringing books, games and puzzles, there is constant turnover. Names that cannot be identified The nicest thing is to see children walking away clasping a book like the most precious toy in the world. It works like a free library with no ‘fines’ just On the various censuses and other returns there are properes and road help yourself. Please respect social distancing if there are others there but names that give no clue as to where they were. Have you ever heard of the do use it. following? Please let me know if you have. At the time of writing this we have made and distributed 482 ‘nurses’ The Towers – 1910 to 1931 Laundry Bags all in our area with a couple of exceptions. Ottery Community Nurses have been given some, as has Sidmouth Hospital, as both were in Strawberry Lane – 1851 to 1871 need. The others have been distributed in the Axminster, Colyton and Seaton districts. We are still going and will do as long as the pillowcases Berry’s Row – 1851 keep coming in and there is a need for them. Basically they allow the carer/ nurse to change from their uniform before leaving work and stuffing it in the washable laundry bag to take home. It then goes into the washing machine in the bag containing any infection and protecting the user’s family and Martin Minter / Musbury Heritage / [email protected] home from risk. Simple and basic but very effective and very much appreciated from the feedback I have received. Lesley McGowan-Lock and I have worked closely on this project and in many ways it has been great fun. I would like to take this opportunity of thanking all those who have donated pillow cases, some coming from as far away as Honiton and Stockland, and everyone who has converted the pillowcase into Laundry Bags, especially Ken Short who is a dab hand with the sewing machine.

10 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 39 Musbury Houses The Village Collective got into gear very quickly and have acted as great facilitators fitting needs to availability. There are so many people to thank Quiz: Match the Old House Name with the Present that I could go on forever so I made a thank you board for outside my house, currently being repaired and updated. If you don’t feel you fit into House Name any of the categories Thank you. One service which has been fantastic for me is the deliveries from the Spar and Garage, thank you Julian and all On the le are old house names and the earliest date it is recorded as your staff. such. The column on the right are the names of 12 properes in the village today. Both columns are in random order. Some are quite hard, Keep Safe unless you happen to live in that house. It may also be a test of how many Ann Veit modern Musbury house names you know! Perhaps it is me for another Secretary to the League of Friends of Axminster Hospital stroll round the village?...

Match one these To one of these

A. Rumah Kita 1939 1. Cartref Coage B. Brimclose 1939 2. Hunt’s Row C. Old Smithy 1891 3. Malvern House Virtual coffee and Chat D. Prince’s Row 1891 4. Brook Coage E. Hand and Spear Inn 1857 5. The Stables Frustrated that social distancing stops you seeing some village neighbours? Joining our new Musbury Virtual Coffee and Chat could F. Beale’s Farm 1851 6. The White House help! All you need is Zoom access on your computer or you can ask someone G. Griffin’s (Back Lane) 1851 7. Cherry Tree House with a laptop to give you their access.

H. Tanyard (Fore Street) 1861 8. Adcro House Those isolated or living alone are especially welcome to our first I. The Moorings 1901 9. Woodhayes meeting, planned for Wednesday 3 June from 10.30 - 11.30am. J. Mounield Coage 1911 10. Musbury Barton Thereafter, we’ll ‘meet’ every first Wednesday of the month at 10.30 am until we can resume meeting in the Village Hall. K. Coronaon Coage 1929 11. Yew Tree House L. North Coage 1840 12. The Old Forge To join the meeting/make further enquiries, email Sue McCoulough [email protected] as soon as possible, or at latest, before the day of the meeting.

Answers: On the Musbury Heritage Website hps:// There's no obligation to stay for the full length of ‘chat', or attend every www.musburyheritage.co.uk/. No log on required, unless you want month. However, once signed up, you will receive a reminder email each to delve deeper. month, including full instructions for joining the meeting.

38 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 11 CHURCH FLOWERS AND CLEANING Musbury and Whitford Women's Institute At the time of writing and the circumstances that prevail I have little to write unfortunately. With the Church closed and no services there would be no As with everything everywhere else our WI meetings have been cancelled one to see flowers on the altar even if we could do them ! until further notice. However, not all activity has ceased and since the On the cleaning front, the annual spring clean had to be cancelled and beginning of April we, friends from other WIs and from Musbury and although plans had been laid for the weekly cleaning rota to continue, this Whitford Villages have been busy making wash-bags for the Nurses and was also abandoned under Diocese instructions. Carers in the area. The idea for this came via social media from The Royal However the porch is being swept and washed regularly so that our Church Stoke Hospital; it seems that news and viruses both travel fast. The simple on the outside at least, doesn’t look so neglected. drawstring bags are made from old, washable sheeting, pillow cases etc. When we return to ‘normal’ (hopefully soon) I am sure we will all work together again to show our love for our lovely Village Church. and are designed to be used by health-care workers to carry their uniforms, scrubs etc home for washing after they have changed at the end of their Sue Irving shift. They can then put the unopened bag straight into the washing 552440 machine, thus reducing the spreading of contamination by viruses and [email protected] bacteria. We have been greatly helped by Ann Veit of Musbury who with her knowledge of Health Care organisations, contacts and organisation skills has been our centre and co-ordinator for the distribution of the bags, as well making them. At the time of writing this we have made and distributed nearly 482 bags. We are also very grateful to all who spring-cleaned their linen cupboards and donated the materials we needed to do this.

In March, two weeks before the lockdown, we were able to enjoy a talk by Rosemary Giggs who, dressed in the persona of Lady Katherine, described her life as a Tudor lady and showed the many layers of her costume which she (Rosemary) had made herself. Sadly because of the virus we were unable to hold the promised Jumble Sale, go on visits or hold our Garden Meeting, all normally part of our summer season. We are keeping in touch with each other, learning computer skills faster than perhaps we would have done usually, and will be ready to re-start all our activities when it is safe to do so. When that happens we will look forward to welcoming new visitors. In the meantime its back to the sewing machine.

Lesley McGowan Lock

12 Musbury Parish News Summer. 2020 Summer. 2020 Musbury Parish News 37 19f 19c

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36 Musbury Parish News Summer. 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 13 19d 19e

HELEN G BEADS

At Open every day throughoue summer The Old Reading Room Handmade GlassStudio Beads and Jewellery (Axminster Road, Musbury) at ArtisanThe HotOld ReadingLampwork Room Jewellery Studio and AxminsterSilversmithing Road, Musbury Demonstrations : Lessons : Commissions Workshops in glass bead making and silversmithing Visitors welcome but best to ring in case I am awayIndividual at a fair dates or lessons to suit you in progress

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14 Musbury Parish News Summer. 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 35 Musbury Short Mat Bowls Club Parochial Church Council Due to the current situation, we have not been meeting and playing in the This could be my most difficult report since coming to live in Musbury. Even village hall obviously, but we have tried to keep in touch and all look forward though the Church building is closed for the foreseeable future, the people to the time we can start up again. who make up the Church have been busy keeping in contact with each The League had to terminate in March and many matches were cancelled. other in different ways and serving God in the village by helping out with Both teams were doing reasonably well in Division Two of the Afternoon shopping, telephoning and generally coordinating support for the many League. villagers who need it. Heather Heal and Bryan Groves won the Club Competition in February. Well We managed to get our Table Top Sale in before lockdown. We took extra done to you both. precautions and naturally not so many people came but having said that, We couldn’t have the Ted’s Trophy in March or the AGM in April so we look we made over £500. Thank you to all those who supported us. forward to when we can enjoy them in the future. Not sure how social The Food Bank has moved to the Spar and we are grateful to Julian for distancing could work for Short Mat Bowls. We all have to stand pretty close allowing this. Axminster Food Bank are even more desperate for to each other at the Mat ends when playing a game!! Perhaps it will have to contributions in these difficult days so do please go on supporting this be singles or pairs games only for a while!! The refreshment time half way venture when you shop at the Spar. Thank you to Sheila for kindly taking through the evening would be greatly missed if that had to be abandoned!! the food to Axminster for us. If you can’t visit try and ask others to buy The village hall has to open first of course! No one knows when that will be!! something from you for the Food Bank As the average age of our club is quite high and many have underlying Our Annual Meeting has been postponed until later in the year but we have health problems, it could sadly be a while until we all meet up again but I had a PCC by ZOOM which was different! We missed doing the teas at send good wishes to all members who read this in Musbury and hope that Tony Drake’s Open Gardens but look forward to a time when that happens. you all keep safe and can enjoy the freedom to do those things you have Father Steven and the Ministry Team have been working hard to provide a been looking forward to soon! Keep smiling! Keep busy! Keep Alert!! Service on line each Sunday for us to follow ( including several over Holy Kay Short Week and Easter). We are all grateful for these and if you would like to Secretary 552711. receive them, go to our Holyford Mission Community Website and find the links. There have been Coffee Mornings on ZOOM, telephone Services and Bible Studies by ZOOM. We are so grateful for the technical expertise of some MC leaders and have A Contribution from social media to say many of us are becoming so much more familiar with the internet and able to widen our experience of Apps new to us ‘oldies.’ Many of you, too, A message to all our negative UK Press - including Laura Kuensberg, will have enjoyed family get togethers like us - on your screens. Robert Peston, Beth Rigby, Piers Morgan, There have been so many positives of this historic time in our lives. We are all grateful for the support given to each other in Musbury and look forward Journalism is missing the “mood” of this great country of ours. We do not to better times and more freedom in our lives. We also look forward to the want or need blame. We do not need constant criticism of our time when the Church Building will be open and we can worship and have Government who are doing their very best in a very difficult and fellowship together in person - probably with social distancing!! unprecedented global emergency. This crisis is not their making, there is no precedent of how to best handle it and I’m sure everyone is doing their Kay Short PCC Secretary level best to get it right. 552711 [email protected] But time and again we see our negative press trying to trip up politicians instead of asking questions that will provide positive and reassuring answers for all of us.

I was asked to include the above by a parishioner : ed 34 Musbury Parish News Summer. 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 15 News From The Hind During this period there has been one strong silver lining for me. As our world heads towards a globalised food system, threatening local food producers and handing over the power to huge companies to monopolise We were struggling with what to write for this edition of the parish magazine as what we feed ourselves and our families, suddenly more people have we do not know when we will be able to reopen. As soon as we know we will reverted back to support their local independent businesses. In turn those let you all know! businesses have had to find a new connection with their customers. Since the beginning of lockdown we’ve sent out a weekly newsletter through the Adrian is redecorating what he can without creating expensive unwanted Old Dairy Kitchen mailing list, telling tales and updating the lovely meals bigger jobs, financially we are treading water and we need to be able to reopen and products available through the shop. People’s response has been quite but it must be safe and profitable! wonderful, sending kind words (mainly), pictures of their plated dishes and We were fortunate to have a grant but it won’t last forever so we hope we will bread baked from our Recipe Kits. It makes me very proud that people feel be able to get going again soon. We miss you all! a closeness to what we do here and that providing a plate of food is not the The girls are at home and in the words of Phoebe "Mum I can see why you only thing our little restaurant brings for local people. didn't become a teacher!" So as we can’t tell you of things to look forward to I asked Ralph to write you all a message: Once everything settles down, I look forward to opening the restaurant doors wider than before, I’ll have the biggest smile on my face and with any luck we’ll be serving strawberries and tomatoes fresh from the garden. Gracious me, where does time go? Next year, God willing, will mark a fifty year association with The Hind! Starting out polishing the vast amounts of brass on Stay safe & connected show. I soon progressed to the giddy heights of washing glasses and plates (yes, in Chris Onions those days every one was done by hand). Eventually I reached the required www.olddairykitchen.co.uk age and was let loose to serve behind the bar. The rest, as they say, is history! And what stories there are to tell. I dine out on the fact that Oscar winning Hollywood actor Sir Anthony Hopkins was a regular customer. Tony (oh yes, we called him that) particularly enjoyed a curry, washed down, as he is now quoted as saying, "With a nice Chianti"

Chris at work in the O.D.K.

