THE HARTLAND POST First published in 2015, in the footsteps of omas Cory Burrow’s “Hartland Chronicle” (1896-1940) and Tony Manley’s “Hartland Times” (1981-2014) Issue No. 1 Winter 2015 £1 ‘A Prevailing Wind’ by Merlyn Chesterman THE HARTLAND POST A quarterly news magazine for Hartland and surrounding area Issue No. 1 Winter 2015/16 Printed by Jamaica Press, Published by e Hartland Post Advertising costs All communications to: e Editor, Sally Crofton, Small ads 1/18th of a page: £25/year (4 issues) 102 West Street, EX39 6BQ Hartland. Full page: £450/year Tel. 01237 441617 Email: [email protected] Half page: £225/year Dear Readers, e last edition of the sorely missed Hartland Times was in My thanks go to the AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural September 2014. Since then, many of us in Hartland have Beauty) and the Hartland Parish Council who have given regretted its passing on an almost daily basis. Whether it was us grants as “seed money” which have enabled us to publish to have a quick look at the ads to find that elusive telephone this first issue. Grateful thanks also to those who have made number, or to consult one or other of the calendars or diaries, donations and to the advertisers who have permitted us to the Hartland Times had all the answers. get up and running fairly quickly. Very many thanks also So welcome to the first edition of e Hartland Post! Tony to Clive Brocklehurst who was has so kindly designed and Manley M.B.E., former editor of the Hartland Times, has left drawn our cover, and to Merlyn Chesterman for her woodcut us with a precious legacy and I hope that I am going to be up “A Prevailing Wind”, used here as a banner. I am immensely to the challenge of following in his footsteps. grateful to all those valiant and patient people who have helped with the layout and contributed articles and illustrations. I first came to Hartland in 1992 when I stayed with my family in Higher Clovelly. at summer our friends came from far e Hartland Post is being run on an entirely voluntary basis and wide to visit us. In spite of spectacularly bad weather and will be financed by revenue from advertising, donations, - wind, rain, gales, sea mist - we were all enthralled by the sales, grants and sponsors. It will come out every three months beauty of the breathtaking scenery along the North Devon - Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn - and will be on sale in coast, perfect for the keen walkers and the ocean lovers that the local shops. ere will be an online version available free we are. So enchanting was Hartland, that the following year of charge, particularly for our overseas readers. we rented a cottage in the village at number 102 West Street. Although we won’t be making any charge for the online version e cottage was Mary Norton’s (author of “e Borrowers”) of the Post we would be grateful for small donations for this last home and became our home from home for the next 22 service, as we are unable to deal with the administration years, first renting and finally buying it in 1997. And then, generated by managing subscriptions. after living in France for 35 years, we sold up and moved Your contribution to e Hartland Post is vital! Please send all permanently to Hartland in June of this year. information that you would like to see in print in the Post to the It seemed inevitable that someone would eventually come editor; particularly for the births, deaths and announcements forward to take over the Hartland Times and I am thrilled to section. You will notice that I have only been able to report the be the one to take on this adventure. Printing has gone through deaths with their dates for this first issue. Please remember to many radical changes since omas Cory Burrow’s Hartland send me obituaries to publish and if you can only provide the Chronicle, and today publishing is done almost entirely information in note form, I am happy to write up the article. over the internet, with editors and printers only meeting in And don’t forget photos! cyberspace. I am, however, very pleased to report that after For all articles, announcements or advertisements to appear researching the feasibility and financing of internet printing, in the next issue the DEADLINE IS MID FEBRUARY 2016; we are able to continue the collaboration with Jamaica Press issue number 2 will be out around mid March. who will print our magazine. eir help and guidance have been indispensable for producing this first issue; it would have With very best wishes from the editorial team