Items for the July Newsletter to ibuxton16@btinternet.com by Monday 27th July - Please.

Parish Hall

Work has started! This long awaited announcement means that if all goes according to plan the new hall will be ready to be handed over by the end of the year. Plans are already being made for an opening ceremony, but before then there is much to be done quite apart from the little matter of actually erecting the building.
A General Purposes Committee has been formed and if anyone in the Parish wants to put forward suggestions for equipment, furniture, furnishings and how these will be paid for then they are invited to come to the next hall meeting on Wednesday 1st July at 7.30pm.
The hall belongs to us, the residents of the parish and is for our benefit as much as our heirs and successors. We will have the facilities to stage entertainment, provide community services, play sports, hold parties, wedding receptions, form new clubs or simply meet for coffee and biscuits in a warm, modern environment overlooking the green fields that are so symptomatic of Ashwater.
Despite the economic climate this is a time for a bit of local celebration and to pat yourselves on the back, as without your support, enthusiasm and determination the first new Ashwater community building for a hundred years would not be being built today. Well done and thank you.

4th July - Dog Show

Whilst our American cousins are celebrating their ‘Independence Day’, we in Ashwater will be holding our own event from lunchtime onwards with a Dog Show on the Village Green accompanied by cream teas, a treasure hunt, stalls etc., Entries for the dog show from 1.30pm, showing from 2.30pm.

Horticultural Club

Our next outing is on Monday 6 July 7.00 pm (weather permitting) to a wildflower meadow in Bridgerule. We will probably meet again on village green at 6.45 to organise lifts, so anybody is welcome to come along.
We will charge the usual £1 as we normally do and £2 for non-members.
Show schedules are now available in the Post Office at 30p with first entry free. Brian Cox also has some schedules at Manor Cottage or contact Fiona on 01409 221403. We would really encourage people to join in even if they are not members, as this is such an enjoyable and non-serious local show.
So if you have previously been to the show and thought your veg or flowers were better than those shown, now is the chance to take part. We would love to see more children’s entries too.

Ashwater Big Breakfast - 1st August 2009. This Event has been postponed.

A Big Breakfast will be held in the Parish Church one Saturday each month until the new hall is finished and if successful, continue as an "event" in the hall. Organised by the church, with all profits going towards the ‘New Hall’ with catering by St.Peters Catering (registered with Torridge Environmental Health Dept) the menu will be: - fruit juice, full breakfast, including eggs, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, hash browns, beans, sausages, fried bread, tea/coffee and toast. We hope, as many folks as possible will attend.
Breakfasts will be served from 8.30am to 11.30am and the "package" will cost just £4.50. Pre-ordering on 01409 21340 would help us to cater. The first breakfast will be Saturday 1st August.

Agricultural Committee

The show date is Saturday 15th August 2009. All enquiries to Jodi Richards on 07881 810500.

Ashwater Lunch Club

Advance booking is essential. Please phone 01409 211200 at the latest before 11am on the day. We now meet at the Village Inn on the first Thursday of each month, commencing 2nd July at 12.30pm.

Beaford Arts

A unique photographic archive of life in north Devon, featuring over 8,000 images dating from around 1870 - 1940 and collected by James Ravilious, is now available online at www.beafordoldarchive.org.uk

Whilst working on his own images for the Beaford Archive, James collected older photographs of north Devon, from the people and communities he was photographing. This 8,000 strong historical document is now available online as a searchable database by place and by subject. The new digitised database is the most comprehensive pictorial record of farming life in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The archive includes detailed records of ploughing, harvests, weddings and holidays - often naming the person and place featured - and also features such oddities as a blacksmith shoeing an elephant in High Bickington, and a 68 foot whale beached at Hartland Point. As well as the facility to search for old images of villages and families, each picture has an "Add Information" button.

Users of the website can help build an even better historical record around the images by adding recollections to the details listed, which over time will build James’ collection into an even stronger historical resource. Plus, for the first time all images are available to order as prints.

At first glance there do not seem to be any photographs of Ashwater, although the rail crash at Halwill Junction in 1905 is featured and some of Holsworthy depict places easily recognisable today. Please let Ivan Buxton know if after working through all 8,000 images you find any of Ashwater or already have any old photographs of Ashwater he may copy. The idea is to compile a glossary for public display in the new Parish Hall.

Parish Council

The parish council held its Annual General Meeting on the 13 May 2009.
The honorary officers elected were Chair - Trevor Moon, Vice-chair - Steve Furse, Finance - Alex Beynon and Footpaths - Eric Burnill.

The parish council agreed that dog fouling bins will be installed in the village and are liasing with Torridge District Council.

Information regarding Japanese Knotweed can be obtained from Devon County Council by calling 0845 1551004.

The Annual Parish Meeting was held on the 10 June 2009. The guest speaker John van de Laarschot, Chief Executive of Torridge District Council gave a very interesting talk and slide show about supporting rural communities and rural engagement. Beverley Harvey, the police community support officer reported that there had been 6 crime incidents in the last 6 months. However, it was mentioned at the meeting about the concern residents had about speeding in and around the village.

The parish council has been advised that more parish walks leaflets will need to be printed. These are available at the post office/shop.

The parish council was represented at the recent Holsworthy Area Advisory Group Meeting.

There will be a road closure for drainage works between Oak Cottage and Hunscott Beacon from 12 - 13 August 2009. A notice and a copy of the map will be placed on the notice board.

Parish council meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month and the next meeting will be on Wednesday 8 July 2009. Public participation for residents of Ashwater can attend all meetings from 7.30pm.

From our District Councillor

I can be contacted at 01409 211234/07739 972043 or e-mail: councillor.parsons@torridge.gov.uk
(Editor’s Note: Barry is now also our Devon County Councillor representing Holsworthy Rural)

Holsworthy Area Children Centre