Is this Tony outside The Golden Hind ? 16 Musbury Parish News Summer. 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 33 Then there was the quiet Monday evening when Colin Small spent a The Old Dairy Kitchen. couple of hours playing darts with Billy Fury. Sadly he died the following week and I often blame Colin for pushing him the final halfway to paradise. A transformative Spring and Summer These stories may sound like a flight of fantasy, but they are completely true. After all, in twenty or thirty years time, who on earth will believe that Firstly I’d like to thank everyone in the area who has supported the Old Dairy the pub was forced to close its doors for a month or more due to a virus? Kitchen during these challenging times whether purchasing vouchers for I really miss the laughter, and sometimes drama, of our local. The lunches, Feasts or courses or buying bits and pieces from our online shop, camaraderie of our customers who have become friends is something to it’s meant a lot to our small business. treasure. I am led to believe that Adrian is making good use of the time and giving the interior a good facelift. And one thing is for sure, when the From the end of March we have been running weekly food deliveries and doors reopen, all will be welcome and there will be one Helluva party!! transforming the restaurant into a make shift online shop. I have to admit this Stay alert every body, see you soon! has been a challenge! Setting up the pop-up shop felt like a call to arms at the start. When the government announced that restaurants must close our industry plummeted into the depths of what seemed like no return. I was Ralph deeply distressed for all involved and knew within weeks hospitality workers and their families would be homeless and hungry due to zero hour contracts and unemployment. Thankfully there was support but many small businesses didn’t get what was needed so were being forced to stop trading, Take care everyone Emma, Adrian, Phoebe & Imogen even now we are yet to see the full impact of Covid19 on our industry. My only feeling was we needed to keep going. P.S We have one bit of exciting news just in. Our lovely Emily has got The Old Dairy Kitchen is based on Trill Farm. On the farm are a selection of engaged to Finn so nice to have some good news!! small independently run enterprises sharing the resources of the land and producing various products but at the core is education, sharing and community. In the ODK we buy ingredients from around 25 local producers to be used in dining events or courses. My second concern was for them.

Even if we couldn’t have people joining us for a lovely lunch here on the farm we needed to keep supporting the producers that make our job a pleasure, keep our local economy going and put care and love into their produce and the local landscape. Trill Farm Gardens had already transformed themselves into a veg box supplier with around 150 boxes a week being delivered to people’s doors with the best quality organic vegetables. It was quite a remarkable shift that was happening. We launched the shop at the end of March and the response was great, people snapped up the local produce alongside our cooked meals and we’ve managed to keep our heads above water so far. I must admit that being a delivery boy is not my forte and I do look forward to putting food on a plate again instead of a small, takeaway container!

32 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer. 2020 Musbury Parish News 17 Musbury Chapel – Is this the true story of how Garage and Spar it came about? Who could have predicted how different the world would look from the last Musbury Heritage – Stories from our village history issue of the Parish magazine to now? It has been incredibly challenging for us all; to me it has often felt like my first day at school again, with massive initial I'm sure we all admire the Chapel on Whitford Road. Even though it has changes as well as constantly having to modify the way we have operated the now been converted to a private dwelling, it is an attractive building that business over the last few weeks. obviously hides an interesting past. I'm sure you will agree that our Spar shop staff have been absolutely incredible and really stepped up to the mark. As well as the challenge of As ever, you may have to forgive me, a newcomer to Musbury, if I am keeping themselves safe, we have seen unprecedented increases in shop repeating a well-known story from Musbury’s past. This story first came to sales which has put a big strain on our ability to obtain enough stock and get it my attention when I found a copy of Musbury Memories on eBay (was I the onto the shelves for you. With the schools closed, my daughter Amelia has only resident without a copy?). When it arrived it also contained a booklet been a more noticeable presence at the Garage; she has taken charge of entitled “How it Began – Musbury, Devon”. It was, apparently, re-printed home deliveries which have proved very popular with many of you in the from a religious magazine called “Precious Seed”. It told the story that I village. In addition, we have been making deliveries to Combpyne, Axminster, summarise as follows: - Whitford, Seaton and Colyton, so the word has definitely spread.

Walter Wills was born in 1839, the son of a well-to-do farmer, Richard Wills, I must thank you, our customers. There have been so many kind words and comments regarding the shop and our staff. One area where we have seen a who owned New House Farm and was tenant-farmer of Lower New House massive increase in sales is in fresh produce, particularly fruit and vegetables. Farm, essentially what we now know as Castlewood Farm. Richard Wills We have increased the range of goods on offer to match the uplift in sales. If was an adherent of Musbury’s established Church and the Vicar’s Chief you continue to support us and shop local when the world returns to some kind Warden, so his son was brought up a devout Christian. of normality, then we will be more than happy to keep this larger range in stock for you permanently. When Walter was 16, he began to seriously question “his state before God”. His parents were so concerned they called in a doctor, who suggested Other sides of the business have obviously also been affected. Our workshop visiting a faraway relative, but Walter said his condition was spiritual and has seen a constant flow of work, but with the lack of travel, fuel sales have reduced massively. In addition, within the first two weeks of lockdown we nothing else. His condition continued for a year until one day when tending received countless cancellations on vehicle rental. One hopes that the leisure cattle in a field he called on God and saw a light from heaven. This and tourism trade in this area is not irreparably damaged by recent events. revelation lifted his anxiety and he rushed to tell his parents, but this only caused them more concern. Thanks again for your support, we really appreciate it. Please stay safe and well and I do hope to see you all soon. One Sunday soon after, whilst watching a Sunday baptism, Walter became even more distressed by this church service and upset his father by saying Kind regards so. On his way home for lunch he saw an old lady, (in Combpyne Road/ Julian Rinaldi Blacksmith’s Hill) reading the bible outside her house. He asked to join her Musbury Garage and soon they were absorbed in this study. This became a regular occurrence, much to his father’s concern, especially as this was the poorest house in the parish. These scripture readings continued and developed into open air meetings, attracting first one then several villagers. They prayed for the conversion of Walter’s parents.

18 Musbury Parish News Summer. 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 31 School Report

I hope that everyone is well and staying safe. School is very quiet at the Eventually he persuaded his father to attend and he was converted, followed moment, but staff are working to support children and parents with their soon after by his mother. His father, a man of action, declared soon after ‘we learning at home. This has proved a very interesting challenge for everyone must build a chapel’. In no time stone was being brought by wagons, local involved, but I am very pleased to say that the children, parents and staff of carpenters and masons got to work and Mr Wills provided material. Musbury Primary School have risen to these challenges brilliantly. Initially Walter Wills did most of the preaching, later others shared this task. Before the lockdown, the Spring term was filled with lots of fantastic events. Soon the congregation had reached about 60. There was a Sunday School at Science week was a big success and included a trip to the Jurassic Coast, 10am, a Lord’s Supper at 11am, another afternoon Sunday School and a dissection led by a secondary science teacher and visits from exotic and farm animals. The children thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Children also prayer meeting at 6pm followed by the Gospel Service. Mr Wills also travelled monitored some trout fry in a fish tank, visited the Royal Albert Memorial to preach at many local venues and soon new establishments were formed at Museum in Exeter, participated in World Book Day and supported Sports Axminster, Axmouth, Colyton, Beer and Lyme Regis. Relief. This seems an extraordinary story of faith and perhaps some dissatisfaction There continues to be much speculation about how and when schools will with the established Church. Whichever, it had a remarkable outcome. return. One thing that the current situation has taught us is the importance of community and connecting with each other. Once we return to some sort of The Facts normal, I am keen to enhance the school's links with the local community. We know Walter Wills (1839-1914) and his father Richard (1798-1876) were Many thanks and stay safe. farmers at New House Farm, though later Walter lived with his family at Monmouth House. He lived in Musbury until about 1908, and after 60-plus Mr T Nield years of local farming there were no Wills living in the village.

The lady preaching was Mrs Susan James and she was living with her From the archive husband John on Combpyne Road in 1851, Blacksmith’s Hill in 1861 and Musbury Cross in 1871. Go ahead club Chinese Evening The rector at this time was George Tucker (the younger) until 1863 and he On Thursday we were invited by Leslie Summers to her house for a Chinese lived at Monmouth House. Evening . When we arrived we had to take our shoes off because it is a Chinese tradition to do so. Then we played some games one of which we The Chapel was completed in 1859. The carpenter was named as Rockett, had to take our socks off and pass a grape around between our toes while probably Joseph as he lived at Musbury Cross. The mason is named as sitting in a circle. But if we dropped the grape, we had to eat it. Then we had Partridge, but the only mason by that name would have been 10 years old! a Chinese meal which was presented really well , with china bowls and Perhaps his father, a tanner, was quite versatile? chopsticks. We had -: noodles, rice, sweet and sour pork and prawn crackers. There were lots of other interesting foods and we all enjoyed it This story [written by Keith Clayton in 1958] is certainly built around many very much. After the meal we talked about Dick Bell’s planned adventure up facts. Does anyone know more about this and also when the Chapel ceased to the river Yangtze in a hovercraft. Unfortunately we soon ran out of time. hold services?

Charlotte The full story in two parts can be found on https://www.musburyheritage.co.uk under “The Village and Buildings”. It isn’t too long and makes an interesng read. Summer 1990 Martin Minter / Musbury Heritage / mar[email protected]

30 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 19 Another good target is the summer triangle. It’s quite high in the sky and is The Black Death made up of three stars from three different constellations; Vega from Lyrae,

The Black Death of 1348-50 was a landmark and turning point in English Deneb from Cygnus and Altair from Aquila. Even if you haven’t got History. Plague is a disease of wild and domestic rodents caused by a binoculars or a telescope these three stars are good naked eye objects. bacillus. In nature the organism is transmitted from rodents to man by the bite of infected fleas. Don’t forget about the Perseid meteor shower in August. The 12th and 13th The Plague entered England from a ship at Weymouth and soon spread all are the peak of the shower and with the moon being at its last quarter and over the country, reaching London in September 1348 . It reached its peak rising around midnight the views may be hindered slightly. The shower is in 1349, and died out in 1350 . By then it had killed about a third of the entire caused by the Earth passing through the stream of dust left by the Comet population, and nearly half of London (some 40,000). The effects were Swift-Tuttle and we see these dust particles passing into our atmosphere in catastrophic , the population did not regain its 1350 level until the 16th the most amazing light show. Perseus is in the North East of the sky, so you century and every aspect of national life was affected. The natural growth, development and prosperity of the country was cut short, and absolutism - may be able to put your back to the rising moon and still get a good view. centralised royal dictatorship - was enabled to develop. The feudal system collapsed: contracts of fealty and obligation could not or Due to Covid-19 we are unsure when the NLO is going to be open again; were not, fulfilled. Even the methods of sharing the cultivation of open fields the Astronomy Fair has been cancelled for this year, but will definitely be on were largely abandoned . Instead of pressure on land due to overpopulation, in 2021. land was going derelict for lack of labourers to cultivate it. The survivors shared the vacant land and did this in blocks - compact farms - instead of For more information go to www.normanlockyer.com strips. The nucleated farm and hedged field had arrived and with it the wage earner who was not tied to his manorial land. Rent became a substitute for service. Some manorial Lords ceased to be farmers in consequence and became country landowners , living on rents. Serfs and labourers found employment with the new farmers or moved to towns. Some became vagrants disrupting village life, an increasing problem thereafter. Many landlords enclosed the whole manor for sheep and many YOGA CLASSES villages were deserted for this reason also. Trade was interrupted, crime increased. When possible - perhaps July? There were also effects on education and social life. High mortality among Musbury Village Hall clerics (47%) eliminated a vast number of learned men on whom the country Wednesdays 1.30 - 3pm. depended not only for religious guidance but also for much of the local and national government. The incidence among Doctors was naturally high also. Classes suitable for all levels. Schools , hospitals, and charitable help for the poor were all affected. Experienced teacher - 20 years' yoga teaching experience and a lifetimes' yoga practice experience! It is hard to imagine the violent disruption and the profound and lasting First two classes attended donation only (to Devon Air Ambulance) impact of the epidemic . At a time when 95% of the population lived in the countryside and a third to half of them died. Plagues and pestilence were to Contact: Lesley Wilson be features of English life for many centuries to follow [email protected]

The following were heavily plagiarised for the above article 01297 551051 Devon by W. G. Hoskins and Historical Britain by Eric S Wood The Fourteenth Century by May Mckisack www.asyouareyoga.co.uk

20 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 29 The Sky at Night Coronavirus 19