for a happy been a very hard task indeed over the internet. Christmas and a peaceful New Year. e Editor If you would like to join the Friends of Hartland Post and make a donation to secure the financial future of our publication, please send contributions to e Hartland Post, 102 West Street, Hartland. Cheques payable to e Hartland Post. 2 The Hartland Post No. 1 Winter 2015-2016 CHRISTMAS GREETINGS Grace Heywood wishes all her friends and neighbours a Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year. e Davey family from Stoke Barton farm have decided to make a donation to the North Devon Hospice this year instead of sending Christmas cards. We would therefore like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and best wishes for a peaceful and healthy New Year. Barbara Davey will not be sending local cards this year so would like to wish all her family and friends a Happy and Peaceful Christmas and all good wishes for the New Year. Rob and Christina Woodroffe send heartfelt thanks for all the kindness and support given to them as they faced challenging health issues this year. We send you all very warm wishes for a very Happy, Peaceful and Healthy Christmas and New Year. HARTLAND TOWN BAND CONTENTS CHRISTMAS CAROL TOUR Page 2 Editorial DECEMBER 2015 Page 3 Christmas Greeting Town Band Carol Tour Band A Page 4 Christmyth Tues 15th Pattard, Mount Pleasant, Norton, Page 5 Hartland Churches Together Diary Hescott, Highdown, e Retreat Farewell Wed 16th Hartland Town & e Fire Station Page 6 326 (Hartland) Squadron ATC Fri 18th Wargery, Trellick, Lymbridge, Elmscott Page 7 - 8 Out & About in Hartland Sat 19th Hartland Quay 7pm Page 9 St John’s Swifts Sun 20th Methodist Carol Service 6pm Nature Counts Ford, Sutherland, Greenhill Fosfell Philham Page 10 Hartland Parish Council News Leigh Farm Page 11 Hartland W.I. Tues 22nd Rosedown, Mettaford Farm Cook’s Corner e Old Post Office Hartland Weather e Milky Way Page 12 - 13 Fitness, well-being, social: urs 24th Carols in the Square at 7.30pm What’s on in & around Hartland Page 14 Clovelly RNLI Band B Page 15 News from our schools Tue 15th e Mill, Downe, Cheristow, Dillington, Page 16 - 17 Hartland in the Arts Pitt, Gawlish, Titchberry Page 18 Hartland RBL News Wed 16th Hartland Town (starting at Well Spring) Page 18 - 20 Welcombe Jottings Fri 18th Welsford, Tosberry, Summerswell, Wembsworthy, Edistone Page 24 AONB Sat 19th Royal British Legion 9pm Sun 20th Methodist Carol Service 6pm Greenlake, Galsham, Stoke, Hartwell Tues 22nd Harton Cross, Natcott, Pen Y Bryn An e-copy of the Hartland Post will urs 24th Carols in the Square at 7.30pm be made available shortly on Dropbox No. 1 Winter 2015-2016 The Hartland Post 3 CHRISTMYTH An American magazine asked a number of authors to write Ernesto Cardenal, a priest in Nicaragua, discussed the Gospels an article about the person who had impressed them most. with his poor and dispossessed parishioners. Here are some of e French author Jean Giono submitted one about Elzéard their observations. Bouffier, a shepherd. e story was called “e Man Who FELIX: e liberator had to be born among the oppressed. Planted Trees”. OLIVIA: e rich and the poor will be liberated. Us poor It tells of the shepherd’s long and successful single-handed people are going to be liberated from the rich. e rich are effort to re-forest a desolate valley. is is in Provence in the going to be liberated from themselves, that is, from their foothills of the Alps during the first half of the 20th century. wealth. Because they are more slaves than we are. e writer stays with Bouffier and watches him sort and plant hundreds of acorns. Ten years later, after the war, he visits NATALIA: [Mary] was a woman of the people like us. him again. A new forest is spreading slowly over the valley. FELIPE: e angel is any idea, any inspiration that you Eventually these trees bring rain, the land becomes habitable get in the woods when you’re there cutting wood, any idea and villages thrive. Over a period of forty years the valley is about doing something for other people, for the community. turned into a kind of Garden of Eden. It’s the Holy Spirit because the Spirit is the spirit of love for is account of one man’s selfless dedication has inspired others, right? many people to plant trees. I have told the story several times. ALEJANDRO: And as I see it that Jesus who was being born Afterwards I let the audience into a secret: there was no one in a manger, like a child is born here in the mountains, in a called Elzéard Bouffier. e story is fiction.