What’s up in June – August: The following is reprinted from The Musbury Parish News Summer 2520

This is the time of year which astronomers either become like a night Five Hundred years after The Great Coronavirus outbreak of 2020 , it can watchman, rarely surfacing during daylight hours, or surviving on little sleep be seen as a landmark and turning point in World History. Never again when the skies are clear. would World travel be so easy and readily available. The decline in mass tourism and air travel led to countries having to develop their own economies based on food production and utilising their own resources. Astronomical night time (when you can clearly see the star) at present is around 11 pm, although that sun officially sets at around 8:30 – 9:00 there is The data loss that followed later in the century with the collapse of “cloud still a glow in the night skies. So what can we see earlier, the Moon, Venus, based storage” meant that there are few actual records of the great and some of the brighter stars, but none of those tantalising galaxies or pandemic, and what its underlying causes were, and how it effected total nebulae we’ve seen in winter? human population . But it is known that there was decline in world trade leading to a recession the likes of which had probably never been Starting with the moon, in the early morning of June 8th and 9th the moon is experienced before. near Jupiter with Saturn just to the left of it. This happens again in July on This recession was to last through the early part of the twenty first century, prompting a rethink of values and a complete restructuring of world trade. It the 5th, when the full Moon is near Jupiter, and on the 6th when it’s near both led to the decline of America as a superpower, but the actual reasons of this st nd Saturn and Jupiter; in August this happens on the 1 and 2 . Then on June still remain unclear. Farming and global food production were transformed 19th a very thin crescent moon occults (passes in front of) Venus. Either and the transportation of food around the planet was ended. Small localised binoculars or a small telescope should pick out the first of these, but the food production became the new normal. The pandemic signalled the end of second is during daylight hours so you’ll definitely need a telescope and cheap food feeding the affluent parts of the planet while depriving the rest of extreme care so you don’t point it towards the Sun. the world’s population. No longer would poverty be tolerated in any part of the world, and all The summer months are very good for Noctilucent clouds. These are the citizens would be regarded as truly equal with the rights to free health care. highest clouds in the atmosphere, 80 kilometres up, right on the edge of The need to stimulate world economies, led to the end of food poverty and adequate housing for all. The decline in the use of fossil fuels resulted in space. They form above the Earth’s poles. They look very ghost like in the the end of the oil and coal industries, and may have well saved the Planet. sky and are only visible in the summer months. They are basically clouds The total collapse of the arms trade which had so dominated the world in made up of ice that’s frozen onto tiny solid particles. So get your cameras the late 20th century, resulted in funds being diverted into research and led out and look north-west before midnight and see what you can find. to the great medical advances of the 21st century. The pandemic illustrated that no one in the world was safe until everyone If you have a good southern view and a medium sized telescope you should was safe. This led to the abolition of all nuclear weapons and to the end of be able to see or image, the Trifid Nebula, the Lagoon Nebula, or the Omega the arms race. The United Nations was restructured and promoted peace Nebula. All are quite low down, and the moon is full at the beginning of July, and justice for all . but as the moon heads towards being new the views should be good. The National interests were no longer at the centre of foreign policies, all nations only problem with July of course is viewing time is best between midnight were included, not only those militarily powerful in the world. and 3 am, which is not much good if you have to be up by 6am for work. Jolly

28 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 21 Axminster Food Bank FRIENDS OF ST MICHAEL’S MUSBURY Our very grateful thanks go to all of you who have contributed to the Food There is not much to report in the usual way but here are a few observations on Bank especially at this time of crisis. Our numbers have trebled since the the current situation from members of the Friends: beginning of March and we are now providing food for over 90 people and rising. It has been such a help to have the basket in the garage shop, which we “We are fortunate to live in Musbury, overlooking the Axe Valley and hills have been emptying every night, and we do extend our thanks to Julian for beyond, with enough land to welcome wildlife and good health to enjoy walking.” enabling this to happen.

“With the current turmoil, we reflect on the joy of our Village and our good We are providing food, cleaning, toiletry, nappies, pet food etc to any who have fortune in finding it as a home. We patrol the magically rural Maidenhayne every low or no incomes from single person households to families with a number of morning, returning home via the village centre, the Church of which we are a dependents. Most people are referred to us through local agencies initially but ‘Friend’, and along the commanding Doatshayne with its’ unbeatable views of in these times we also accept self referrals or referrals from friends and Devon farmland and across the wonderful Axe Valley. Glorious!” neighbours who see a need and get in touch with us.

“What is not to love and celebrate? Indeed, as though in agreement and for the As we are based in the Health and Wellbeing Centre in Chard Street and open first time in 18 years, a pair of very dapper red legged partridge in full array Monday to Friday from 10.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. we are very accessible to those decided to visit. They have stayed near and on our land and have been as welcome as we were made 18 years ago when we settled (and since by those who need us. However, we do deliver to outlying villages or to people who are around whom we waltz in a 2 metre avoidance every morning whilst walking!)” unable to leave their homes.

“There is much of good around us. The world will heal. We must enjoy what we We have been very fortunate in receiving food and monetary donations but we have.” will need to keep the support going at this level or higher for many more months as many will still be dependent on the Food Bank even when the “On my walk I bumped into a man next to his parked car, smoking frantically and immediate crisis is over. So once again Thank You for supporting your sipping coffee from a thermos mug. I said, "hello, are you escaping for a bit ?!" community at this extraordinary time. he said: "yes, I have to come up here (top of our hill) now and again because I work in a home with people with learning difficulties. They cannot understand Sheila why they have to stay in. Why they can't go swimming on Monday, Bowling on Tuesday, McDonalds on Wednesday and so on. I am only allowed to take one out at a time and only in the car. I feel so sorry for these people, because they are so used to their outings and there is nothing I can do to make it easier for Axminster Food Bank them”.

“We spoke about 3/4 weeks ago [to our friends in Musbury] and we would love to come down - but would probably be arrested!” Needs your support “Having been in Australia visiting family since October 2019 it was our intention to return to Musbury in early April, sadly Covid 19 has put stop to all Collection Basket in the Spar Shop international flights so we must stay in Oz for the foreseeable future. Not a hardship as we are close to friends and family. Many thanks to our wonderful neighbours in Musbury who are keeping an eye on our house and the grass cut. Many Thanks Do we qualify for the longest distant lockdown !”

22 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish New 27 Village Lengthsman - Highway Maintenance Community Enhancement “We have been doing prescription collections and deliveries for those more Fund. vulnerable and self-isolating. On occasions we have had up to 18. Apart from one occasion we have been able to use our cycles. As a result we have met As a result of on-going financial constraints Musbury, in common with other and chatted to more people in a few short months than we have in the 5 years Devon villages, no longer has the routine services of a Lengthsman for we have been in the village! It has been a rewarding experience, especially duties such as clearing debris from gutter and drain gratings and weed finding some of the more tucked away places and seeing some wonderful clearance. gardens!”

The proposed 1-year pilot project will assess the efficacy of a village “We take the dog for a long walk up and around the castle every morning and Lengthsman to both the cosmetic appearance of the village by removal of have noticed how little interest the cows are taking in us compared to the last weeds and to the prevention of surface water flooding by ensuring drain 5 years when we were always of intense interest to them, especially the gratings and gutters are kept free from debris-particularly after hedge cutting younger ones. Normally a ‘charge’ down the hill before coming to an activities. emergency stop a few metres from us. I know this can worry some people but I find their curiosity and sense of fun amusing. I put this lack of interest in To date there has been much ‘self-help’ in Musbury with residents sweeping people, even when walking straight through them with a dog, down to a sheer roads, painting bus shelters, cutting grass, clearing road gutters and digging increase of walkers we have seen out and about. Where do all these people weeds (preferable to using weed killer). However, we cannot always rely on come from! We have never seen most of them. I wonder if other readers have the current volunteers, so now could be the time for these duties to be noticed the same thing?” formalised. The impact of the project, if funding is approved and allocated, will be assessed by the Parish Council on completion. “….the noticeable lack of traffic noise - and the resultant peace. The lush hedgerows and all the beautiful wild flowers. The lack of screaming children in a certain supermarket. Wish I had cut my hedge. Managed to finally, after ten We look forward to seeing you at the next Parish Council meetings years or more, thread the top thread of my sewing machine to be able to make whenever they may be! Please keep your eye on the noticeboard and a mask” website. The lock down has made us feel so very lucky to live where we do,

surrounded by beautiful countryside, not high rise tower blocks. Cycling now on almost deserted roads is an absolute joy and means we can safely Jo Boyce (Clerk to Musbury Parish Council) negotiate the pot-holes! Tel: 553898 We gathered along Maidenhayne Lane to clap the NHS last Thursday as we have done each week since the lockdown started – all carefully socially- distanced. Soon after 8pm, after all the banging and clapping, a police van came slowly down the lane but did not stop. Twenty minutes later we were still all chattering and keeping our distance when the same police van came “What a 'Great idea' to fill the 'Post House' (aka the old shop) windows with down the lane again and told us very politely to disperse. My daughter says I lots of different Memorabilia. Each week it has put a smile on people's faces should have been given my first ASBO at the age of 63! & we might add amused, educated & enlightened us.

We would like to take this opportunity to say a 'Big Thank you' to Sue & Ken With many thanks to all those who took the trouble to send in their thoughts. for their hard work in providing the distraction at these 'strange times'. We were all very good at taking it in turns & keeping our social distance to view Andrew Kennon Secretary as well. Hope the tradition will keep going!?” A further contribution can be found at the bottom of page 26

26 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 23 Musbury Parish Council News Pre-Covid 19 News

Policing It has been an unusual and unexpected beginning to my role as Parish clerk, to say the least! It seems only a few weeks ago, I was preparing myself for the County Cllr Ian Hall informed the March Parish Council Meeting that there are to twin ordeals of the Annual Parish Meeting and the Annual General Meeting, be an additional 125 extra police officers in Devon this year which are funded not to mention the End of Year Audit! However, so much can change in a short through Council Tax. Honiton are trialling community co-responders, retained fire space of time and we have all had to adapt. fighters who have undergone police training and Axminster will be taking part in a safer towns trial with the provision of CCTV. It has been heart-warming but not surprising to see the community spirit on display from all quarters of our village Devon Air Ambulance Site – it is one of those times where it is a positive benefit that everybody knows everybody! Whilst the roads have been Prior to the Covid 19 Pandemic, Musbury School had given full approval for the quieter than usual, the footpaths and fields have seen an site location, which will benefit the village in the most critical times. Councillor increase in footfall and residents have been taking Craker is obtaining costings for the 8-metre lighting tower and we hope it will be a advantage of the lighter evenings and warmer weather to beacon of light for the future! get out in their gardens and allotments, which is still permitted as part of your daily exercise. Please could Marlborough Road Trees we ask everyone to observe social distancing when out walking and make sure you are following the Following the high winds and heavy rain over the winter, some of the trees have marked footpaths. Our beautiful environment and shed their branches. This is a good opportunity now to source one or more trees caring community will help us through this challenging to fill the gaps. Tree warden Mike Lock said he will do some research as to what time. would suit best.

Covid 19

Our district and county councils are working hard to keep us all safe and informed during the pandemic. The clerk receives many, many emails on a dizzying array of topics from both councils. If you would like more information, please email the clerk. Some of the subjects covered are:

• Funding and grants • Transport timetables and arrangements • Hospital and dental services • Testing • Scams and Covid related crime • Mental Health • Waste and Refuse collection updates

24 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 25 Musbury Parish Council News Pre-Covid 19 News

Policing It has been an unusual and unexpected beginning to my role as Parish clerk, to say the least! It seems only a few weeks ago, I was preparing myself for the County Cllr Ian Hall informed the March Parish Council Meeting that there are to twin ordeals of the Annual Parish Meeting and the Annual General Meeting, be an additional 125 extra police officers in Devon this year which are funded not to mention the End of Year Audit! However, so much can change in a short through Council Tax. Honiton are trialling community co-responders, retained fire space of time and we have all had to adapt. fighters who have undergone police training and Axminster will be taking part in a safer towns trial with the provision of CCTV. It has been heart-warming but not surprising to see the community spirit on display from all quarters of our village Devon Air Ambulance Site – it is one of those times where it is a positive benefit that everybody knows everybody! Whilst the roads have been Prior to the Covid 19 Pandemic, Musbury School had given full approval for the quieter than usual, the footpaths and fields have seen an site location, which will benefit the village in the most critical times. Councillor increase in footfall and residents have been taking Craker is obtaining costings for the 8-metre lighting tower and we hope it will be a advantage of the lighter evenings and warmer weather to beacon of light for the future! get out in their gardens and allotments, which is still permitted as part of your daily exercise. Please could Marlborough Road Trees we ask everyone to observe social distancing when out walking and make sure you are following the Following the high winds and heavy rain over the winter, some of the trees have marked footpaths. Our beautiful environment and shed their branches. This is a good opportunity now to source one or more trees caring community will help us through this challenging to fill the gaps. Tree warden Mike Lock said he will do some research as to what time. would suit best.

Covid 19

Our district and county councils are working hard to keep us all safe and informed during the pandemic. The clerk receives many, many emails on a dizzying array of topics from both councils. If you would like more information, please email the clerk. Some of the subjects covered are:

• Funding and grants • Transport timetables and arrangements • Hospital and dental services • Testing • Scams and Covid related crime • Mental Health • Waste and Refuse collection updates

24 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 25 Village Lengthsman - Highway Maintenance Community Enhancement “We have been doing prescription collections and deliveries for those more Fund. vulnerable and self-isolating. On occasions we have had up to 18. Apart from one occasion we have been able to use our cycles. As a result we have met As a result of on-going financial constraints Musbury, in common with other and chatted to more people in a few short months than we have in the 5 years Devon villages, no longer has the routine services of a Lengthsman for we have been in the village! It has been a rewarding experience, especially duties such as clearing debris from gutter and drain gratings and weed finding some of the more tucked away places and seeing some wonderful clearance. gardens!”

The proposed 1-year pilot project will assess the efficacy of a village “We take the dog for a long walk up and around the castle every morning and Lengthsman to both the cosmetic appearance of the village by removal of have noticed how little interest the cows are taking in us compared to the last weeds and to the prevention of surface water flooding by ensuring drain 5 years when we were always of intense interest to them, especially the gratings and gutters are kept free from debris-particularly after hedge cutting younger ones. Normally a ‘charge’ down the hill before coming to an activities. emergency stop a few metres from us. I know this can worry some people but I find their curiosity and sense of fun amusing. I put this lack of interest in To date there has been much ‘self-help’ in Musbury with residents sweeping people, even when walking straight through them with a dog, down to a sheer roads, painting bus shelters, cutting grass, clearing road gutters and digging increase of walkers we have seen out and about. Where do all these people weeds (preferable to using weed killer). However, we cannot always rely on come from! We have never seen most of them. I wonder if other readers have the current volunteers, so now could be the time for these duties to be noticed the same thing?” formalised. The impact of the project, if funding is approved and allocated, will be assessed by the Parish Council on completion. “….the noticeable lack of traffic noise - and the resultant peace. The lush hedgerows and all the beautiful wild flowers. The lack of screaming children in a certain supermarket. Wish I had cut my hedge. Managed to finally, after ten We look forward to seeing you at the next Parish Council meetings years or more, thread the top thread of my sewing machine to be able to make whenever they may be! Please keep your eye on the noticeboard and a mask” website. The lock down has made us feel so very lucky to live where we do,

surrounded by beautiful countryside, not high rise tower blocks. Cycling now on almost deserted roads is an absolute joy and means we can safely Jo Boyce (Clerk to Musbury Parish Council) negotiate the pot-holes! Tel: 553898 We gathered along Maidenhayne Lane to clap the NHS last Thursday as we have done each week since the lockdown started – all carefully socially- distanced. Soon after 8pm, after all the banging and clapping, a police van came slowly down the lane but did not stop. Twenty minutes later we were still all chattering and keeping our distance when the same police van came “What a 'Great idea' to fill the 'Post House' (aka the old shop) windows with down the lane again and told us very politely to disperse. My daughter says I lots of different Memorabilia. Each week it has put a smile on people's faces should have been given my first ASBO at the age of 63! & we might add amused, educated & enlightened us.

We would like to take this opportunity to say a 'Big Thank you' to Sue & Ken With many thanks to all those who took the trouble to send in their thoughts. for their hard work in providing the distraction at these 'strange times'. We were all very good at taking it in turns & keeping our social distance to view Andrew Kennon Secretary as well. Hope the tradition will keep going!?” A further contribution can be found at the bottom of page 26

26 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 23 Axminster Food Bank FRIENDS OF ST MICHAEL’S MUSBURY Our very grateful thanks go to all of you who have contributed to the Food There is not much to report in the usual way but here are a few observations on Bank especially at this time of crisis. Our numbers have trebled since the the current situation from members of the Friends: beginning of March and we are now providing food for over 90 people and rising. It has been such a help to have the basket in the garage shop, which we “We are fortunate to live in Musbury, overlooking the Axe Valley and hills have been emptying every night, and we do extend our thanks to Julian for beyond, with enough land to welcome wildlife and good health to enjoy walking.” enabling this to happen.

“With the current turmoil, we reflect on the joy of our Village and our good We are providing food, cleaning, toiletry, nappies, pet food etc to any who have fortune in finding it as a home. We patrol the magically rural Maidenhayne every low or no incomes from single person households to families with a number of morning, returning home via the village centre, the Church of which we are a dependents. Most people are referred to us through local agencies initially but ‘Friend’, and along the commanding Doatshayne with its’ unbeatable views of in these times we also accept self referrals or referrals from friends and Devon farmland and across the wonderful Axe Valley. Glorious!” neighbours who see a need and get in touch with us.

“What is not to love and celebrate? Indeed, as though in agreement and for the As we are based in the Health and Wellbeing Centre in Chard Street and open first time in 18 years, a pair of very dapper red legged partridge in full array Monday to Friday from 10.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. we are very accessible to those decided to visit. They have stayed near and on our land and have been as welcome as we were made 18 years ago when we settled (and since by those who need us. However, we do deliver to outlying villages or to people who are around whom we waltz in a 2 metre avoidance every morning whilst walking!)” unable to leave their homes.

“There is much of good around us. The world will heal. We must enjoy what we We have been very fortunate in receiving food and monetary donations but we have.” will need to keep the support going at this level or higher for many more months as many will still be dependent on the Food Bank even when the “On my walk I bumped into a man next to his parked car, smoking frantically and immediate crisis is over. So once again Thank You for supporting your sipping coffee from a thermos mug. I said, "hello, are you escaping for a bit ?!" community at this extraordinary time. he said: "yes, I have to come up here (top of our hill) now and again because I work in a home with people with learning difficulties. They cannot understand Sheila why they have to stay in. Why they can't go swimming on Monday, Bowling on Tuesday, McDonalds on Wednesday and so on. I am only allowed to take one out at a time and only in the car. I feel so sorry for these people, because they are so used to their outings and there is nothing I can do to make it easier for Axminster Food Bank them”.

“We spoke about 3/4 weeks ago [to our friends in Musbury] and we would love to come down - but would probably be arrested!” Needs your support “Having been in Australia visiting family since October 2019 it was our intention to return to Musbury in early April, sadly Covid 19 has put stop to all Collection Basket in the Spar Shop international flights so we must stay in Oz for the foreseeable future. Not a hardship as we are close to friends and family. Many thanks to our wonderful neighbours in Musbury who are keeping an eye on our house and the grass cut. Many Thanks Do we qualify for the longest distant lockdown !”

22 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish New 27 The Sky at Night Coronavirus 19

What’s up in June – August: The following is reprinted from The Musbury Parish News Summer 2520

This is the time of year which astronomers either become like a night Five Hundred years after The Great Coronavirus outbreak of 2020 , it can watchman, rarely surfacing during daylight hours, or surviving on little sleep be seen as a landmark and turning point in World History. Never again when the skies are clear. would World travel be so easy and readily available. The decline in mass tourism and air travel led to countries having to develop their own economies based on food production and utilising their own resources. Astronomical night time (when you can clearly see the star) at present is around 11 pm, although that sun officially sets at around 8:30 – 9:00 there is The data loss that followed later in the century with the collapse of “cloud still a glow in the night skies. So what can we see earlier, the Moon, Venus, based storage” meant that there are few actual records of the great and some of the brighter stars, but none of those tantalising galaxies or pandemic, and what its underlying causes were, and how it effected total nebulae we’ve seen in winter? human population . But it is known that there was decline in world trade leading to a recession the likes of which had probably never been Starting with the moon, in the early morning of June 8th and 9th the moon is experienced before. near Jupiter with Saturn just to the left of it. This happens again in July on This recession was to last through the early part of the twenty first century, prompting a rethink of values and a complete restructuring of world trade. It the 5th, when the full Moon is near Jupiter, and on the 6th when it’s near both led to the decline of America as a superpower, but the actual reasons of this st nd Saturn and Jupiter; in August this happens on the 1 and 2 . Then on June still remain unclear. Farming and global food production were transformed 19th a very thin crescent moon occults (passes in front of) Venus. Either and the transportation of food around the planet was ended. Small localised binoculars or a small telescope should pick out the first of these, but the food production became the new normal. The pandemic signalled the end of second is during daylight hours so you’ll definitely need a telescope and cheap food feeding the affluent parts of the planet while depriving the rest of extreme care so you don’t point it towards the Sun. the world’s population. No longer would poverty be tolerated in any part of the world, and all The summer months are very good for Noctilucent clouds. These are the citizens would be regarded as truly equal with the rights to free health care. highest clouds in the atmosphere, 80 kilometres up, right on the edge of The need to stimulate world economies, led to the end of food poverty and adequate housing for all. The decline in the use of fossil fuels resulted in space. They form above the Earth’s poles. They look very ghost like in the the end of the oil and coal industries, and may have well saved the Planet. sky and are only visible in the summer months. They are basically clouds The total collapse of the arms trade which had so dominated the world in made up of ice that’s frozen onto tiny solid particles. So get your cameras the late 20th century, resulted in funds being diverted into research and led out and look north-west before midnight and see what you can find. to the great medical advances of the 21st century. The pandemic illustrated that no one in the world was safe until everyone If you have a good southern view and a medium sized telescope you should was safe. This led to the abolition of all nuclear weapons and to the end of be able to see or image, the Trifid Nebula, the Lagoon Nebula, or the Omega the arms race. The United Nations was restructured and promoted peace Nebula. All are quite low down, and the moon is full at the beginning of July, and justice for all . but as the moon heads towards being new the views should be good. The National interests were no longer at the centre of foreign policies, all nations only problem with July of course is viewing time is best between midnight were included, not only those militarily powerful in the world. and 3 am, which is not much good if you have to be up by 6am for work. Jolly

28 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 21 Another good target is the summer triangle. It’s quite high in the sky and is The Black Death made up of three stars from three different constellations; Vega from Lyrae,

The Black Death of 1348-50 was a landmark and turning point in English Deneb from Cygnus and Altair from Aquila. Even if you haven’t got History. Plague is a disease of wild and domestic rodents caused by a binoculars or a telescope these three stars are good naked eye objects. bacillus. In nature the organism is transmitted from rodents to man by the bite of infected fleas. Don’t forget about the Perseid meteor shower in August. The 12th and 13th The Plague entered England from a ship at Weymouth and soon spread all are the peak of the shower and with the moon being at its last quarter and over the country, reaching London in September 1348 . It reached its peak rising around midnight the views may be hindered slightly. The shower is in 1349, and died out in 1350 . By then it had killed about a third of the entire caused by the Earth passing through the stream of dust left by the Comet population, and nearly half of London (some 40,000). The effects were Swift-Tuttle and we see these dust particles passing into our atmosphere in catastrophic , the population did not regain its 1350 level until the 16th the most amazing light show. Perseus is in the North East of the sky, so you century and every aspect of national life was affected. The natural growth, development and prosperity of the country was cut short, and absolutism - may be able to put your back to the rising moon and still get a good view. centralised royal dictatorship - was enabled to develop. The feudal system collapsed: contracts of fealty and obligation could not or Due to Covid-19 we are unsure when the NLO is going to be open again; were not, fulfilled. Even the methods of sharing the cultivation of open fields the Astronomy Fair has been cancelled for this year, but will definitely be on were largely abandoned . Instead of pressure on land due to overpopulation, in 2021. land was going derelict for lack of labourers to cultivate it. The survivors shared the vacant land and did this in blocks - compact farms - instead of For more information go to www.normanlockyer.com strips. The nucleated farm and hedged field had arrived and with it the wage earner who was not tied to his manorial land. Rent became a substitute for service. Some manorial Lords ceased to be farmers in consequence and became country landowners , living on rents. Serfs and labourers found employment with the new farmers or moved to towns. Some became vagrants disrupting village life, an increasing problem thereafter. Many landlords enclosed the whole manor for sheep and many YOGA CLASSES villages were deserted for this reason also. Trade was interrupted, crime increased. When possible - perhaps July? There were also effects on education and social life. High mortality among Musbury Village Hall clerics (47%) eliminated a vast number of learned men on whom the country Wednesdays 1.30 - 3pm. depended not only for religious guidance but also for much of the local and national government. The incidence among Doctors was naturally high also. Classes suitable for all levels. Schools , hospitals, and charitable help for the poor were all affected. Experienced teacher - 20 years' yoga teaching experience and a lifetimes' yoga practice experience! It is hard to imagine the violent disruption and the profound and lasting First two classes attended donation only (to Devon Air Ambulance) impact of the epidemic . At a time when 95% of the population lived in the countryside and a third to half of them died. Plagues and pestilence were to Contact: Lesley Wilson be features of English life for many centuries to follow [email protected]

The following were heavily plagiarised for the above article 01297 551051 Devon by W. G. Hoskins and Historical Britain by Eric S Wood The Fourteenth Century by May Mckisack www.asyouareyoga.co.uk

20 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 29 School Report

I hope that everyone is well and staying safe. School is very quiet at the Eventually he persuaded his father to attend and he was converted, followed moment, but staff are working to support children and parents with their soon after by his mother. His father, a man of action, declared soon after ‘we learning at home. This has proved a very interesting challenge for everyone must build a chapel’. In no time stone was being brought by wagons, local involved, but I am very pleased to say that the children, parents and staff of carpenters and masons got to work and Mr Wills provided material. Musbury Primary School have risen to these challenges brilliantly. Initially Walter Wills did most of the preaching, later others shared this task. Before the lockdown, the Spring term was filled with lots of fantastic events. Soon the congregation had reached about 60. There was a Sunday School at Science week was a big success and included a trip to the Jurassic Coast, 10am, a Lord’s Supper at 11am, another afternoon Sunday School and a dissection led by a secondary science teacher and visits from exotic and farm animals. The children thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Children also prayer meeting at 6pm followed by the Gospel Service. Mr Wills also travelled monitored some trout fry in a fish tank, visited the Royal Albert Memorial to preach at many local venues and soon new establishments were formed at Museum in Exeter, participated in World Book Day and supported Sports Axminster, Axmouth, Colyton, Beer and Lyme Regis. Relief. This seems an extraordinary story of faith and perhaps some dissatisfaction There continues to be much speculation about how and when schools will with the established Church. Whichever, it had a remarkable outcome. return. One thing that the current situation has taught us is the importance of community and connecting with each other. Once we return to some sort of The Facts normal, I am keen to enhance the school's links with the local community. We know Walter Wills (1839-1914) and his father Richard (1798-1876) were Many thanks and stay safe. farmers at New House Farm, though later Walter lived with his family at Monmouth House. He lived in Musbury until about 1908, and after 60-plus Mr T Nield years of local farming there were no Wills living in the village.

The lady preaching was Mrs Susan James and she was living with her From the archive husband John on Combpyne Road in 1851, Blacksmith’s Hill in 1861 and Musbury Cross in 1871. Go ahead club Chinese Evening The rector at this time was George Tucker (the younger) until 1863 and he On Thursday we were invited by Leslie Summers to her house for a Chinese lived at Monmouth House. Evening . When we arrived we had to take our shoes off because it is a Chinese tradition to do so. Then we played some games one of which we The Chapel was completed in 1859. The carpenter was named as Rockett, had to take our socks off and pass a grape around between our toes while probably Joseph as he lived at Musbury Cross. The mason is named as sitting in a circle. But if we dropped the grape, we had to eat it. Then we had Partridge, but the only mason by that name would have been 10 years old! a Chinese meal which was presented really well , with china bowls and Perhaps his father, a tanner, was quite versatile? chopsticks. We had -: noodles, rice, sweet and sour pork and prawn crackers. There were lots of other interesting foods and we all enjoyed it This story [written by Keith Clayton in 1958] is certainly built around many very much. After the meal we talked about Dick Bell’s planned adventure up facts. Does anyone know more about this and also when the Chapel ceased to the river Yangtze in a hovercraft. Unfortunately we soon ran out of time. hold services?

Charlotte The full story in two parts can be found on https://www.musburyheritage.co.uk under “The Village and Buildings”. It isn’t too long and makes an interesng read. Summer 1990 Martin Minter / Musbury Heritage / mar[email protected]

30 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 19 Musbury Chapel – Is this the true story of how Garage and Spar it came about? Who could have predicted how different the world would look from the last Musbury Heritage – Stories from our village history issue of the Parish magazine to now? It has been incredibly challenging for us all; to me it has often felt like my first day at school again, with massive initial I'm sure we all admire the Chapel on Whitford Road. Even though it has changes as well as constantly having to modify the way we have operated the now been converted to a private dwelling, it is an attractive building that business over the last few weeks. obviously hides an interesting past. I'm sure you will agree that our Spar shop staff have been absolutely incredible and really stepped up to the mark. As well as the challenge of As ever, you may have to forgive me, a newcomer to Musbury, if I am keeping themselves safe, we have seen unprecedented increases in shop repeating a well-known story from Musbury’s past. This story first came to sales which has put a big strain on our ability to obtain enough stock and get it my attention when I found a copy of Musbury Memories on eBay (was I the onto the shelves for you. With the schools closed, my daughter Amelia has only resident without a copy?). When it arrived it also contained a booklet been a more noticeable presence at the Garage; she has taken charge of entitled “How it Began – Musbury, Devon”. It was, apparently, re-printed home deliveries which have proved very popular with many of you in the from a religious magazine called “Precious Seed”. It told the story that I village. In addition, we have been making deliveries to Combpyne, Axminster, summarise as follows: - Whitford, Seaton and Colyton, so the word has definitely spread.

Walter Wills was born in 1839, the son of a well-to-do farmer, Richard Wills, I must thank you, our customers. There have been so many kind words and comments regarding the shop and our staff. One area where we have seen a who owned New House Farm and was tenant-farmer of Lower New House massive increase in sales is in fresh produce, particularly fruit and vegetables. Farm, essentially what we now know as Castlewood Farm. Richard Wills We have increased the range of goods on offer to match the uplift in sales. If was an adherent of Musbury’s established Church and the Vicar’s Chief you continue to support us and shop local when the world returns to some kind Warden, so his son was brought up a devout Christian. of normality, then we will be more than happy to keep this larger range in stock for you permanently. When Walter was 16, he began to seriously question “his state before God”. His parents were so concerned they called in a doctor, who suggested Other sides of the business have obviously also been affected. Our workshop visiting a faraway relative, but Walter said his condition was spiritual and has seen a constant flow of work, but with the lack of travel, fuel sales have reduced massively. In addition, within the first two weeks of lockdown we nothing else. His condition continued for a year until one day when tending received countless cancellations on vehicle rental. One hopes that the leisure cattle in a field he called on God and saw a light from heaven. This and tourism trade in this area is not irreparably damaged by recent events. revelation lifted his anxiety and he rushed to tell his parents, but this only caused them more concern. Thanks again for your support, we really appreciate it. Please stay safe and well and I do hope to see you all soon. One Sunday soon after, whilst watching a Sunday baptism, Walter became even more distressed by this church service and upset his father by saying Kind regards so. On his way home for lunch he saw an old lady, (in Combpyne Road/ Julian Rinaldi Blacksmith’s Hill) reading the bible outside her house. He asked to join her Musbury Garage and soon they were absorbed in this study. This became a regular occurrence, much to his father’s concern, especially as this was the poorest house in the parish. These scripture readings continued and developed into open air meetings, attracting first one then several villagers. They prayed for the conversion of Walter’s parents.

18 Musbury Parish News Summer. 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 31 Then there was the quiet Monday evening when Colin Small spent a The Old Dairy Kitchen. couple of hours playing darts with Billy Fury. Sadly he died the following week and I often blame Colin for pushing him the final halfway to paradise. A transformative Spring and Summer These stories may sound like a flight of fantasy, but they are completely true. After all, in twenty or thirty years time, who on earth will believe that Firstly I’d like to thank everyone in the area who has supported the Old Dairy the pub was forced to close its doors for a month or more due to a virus? Kitchen during these challenging times whether purchasing vouchers for I really miss the laughter, and sometimes drama, of our local. The lunches, Feasts or courses or buying bits and pieces from our online shop, camaraderie of our customers who have become friends is something to it’s meant a lot to our small business. treasure. I am led to believe that Adrian is making good use of the time and giving the interior a good facelift. And one thing is for sure, when the From the end of March we have been running weekly food deliveries and doors reopen, all will be welcome and there will be one Helluva party!! transforming the restaurant into a make shift online shop. I have to admit this Stay alert every body, see you soon! has been a challenge! Setting up the pop-up shop felt like a call to arms at the start. When the government announced that restaurants must close our industry plummeted into the depths of what seemed like no return. I was Ralph deeply distressed for all involved and knew within weeks hospitality workers and their families would be homeless and hungry due to zero hour contracts and unemployment. Thankfully there was support but many small businesses didn’t get what was needed so were being forced to stop trading, Take care everyone Emma, Adrian, Phoebe & Imogen even now we are yet to see the full impact of Covid19 on our industry. My only feeling was we needed to keep going. P.S We have one bit of exciting news just in. Our lovely Emily has got The Old Dairy Kitchen is based on Trill Farm. On the farm are a selection of engaged to Finn so nice to have some good news!! small independently run enterprises sharing the resources of the land and producing various products but at the core is education, sharing and community. In the ODK we buy ingredients from around 25 local producers to be used in dining events or courses. My second concern was for them.

Even if we couldn’t have people joining us for a lovely lunch here on the farm we needed to keep supporting the producers that make our job a pleasure, keep our local economy going and put care and love into their produce and the local landscape. Trill Farm Gardens had already transformed themselves into a veg box supplier with around 150 boxes a week being delivered to people’s doors with the best quality organic vegetables. It was quite a remarkable shift that was happening. We launched the shop at the end of March and the response was great, people snapped up the local produce alongside our cooked meals and we’ve managed to keep our heads above water so far. I must admit that being a delivery boy is not my forte and I do look forward to putting food on a plate again instead of a small, takeaway container!

32 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer. 2020 Musbury Parish News 17 News From The Hind During this period there has been one strong silver lining for me. As our world heads towards a globalised food system, threatening local food producers and handing over the power to huge companies to monopolise We were struggling with what to write for this edition of the parish magazine as what we feed ourselves and our families, suddenly more people have we do not know when we will be able to reopen. As soon as we know we will reverted back to support their local independent businesses. In turn those let you all know! businesses have had to find a new connection with their customers. Since the beginning of lockdown we’ve sent out a weekly newsletter through the Adrian is redecorating what he can without creating expensive unwanted Old Dairy Kitchen mailing list, telling tales and updating the lovely meals bigger jobs, financially we are treading water and we need to be able to reopen and products available through the shop. People’s response has been quite but it must be safe and profitable! wonderful, sending kind words (mainly), pictures of their plated dishes and We were fortunate to have a grant but it won’t last forever so we hope we will bread baked from our Recipe Kits. It makes me very proud that people feel be able to get going again soon. We miss you all! a closeness to what we do here and that providing a plate of food is not the The girls are at home and in the words of Phoebe "Mum I can see why you only thing our little restaurant brings for local people. didn't become a teacher!" So as we can’t tell you of things to look forward to I asked Ralph to write you all a message: Once everything settles down, I look forward to opening the restaurant doors wider than before, I’ll have the biggest smile on my face and with any luck we’ll be serving strawberries and tomatoes fresh from the garden. Gracious me, where does time go? Next year, God willing, will mark a fifty year association with The Hind! Starting out polishing the vast amounts of brass on Stay safe & connected show. I soon progressed to the giddy heights of washing glasses and plates (yes, in Chris Onions those days every one was done by hand). Eventually I reached the required www.olddairykitchen.co.uk age and was let loose to serve behind the bar. The rest, as they say, is history! And what stories there are to tell. I dine out on the fact that Oscar winning Hollywood actor Sir Anthony Hopkins was a regular customer. Tony (oh yes, we called him that) particularly enjoyed a curry, washed down, as he is now quoted as saying, "With a nice Chianti"

Chris at work in the O.D.K.

Is this Tony outside The Golden Hind ? 16 Musbury Parish News Summer. 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 33 Musbury Short Mat Bowls Club Parochial Church Council Due to the current situation, we have not been meeting and playing in the This could be my most difficult report since coming to live in Musbury. Even village hall obviously, but we have tried to keep in touch and all look forward though the Church building is closed for the foreseeable future, the people to the time we can start up again. who make up the Church have been busy keeping in contact with each The League had to terminate in March and many matches were cancelled. other in different ways and serving God in the village by helping out with Both teams were doing reasonably well in Division Two of the Afternoon shopping, telephoning and generally coordinating support for the many League. villagers who need it. Heather Heal and Bryan Groves won the Club Competition in February. Well We managed to get our Table Top Sale in before lockdown. We took extra done to you both. precautions and naturally not so many people came but having said that, We couldn’t have the Ted’s Trophy in March or the AGM in April so we look we made over £500. Thank you to all those who supported us. forward to when we can enjoy them in the future. Not sure how social The Food Bank has moved to the Spar and we are grateful to Julian for distancing could work for Short Mat Bowls. We all have to stand pretty close allowing this. Axminster Food Bank are even more desperate for to each other at the Mat ends when playing a game!! Perhaps it will have to contributions in these difficult days so do please go on supporting this be singles or pairs games only for a while!! The refreshment time half way venture when you shop at the Spar. Thank you to Sheila for kindly taking through the evening would be greatly missed if that had to be abandoned!! the food to Axminster for us. If you can’t visit try and ask others to buy The village hall has to open first of course! No one knows when that will be!! something from you for the Food Bank As the average age of our club is quite high and many have underlying Our Annual Meeting has been postponed until later in the year but we have health problems, it could sadly be a while until we all meet up again but I had a PCC by ZOOM which was different! We missed doing the teas at send good wishes to all members who read this in Musbury and hope that Tony Drake’s Open Gardens but look forward to a time when that happens. you all keep safe and can enjoy the freedom to do those things you have Father Steven and the Ministry Team have been working hard to provide a been looking forward to soon! Keep smiling! Keep busy! Keep Alert!! Service on line each Sunday for us to follow ( including several over Holy Kay Short Week and Easter). We are all grateful for these and if you would like to Secretary 552711. receive them, go to our Holyford Mission Community Website and find the links. There have been Coffee Mornings on ZOOM, telephone Services and Bible Studies by ZOOM. We are so grateful for the technical expertise of some MC leaders and have A Contribution from social media to say many of us are becoming so much more familiar with the internet and able to widen our experience of Apps new to us ‘oldies.’ Many of you, too, A message to all our negative UK Press - including Laura Kuensberg, will have enjoyed family get togethers like us - on your screens. Robert Peston, Beth Rigby, Piers Morgan, There have been so many positives of this historic time in our lives. We are all grateful for the support given to each other in Musbury and look forward Journalism is missing the “mood” of this great country of ours. We do not to better times and more freedom in our lives. We also look forward to the want or need blame. We do not need constant criticism of our time when the Church Building will be open and we can worship and have Government who are doing their very best in a very difficult and fellowship together in person - probably with social distancing!! unprecedented global emergency. This crisis is not their making, there is no precedent of how to best handle it and I’m sure everyone is doing their Kay Short PCC Secretary level best to get it right. 552711 [email protected] But time and again we see our negative press trying to trip up politicians instead of asking questions that will provide positive and reassuring answers for all of us.

I was asked to include the above by a parishioner : ed 34 Musbury Parish News Summer. 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 15 19d 19e

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14 Musbury Parish News Summer. 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 35 19f 19c

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36 Musbury Parish News Summer. 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 13 CHURCH FLOWERS AND CLEANING Musbury and Whitford Women's Institute At the time of writing and the circumstances that prevail I have little to write unfortunately. With the Church closed and no services there would be no As with everything everywhere else our WI meetings have been cancelled one to see flowers on the altar even if we could do them ! until further notice. However, not all activity has ceased and since the On the cleaning front, the annual spring clean had to be cancelled and beginning of April we, friends from other WIs and from Musbury and although plans had been laid for the weekly cleaning rota to continue, this Whitford Villages have been busy making wash-bags for the Nurses and was also abandoned under Diocese instructions. Carers in the area. The idea for this came via social media from The Royal However the porch is being swept and washed regularly so that our Church Stoke Hospital; it seems that news and viruses both travel fast. The simple on the outside at least, doesn’t look so neglected. drawstring bags are made from old, washable sheeting, pillow cases etc. When we return to ‘normal’ (hopefully soon) I am sure we will all work together again to show our love for our lovely Village Church. and are designed to be used by health-care workers to carry their uniforms, scrubs etc home for washing after they have changed at the end of their Sue Irving shift. They can then put the unopened bag straight into the washing 552440 machine, thus reducing the spreading of contamination by viruses and [email protected] bacteria. We have been greatly helped by Ann Veit of Musbury who with her knowledge of Health Care organisations, contacts and organisation skills has been our centre and co-ordinator for the distribution of the bags, as well making them. At the time of writing this we have made and distributed nearly 482 bags. We are also very grateful to all who spring-cleaned their linen cupboards and donated the materials we needed to do this.

In March, two weeks before the lockdown, we were able to enjoy a talk by Rosemary Giggs who, dressed in the persona of Lady Katherine, described her life as a Tudor lady and showed the many layers of her costume which she (Rosemary) had made herself. Sadly because of the virus we were unable to hold the promised Jumble Sale, go on visits or hold our Garden Meeting, all normally part of our summer season. We are keeping in touch with each other, learning computer skills faster than perhaps we would have done usually, and will be ready to re-start all our activities when it is safe to do so. When that happens we will look forward to welcoming new visitors. In the meantime its back to the sewing machine.

Lesley McGowan Lock

12 Musbury Parish News Summer. 2020 Summer. 2020 Musbury Parish News 37 Musbury Houses The Village Collective got into gear very quickly and have acted as great facilitators fitting needs to availability. There are so many people to thank Quiz: Match the Old House Name with the Present that I could go on forever so I made a thank you board for outside my house, currently being repaired and updated. If you don’t feel you fit into House Name any of the categories Thank you. One service which has been fantastic for me is the deliveries from the Spar and Garage, thank you Julian and all On the le are old house names and the earliest date it is recorded as your staff. such. The column on the right are the names of 12 properes in the village today. Both columns are in random order. Some are quite hard, Keep Safe unless you happen to live in that house. It may also be a test of how many Ann Veit modern Musbury house names you know! Perhaps it is me for another Secretary to the League of Friends of Axminster Hospital stroll round the village?...

Match one these To one of these

A. Rumah Kita 1939 1. Cartref Coage B. Brimclose 1939 2. Hunt’s Row C. Old Smithy 1891 3. Malvern House Virtual coffee and Chat D. Prince’s Row 1891 4. Brook Coage E. Hand and Spear Inn 1857 5. The Stables Frustrated that social distancing stops you seeing some village neighbours? Joining our new Musbury Virtual Coffee and Chat could F. Beale’s Farm 1851 6. The White House help! All you need is Zoom access on your computer or you can ask someone G. Griffin’s (Back Lane) 1851 7. Cherry Tree House with a laptop to give you their access.

H. Tanyard (Fore Street) 1861 8. Adcro House Those isolated or living alone are especially welcome to our first I. The Moorings 1901 9. Woodhayes meeting, planned for Wednesday 3 June from 10.30 - 11.30am. J. Mounield Coage 1911 10. Musbury Barton Thereafter, we’ll ‘meet’ every first Wednesday of the month at 10.30 am until we can resume meeting in the Village Hall. K. Coronaon Coage 1929 11. Yew Tree House L. North Coage 1840 12. The Old Forge To join the meeting/make further enquiries, email Sue McCoulough [email protected] as soon as possible, or at latest, before the day of the meeting.

Answers: On the Musbury Heritage Website hps:// There's no obligation to stay for the full length of ‘chat', or attend every www.musburyheritage.co.uk/. No log on required, unless you want month. However, once signed up, you will receive a reminder email each to delve deeper. month, including full instructions for joining the meeting.

38 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 11 Houses that no longer exist On the subject of old house names, have you heard of these? Mounthill & Mount Pleasant Coages (1841-1871) – Further up Mounthill Lane, past Woodhayes, on the right as it begins to level out.

As you are probably all aware the hospital is virtually closed at the moment Hob Knapp (1841-1901) – On the right as you go up Pudleylake Road, just and all clinics have been closed. Essential clinics are being held centrally in past the footpath before you get to the tree plantaons. Exeter and clinicians are prioritising appointments as much as possible in the current climate. Everyone is doing their very best in this unique and Wood House Court (1840-1841) – Connue up the East Devon Way from extremely difficult time. the church and, when the concrete track bends le at the top, go straight When I was informed that I was in shielding isolation for 12 weeks I was on for about 100 metres. devastated. What was I going to do? Now in my 8th week I am having trouble fitting everything in. Do you know of other houses and buildings in Musbury that have I started with the felt animals in the window to amuse children of all ages up disappeared? I would love to hear about them. to 90 +. Then I was running out of reading matter and thought many others were probably in the same boat so the old bookcase on the carport came in ********************* to use. It has grown and grown, people taking books, people bringing books, games and puzzles, there is constant turnover. Names that cannot be identified The nicest thing is to see children walking away clasping a book like the most precious toy in the world. It works like a free library with no ‘fines’ just On the various censuses and other returns there are properes and road help yourself. Please respect social distancing if there are others there but names that give no clue as to where they were. Have you ever heard of the do use it. following? Please let me know if you have. At the time of writing this we have made and distributed 482 ‘nurses’ The Towers – 1910 to 1931 Laundry Bags all in our area with a couple of exceptions. Ottery Community Nurses have been given some, as has Sidmouth Hospital, as both were in Strawberry Lane – 1851 to 1871 need. The others have been distributed in the Axminster, Colyton and Seaton districts. We are still going and will do as long as the pillowcases Berry’s Row – 1851 keep coming in and there is a need for them. Basically they allow the carer/ nurse to change from their uniform before leaving work and stuffing it in the washable laundry bag to take home. It then goes into the washing machine in the bag containing any infection and protecting the user’s family and Martin Minter / Musbury Heritage / [email protected] home from risk. Simple and basic but very effective and very much appreciated from the feedback I have received. Lesley McGowan-Lock and I have worked closely on this project and in many ways it has been great fun. I would like to take this opportunity of thanking all those who have donated pillow cases, some coming from as far away as Honiton and Stockland, and everyone who has converted the pillowcase into Laundry Bags, especially Ken Short who is a dab hand with the sewing machine.

10 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 39 Henry Hoare Weather Watch The following is an edited letter received from Andrew Whittington about the connection of his father John who has died aged 93 and his What a time of contrasts! February was very wet indeed, with 205 mm (8”.) connection with the village. of rain, well over twice the 15-year average of 73 mm (3”). March started th Both he and my mother, Sheila, were very fond of the village of Musbury off much the same, with 79 mm (3”) of rain up to the 19 – and then it and the church of St Michael. My mother's father was Henry James Hoare stopped, so that the month’s total was very close to average. The rest of who was born and grew up in Musbury. He joined the Devonshire the month was bright and sunny, albeit with a cool and often strong east or Regiment in the First World War and served on the Western Front north-east wind, which dried things up pretty quickly. April continued in the where he was severely wounded at the Battle of the Somme in October same vein, with daytime sunshine and, early in the month, night frosts, but th 1916. After treatment for his injuries he was sent to Totteridge, then in these ceased after a drop of rain on 6 and it became pleasantly warm. Hertfordshire but now a London suburb, for his recovery. It was while After almost a month without significant rain, a depression moved up from th th he was there he met my Grandmother, Alice Andrews. After their the south to bring rain on 16 and 17 – just in time for those who had marriage they lived in the North London area, initially at nearby planted their maize a few days before. Further warm and sunny days Whetstone. From just before the Second World War, however , they lived followed but rain on the last days of the month brought the total to 48 mm in Mill Hill, in a house they named "Musbury". (2”), a little below the average of 62 mm. May started sunny and, at times, very warm. However, as I write on 10th, the wind has changed to a strong My mother, the middle of three daughters, was born in 1927. As a child north-easterly and the temperature is dropping fast. Keep those tender she visited Musbury many times, and amongst the endless stories she plants under cover! The (very cautious) long term forecast is for a July with spoke of eating copious amounts of clotted cream whenever she temperatures a little above average. And, if you believe in old weather lore, stayed with the relatives who were still in Musbury. the Oak was very definitely before the Ash this spring, so ‘We shall only get My mother married my father in 1948 and they kept in touch closely a splash’. Let’s wait and see! with her relatives there. I can remember in the early 1960s coming to the area several times and being on Charmouth beach while my Mike Lock Mum went to her folks in Musbury. In latter days my parents would go to Musbury most years and stay on a nearby farm. I believe it was during this time that they became attached to the church, being church people themselves and seeing it as the focal point of the village. It really was a return to my Mum's roots that was adopted wholeheartedly by my Dad too. He truly loved the countryside and saw the Musbury area as the loveliest of all. Once my parents were in their 70s driving to Devon became much more difficult and they kept in touch by the kind inclusion of them in the circulation of the parish magazine. My mother died in December 2018 at the age of 91. Parish Records There is still at least one of my relatives in the area, Penny Emerson was my Mum's cousin so it's lovely to know that we are still _represented _there. _ Burial

I hope everyone is keeping safe in these difficult tinies. 07.04.20 Terrence John Knight Yours Sincerely

Andrew Whittington

40 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 9 Stockers Maidenhayne Lane Musbury Axminster Devon EX13 8AG

27 January 2019

Dear Don,

Thanks for coming around on Friday.

We publish quarterly and distribute free to 300 or so households in Musbury. Our actual readership is rather higher than this as we know our magazine is passed around friends & family in the outlying area. In addition, and although we are primarily a community magazine, through the church it also reaches our sister parishes of Coyton, Colyford, Southleigh & Branscombe. We carry a quarterly diary on the back page of each issue, and we know our readers generally don’t throw out before the next one arrives…thus ensuring all our advertisers have a constant presence amongst our readership. This year we also expect to make the magazine available online. Our magazine is in A5 format and is laser-printed in black & white and published quarterly. We discussed the proposal for a quarter-page advert (approx 50mm wide x 70mm high ‘portrait’) in each of these four issues this year at a total cost of £50

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8 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer. 2020 Musbury Parish News 41 19h 19a

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42 Musbury Parish News Summer. 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 7 Seaton Wetlands Musbury Garden Club Until very recently, I have not been able to visit Seaton Wetlands but I With the last Garden Club talks on Season 10’s Garden Club programme receive regular updates from the Wardens. The site is open but all the hides cancelled, it is ironic that many of us are spending more time in our gardens are closed until further notice. The winter birds like Lapwings and Teal have and allotments than ever. Seed and plant swapping have been the order of the all left. There are plenty of Shelduck on Black Hole Marsh but I have not day, particularly valuable with no access to Garden Centres. seen many further up the valley since things dried up; earlier they were regularly visiting flooded fields. Watch out for mother Shelducks Planning had already begun for the next programme of talks, so, all being well, shepherding broods of grey-and-white ducklings along the road as they try there is much to look forward to. We should have ‘Gardening without plastics’, to get to the river and thence to the estuary. a jaunt round Britain in Bloom and a practical demonstration of seasonal A few waders have been reported on their northward passage, including a pair of Avocets and, recently, a female Ruff (or Reeve). Others have flower decorations – just to give you a flavour of what is to come for Season included Grey Plover, Common Sandpiper and Greenshank. There have 11. been several sightings of Ospreys on their way north, but none stayed long, We were sad to learn that Neil Lovesey, a favourite speaker died recently, as is usual in spring. The quiet conditions on the Marsh and in the hides have encouraged having been ill for a long time. Many of you will have enjoyed his very practical nesting birds and one hide has a pair of Swallows and a Woodpigeon talks and may have visited Picket Lane Nusery at South Perrott which he nesting in it! However, the Sand Martin bank (which featured on Farming owned. Today last week) has yet to attract any birds although a tape of their calls is being played daily. The same ploy will be tried to attract Swifts to the boxes Here’s hoping for a summer of bumper crops, beautiful spaces to sit in and not on a tower that have been put up for them. Kestrels have returned to two of too much watering the nestboxes after a year’s absence. Karen, Val and Sue Mike Lock

Moles

Musbury Village Show The children at Musbury Moles have been enjoying the spring sunshine, painting and rebuilding the wildlife garden. Unfortunately the Covid 19 virus made us close our doors on Friday 20th March. We have been working behind We were very sad not to be able to hold the Musbury Plant & Craft Sale in the scenes to ensure we can open on the 3rd June. We shall be welcoming May and we delayed cancelling the 2020 Musbury Village Show and the the Moles back for the last part of the summer term. Garden Charm Competition for as long as there was hope of staging both This will be a little different from the normal fun activities that go with the end events or of finding some sort of alternative. Sadly nothing seemed feasible, of the year. However we are more than determined to make our Moles have a which is so frustrating when the gardens, veg. plots and allotments seem to great and safe time in the last few weeks of the term. We have 3 children be benefiting from their owners' lockdown and the beautiful spring weather. venturing up to the primary school and we shall be making their transition as We are now looking forward to 2021 when we intend to organise the smooth as possible in these times. The staff have been upskilling whilst they have not been in Moles. Cat will carry on her level 3 Forest School Leader Musbury Village Show and both the Garden Charm and Veg. Plot and course and when completed we shall have two trained Forest School Leaders Allotments Competitions to make up for 2020. in Moles. We are hoping that you are all keeping records of your gardens and your We are lucky to have space inside and out. Being an outdoor preschool our outstanding produce so they can be called upon to enter photographic children are used to outdoor learning and the benefits it has on their learning. classes in the 2021 Show. This is great for the return of our children as outdoor learning has many benefits and is advised by the government for children’s return into education. Lesley McGowan Lock

6 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 43 Musbury Village Hall Every few years a group of organisations publishes 100 club estimates of the numbers of birds in the UK. The latest The results for the last 3 months of 100 Club draws, as follows:- paper was published early in 2020. It deals only with March - £60 draw breeding birds and the 1st No. 30 Sue Leach £30.00 estimate is 85 million pairs 2nd No. 87 Peter Casey £20.00 in total. The commonest 3rd No. 66 Andrew Moulding £10.00. species is the Wren, with 11 million pairs, followed by April - £30 draw the Robin, with 7.35 million. 1st No. 16 Ian Doulton £15.00 Red Kite There are a further 19 2nd No. 73 Annie Stark £10.00 species with over a million 3rd No. 35 Mike Lock £5.00 pairs: House Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Blackbird, May - £30 draw Chaffinch, Blue Tit, 1st No. 50 Caroline Griffin - £15.00 Dunnock, Meadow Pipit, 2nd No. 101 Martin Platts - £10.00 Great Tit, Pheasant, Willow 3rd No. 33 Rod Powell - £5.00 Warbler, Chiffchaff, Starling, Blackcap, Goldfinch. We are relaunching the 100 club in November 2020, or once the current Jackdaw, Skylark, Song situation allows us to. Thrush, Whitethroat, and The Village Hall committee are still looking for a secretary, as no one has Carrion Crow. The overall stepped forward, following the appeal in the last edition of the News. total has changed little since the last estimates As stated before the Committee will have no choice but to close the were published in 2013, but Village Hall if no one can be found. If you are interested in filling this there are winners and role please call Debbie on 01297 35898 losers. The latter include Turtle Dove, Chaffinch, and Greenfinch; among the gainers are Chiffchaff, From the archive Summer 1990 Bush vetch Blackcap and Red Kite, the Go ahead spring clean last up from 1,600 pairs in On Thursday the members of the go-ahead club got together to have a 2012 to 4,400 in 2019. spring clean around the village. Some of the things involved washing all the tables and chairs down the hall, painting the goal posts up the playing Our lanes seem particularly fields, painting the benches at Northfields and lots more. bright with flowers this year; appropriately red (Red Campion), white (Queen All the money we collected went to the Church Urban Fund. To collect the Anne’s Lace, Stitchwort) and blue (Bluebells). Now these colours have been money we split up into groups and went around different parts of the joined by the yellow of buttercups and Yellow Archangel, and the purple of Bush village collecting sponsors. When we had finished all the jobs we had a Vetch and Common Vetch. Blackthorn had a rather short flowering season this barbecue up at Mrs P Langdon’s house . When we added up the money year as the warm weather moved flowering on quickly. As I write Hawthorn is in the total amount was £128.30p full flower, covering some bushes with its creamy white flowers giving promise Stacey Goodwin 11 years old of a good autumn berry crop.

44 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 5 Nature Watch Problem ======Summer migrants have been slow in arriving. Chiffchaffs arrived and started singing their name in mid-March. Blackcaps followed soon afterwards. You have a new job working for the local division of an understaffed virus However, the Swallows and Sand Martins that one expects in early April prevention agency. There has been an outbreak of Covid-19 and the were late and few; I didn’t see my first Sand Martin until 2 April (I would previous employee had to go into self isolation after developing symptoms. normally expect them in late March) and my first Swallow didn’t come until She left you with the following information about Covid-19: 19 April; they are still few and far between. The weather in April was poor over Spain and this may have held them up. Plenty of people have reported - On any given day the number of people infected on the next day will be Swifts to the Devon Birds website but I have yet to see one; they no longer equal to a constant R times the number of people infected on that day nest in the village. Cuckoos have been reported from the Dartmoor fringes times the proportion of uninfected people out of the total population. but I have not heard one; they are, at best, rare here and just pass through on their way to Dartmoor or points north. - As of today, your first day of work, there are currently 1000 infected people and the total population is 1,000,000. The annual passage of Red Kites through the county has started and birds are being reported every day on the Devon Birds website. Look out for them - Due to the hard work of the staff at the vaccines and miracle cures during silage cutting operations as they hang around waiting for flushed or department a cure for Covid-19 will be available after 30 days. However, shredded mice. Blackbirds are feeding young in the garden, and I am sure due to a lack of funding they will only be able to produce 15000 doses of that Blue Tits and Great Tits are both feeding young in the nestboxes. They the cure. will have a hard time finding enough insect food if the cold weather persists for long. Currently, R is estimated to be around 1.2, will all the infected people be able to get the cure after 30 days? The British Trust for Ornithology is celebrating 25 years of Garden Birdwatch. This scheme is unique in being supported by its members – you Your boss has asked you to figure out how small R needs to be so that all of actually pay a subscription to take part. However, for a limited period you the infected people can get the cure when it is ready after 30 days. What is can join without paying (www.bto.org/gbw). You keep a record of the birds your best estimate? you see in your garden each week – the species and the maximum number – and submit the results on-line to the BTO at the end of each week. I am not among the elite who have sent in over 1,000 weekly records (there are 1,185 of these), but I’m approaching 900! Two hundred and fifty gardens have sent in records for the whole 25 years, and there have been big Quiz for the young at heart changes during this time. The biggest gainer has been the Goldfinch which has moved from 20th to 8th in order of abundance, closely followed by the Woodpigeon, which has moved from 12th to 2nd. Other species that have 1. How many zeros are there in the number one thousand? increased, but to a lesser extent, are Nuthatch, Long-tailed Tit, Jackdaw, 2. Who is Anna’s sister in the Disney film Frozen? Coal Tit and Magpie. The biggest losers are Song Thrush, Greenfinch, 3. What is a young sheep called? Wren, House Sparrow and Starling, with Blackbird, Collared Dove, Chaffinch 4. How many weeks are in a year? and Great Spotted Woodpecker also declining, albeit slightly. These results 5. In what country is the Great Barrier Reef? help in the annual assessment of which species are declining or increasing 6. What does water turn into when it is frozen solid? nationally, and they are particularly important now, during lock-down, as 7. What is half of the number fifty? other surveys have been suspended. 8. Name as many planets in our solar system as you can (a point for each) 9. What is the biggest ocean on Earth?

4 Musbury Parish News Summer. 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 45 Letter from Trill Farm Wordsearch Word Search! Can you find 12 DevonName: towns? Date: I’m writing this as the sun rises and the dawn chorus allows me to hear the cuckoo here for the first time since I arrived, twelve years ago. Find and circle each of the words from the list below. Words may appear forwards or backwards, horizontally, vertically or diagonally in the grid. With the pandemic taking hold in the world population, we are experiencing a cleaner and quieter, friendly place to be. As I open my front door and see my benches and chairs arranged in a half circle welcoming the view of the P O I I V Y B R I D G E J M woodlands and ponds in the half light of the morning, I feel proud and part of this landscape, this valley leading towards the sea. I am proud that the M S U E P N G A O N N T O S diversity and wildlife is returning during my time here, proud that this valley is showing its natural beauty. B I A X M I N S T E R R O K I realise I am hugely privileged to be here surrounded by wildlife and able to I D E S G C R E D I T O N E feel the rising energy of Spring burst through and transform the landscape, turning the trees green, enabling flowers to open and warming the insects D M M Z V J M L S U A N E X waking out of winter.

E O E R C Y C C E F H O A M It is easier to be true to yourself when you’re not rushing around and you can see yourself as you are - part of nature and part of its process. The F U A F N O C F N P E T M O Farm is closed to visitors and courses this Spring and with Jane, Tamsin and Mariel working from home, my daughter Lara and her family have O T A S H B U R T O N I R U moved into the guest house and are doing the lambing and online sales. It has been a special time together. R H S W U B R C O U U N Q T Spring is a time for birth of the new and to nurture. I really hope there is a D O F K C O L Y T O N O X H possibility for the world to do things differently. With the small businesses here, adapting how they operate, we are showing our resilience in change. U K C O T S I V A T E H E M We have always focused on demonstrating the importance of supporting and working with nature, the environment, valuing community and ensuring V V E R R L B A O A O L X A business is responsible. Would it be too optimistic to believe this was something that could become a global approach to trading, food production E H G I E L K N I W X E Y R and working with each other? I hope that people and politicians will now appreciate that the real issues of climate change, waste and diminishing resources need to prioritised.

Exmouth Totnes Tavistock Crediton Ivybridge Romy Fraser Ashburton Winkleigh Sidmouth Axminster Bideford Colyton Honiton

Copyright ©TEST WorksheetWorks.com

46 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 3 Stability also entails establishing a rhythm of life, not a series of routines, but a deeper pattern of being which enables us to focus on what is truly important: Some Anagrams knowing God’s love and living in the light of that love so that we can simply share it with others. This can be achieved through prayer and contemplation, giving standalone yeah, —————- a Musbury thoroughfare thanks for the times when we have been given something we didn’t earn or deserve which has caused us to see goodness at work, or, if we are grieving (for carnivorous —————— The current main topic on the news a person, or for a situation past or present) knowing that God will share the burden and weight of that with us as we offer it to him. lodgers thatch. ——————- Popular cider drink I believe Our churches stand as beacons which remind us of God’s stability: his steadfast goodness and mercy towards us. I hope that soon our beautiful Parish Church cable plumper ——————- pudding course will be open again, at least so that people can come in to pray quietly by themselves. Generations have passed through the doors of St Michael’s to offer Elston holstering ——————- A beat combo, from the sixties their prayers and seek stability in a world which is constantly changing. Although the doors of the church are shut at present, the rhythm of worship has booker mortality. ______a goodie recently deceased continued through our online services and services via telephone (see our website for details: Holyford.org or our Facebook page: @Holyfordmission). The goose whether ______. The night watchman cry services will return to church as soon as we are allowed to have them there. Getting back to some sort of normality in church, or at work or at home, as the anchovy diked. ——————— living English artist restrictions change, will require a good measure of energy, patience and ingenuity. Above all it will demand stability, which begins with us as individuals. A goblet pathogenesis. —————- Italian dish commitment to our place and the people around us, and a commitment to putting the loving purposes of God at the forefront of our lives. This begins by knowing parchment secretaries —————- one of the greatest welsh groups that God gives us the power to forgive others because we know ourselves to be forgiven and loved by him. I leave you with a prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr. Ikhnaton syphon. ——————- a regular at the hind?

With every good wish and blessing, below mind. ———————— a tennis event cancelled this year.

Fr Steven. stalest unforgivably —————— a music event cancelled this year. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Menuhin scattered ——————- a half decent football team courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Dorrie Joanie ——————— a Brazilian seaside resort

Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; mud Portland ———————- the so called leader of the free world accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as He did, this sinful world featherbed gravestone. ————— Sunday lunch as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right Avon steed —————- our local area if I surrender to His Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life earthed footed monkish. ————- a prog rock classic and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. lands mattocks ————- a local land mark Amen.

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

2 Musbury Parish News Summer 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 47 And Finally From The Vicarage Steven Writes “My boy lollipop One of the phrases we hear a lot now is ‘the new normal’. Are we supposed You make my heart go giddy up to feel secure or unsettled by it? Do you particularly desire a ‘new normal’ or You are as sweet as candy would you prefer the ‘old normal’ back? You're my sugar dandy Ho, ho, my boy lollipop Part of me hankers after the ‘old normal’. My old normal was a diary full of Never ever leave me meetings. These are fewer now, which is no bad thing, but via Zoom. While Because it would grieve me this is useful, I find having to look at myself on a screen depressing… My heart told me so” observing each meeting how much weight I have been putting on since Millie Small 1947-2020 lockdown. Zoom is quite tiring to use, not least when the internet connection fails at a vital point and one is left wondering if everyone else heard what “Greed has taken the whole universe, and nobody is worried about their soul.” was just said (I get round this by copying the facial expressions of others, Little Richard 1932-2020 either nodding and smiling or frowning and shaking my own increasingly flabby face convincingly, hoping nobody twigs I haven’t a clue what is going “There are two things no man will admit he cannot do well: drive and make on). It is much easier to communicate in a room with other human beings I love.” think. Stirling Moss. 1929-2020 The ‘new normal’ may mean more time alone, or more time with close family; When I set out to get the summer edition of the News together, I thought it perhaps more time to get the garden in order and various jobs done. For us might well be a rather thin edition, but I have been proved completely wrong. as a society, the ‘new normal’ may involve a future where we find ourselves Thank you to all contributors, who have certainly made a great effort and thank confined or restricted to varying degrees and various intervals. As you to all the people who have encouraged me to go ahead with publication individuals, our normality may have been shaken by loneliness or the death when I first muted the idea. The idea was to provide some form of normality of a loved one. Adapting to a new normality may be easy for some, but and perhaps a record of life in the period of lockdown. I was told “The News is painful for others. Living through any change can, however, bring about like a clock, one depends on it coming out to relate to what part of the year it opportunities for growth: in wisdom, understanding and humility. is” The early Christians—those who witnessed Christ’s ministry or the ministry of the first Apostles—had to get used to a ‘new normal’. They rose to the I feel lucky to live in Musbury, not only a beautiful part of Devon, but a vibrant challenge, living the Gospel message—that God loves and forgives us, that supportive community that has pulled together in time of crisis. We seem to whether life is normal or abnormal, exciting or frustrating, we can find joy and have been far removed from the worst of the virus, the panic buying and in the stability in the knowledge of this love. This is essentially what must be at the early days before lockdown it seemed we had stepped back in to a time warp. core of living the Christian life for all of us. As soon as lockdown started a group of volunteers got together offering, help with shopping, medication and support to vulnerable people. The Spar shop Living the ‘old normal’ or the ‘new normal’ each presents its own set of started offering food deliveries. Graham and Annie started delivering challenges. Perhaps the key is to seek and pray for stability, something that medications. There are many other people who have been supporting the enables us to fruitfully engage with ‘the changes and chances of this fleeting community as well. Thank you to all of them. world’ (not my words, but from a prayer during the service of Compline). Benedictine monks and nuns take a vow of stability, which means they I am sure people have become more adapt at technology, where would we be promise to live in the same place and community. This is important: the other without Zoom? A reminder that church services are available on Zoom full monks or nuns may drive you mad. You may get bored or frustrated by living details at www.holyford.org alongside others, or by living alone within the same four walls, yet it is important to seek stability. This involves forgiving others (as the Lord’s Prayer reminds us) and forgiving ourselves because God knows and forgives us and wants us to live our lives as fully as possible.

48 Musbury Parish News Summer. 2020 Summer 2020 Musbury Parish News 1 Holyford Mission Community www.holyford.org Virtual coffee mornings will soon be taking place on Zoom. There seem to be online singing groups, Pilates classes, quizzes and I am sure many Rector Fr Steven Martin [email protected] 553180 other things. Church Office Administrator Emma Laughton [email protected] 552307 Revd Preb John Lees (Associate Minister) 551351 As I write this it seems that there are signs of some restrictions being Linda Joy (Children and Families Worker) 07599292449 lifted and it is possible that the pub may be able to serve refreshment in Jan Lees (Reader) 551351 the garden soon . One of the blessings of the past few months is the Emma Laughton (Reader) 551400 wonderful weather and I am sure every garden and allotment in Musbury Revd Victoria Chester 07489882824 has benefitted from extra attention . Charles Hill (Reader) 552141 Revd Canon Colin Preece (Retired Assistant clergy) 552154 Judging by the shortage of flour, yeast, Airfix kits, jigsaws, and seeds Revd Nigel Freathy (Retired clergy) 22303 everybody is learning new skills and taking up new hobbies. Revd Jeremy White (Retired clergy) 32299 St Michael’s Church, Musbury Special thanks are due to many people but several people have Church wardens especially asked me to thank Julian and the team. Mrs Sue Irving, Cherry Tree House, Church Hill 552440 Mr Michael Pritchard, Knap Orchard, Combpyne Rd 552297 So “A BIG THANK YOU” to the Spar for going the extra mile with their amazing service to the village , above & beyond in provisions and Treasurer helpfulness. The first place to have flour, Paracetomol and loo rolls Mr Robin Collis, Monmouth House 551105 readily available. Well done! As mentioned before thank you to Annie and Graham for medication deliveries and thank you Emma for coordinating the Covid volunteers.

Thank you to all the sewers and stitchers for doing what you do and last MUSBURY PARISH NEWS but not least Thank you Ann for providing a library and game, jigsaw hub, Village Website: www.musburyvillage.co.uk and for letting the News use your garage as a distribution point.

This magazine is published quarterly by the Parochial Church Council of St. Thank you to anybody I have not mentioned for doing your bit. Michael’s, and is distributed free of charge to all households in the Parish. The cost is borne by the PCC but is largely offset by advertising revenue and by a Stay alert, mind how you go! grant from the Parish Council. The Treasurer will always welcome donations by readers. Jolly The services provided by our advertisers are commended: when using them please mention the Musbury Parish News. Editor Jolly Sargent, Ruffles, Doatshayne Lane 552470 [email protected]

Distribution: Mr David Antell 553454 Contributors please note Advertising: Rod Powell 552681 Deadline for next Issue 14th August

Musbury Diary Summer 2020 Watch the village web site http://musburyvillage.co.uk Church website http://holyford.org MUSBURY PARISH And village notice boards for a resumption of normal service NEWS

The Parish News is normally distributed free of charge to all households in the parish of Musbury , but due to coronavirus this edition is only available by collection from Ann Veit’s garage. It is also available online at the Village web site http://musburyvillage.co.uk

If you know of any parishioner who may not be able to get out but would like a copy please feel free to deliver one but remember to “stay safe”

A Covid 19 Reminder

Musbury Spar is offering a delivery service to Musbury residents for orders over £10. Phone 552292 for details.

The village already has a good network of neighbours , but if you feel anyone has slipped through the net , or are in need of anything yourself this is a reminder of a phone no you can call Emma at The Hind 553553 Summer 2020