AGM 2018

AGENDA Starcross History AGM 2018 followed by Mosaic and Horses workshop. Wednesday 14^th March 2018 7:30pm . St Paul’s Church

1.               Apologies for absence

2.               Previous AGM was May 11^th 2016. Hard copy of chair’s report 2016 will be available

3.               Chair’s report 2018 has been emailed to all members. Hard copies will be available

4.               Financial report - hard copy available

5.               Election of committee. Present committee: Chair: Monica Lang. Treasurer: Barbara Rich.  Tom Reeves. Barbara Wright. Volunteers please for any role.

6.               Date and time of next meeting

7.               Mosaic and Horses workshop

^{Starcross History Chair’s Report AGM Wednesday, March 14th 2018 7:30pm in St Paul’s Church} 

Our last AGM was on May 11th 2016, at  7:30pm in St Paul’s Church.

Matters arising from the Chair’s 2016 AGM Report

Campaign to save Railway Carriage Camping at Dawlish Warren

The railway camping carriages and campsite at Dawlish Warren were bought by the Stapleton family for £216,000 by the Stapleton family. The carriages have been restored, and the site continues as the Brunel Holiday Park.

This unique, family run park is believed to be the largest of its kind in the UK and one of the last remaining places where you can holiday in a train carriage.
Our eight carriages date from the 1940's, 1950's and 1960's, and have been enjoyed by countless holidaymakers for over 50 years. Each spacious carriage sleeps 6 to 8 people, and has a kitchen and shower room…

https://www.facebook.com/pg/brunelholidaypark accessed 27 January 2018

Additional planning permission was achieved on 5^th December 2017,  to operate this site all year round.

Re-create the Stairs Cross

This project about the origin of the name ‘Starcross’ continues to be on our agenda.

Starcross Parish Council continue to offer a place for a stone cross, if we can prove that; in the twelfth century, the Bishop of Sherborne marked the landing stage from Pratteshide, here at Woolcomb’s Island, with a stone cross at the top of a stone staircase. Or could the Star in Starcross be derived from the Norse word stoth, which meant simply a landing stage for loading and unloading cargo?

 OED definition for staithe
noun (in the north and east of England) a landing stage for loading or unloading cargo boats.

o                   ‘With an almost flat bottom, the boat was designed so that it could be pulled up the steep beach or staithe.’

Origin: Middle English: from Old Norse stǫth ‘landing stage’.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/staithe?#_=_ accessed  27 January 2018

Oral History

Some work was done during the Villages in Action’s Unearth project. Kate Green, from Villages in Action worked with children from Starcross Primary School. Georgie Lax, the leader in history at the school, is hopeful that further work can be done with Villages in Action and the Hear and Now Talking Newspaper studio at Dawlish. This will enable the children to record stories from the older residents of Starcross. Transcripts and the recordings could be made available on disc and online.  The Peacock-Cookson Memorial

This pink marble memorial in St Paul’s churchyard, with its broken cross symbol for a life cut short, is an important part of the Starcross identity. Its condition will be monitored to ensure its retention

Activities

Starcross History continues to have a presence on the internet. https://starcrosshistory.blogspot.co.uk/  had 60,546 hits on 30 January 2018

The posts from here are shared with the Facebook page Starcross News https://www.facebook.com/starcrossnews/

Parrots and Hats: Starcross Village Activity Day, Saturday 14^th May 2016

The organisers kindly allowed us space in the pavilion. We encouraged children to be interested in our display about Starcross history, by giving a free workshop to make parrots out of card, lolly sticks, buttons and bits of material.

Hats leftover from our September Steampunk Hat Workshop were offered free of charge to anyone who would make a scarecrow for Starcross Scarecrow Day on June 18^th.

JUMBLE SALE in St Paul's Church EX6 8QB Saturday June 4th 2016 from 2pm

Many thanks to everyone at St Paul’s who worked very hard to make this happen.

This raised £100

Starcross Scarecrow Day Saturday June 18^th 2016

The Starcross History entry in the village Scarecrow Day was Mrs Peacock; an amalgam of all the tails from our Peacocks' Tails' History Trail on St George's Day; April. 23rd.

Trail Recycled Art in the Landscape from July 2016 until September 2016

All the peacocks' tails from our Peacocks' Tails History Trail in April were turned into a sculpture of a giant peacock’s tail. This was installed on Teignmouth seafront for the summer.

Wednesday16^th September 2016, 7:30pm St Paul’s Church

Jon Nichol Doing Local History

In just 2 days, Jon researched books, documents and the internet, took his camera and notebook around the village; and gathered enough material about Starcross's past to fill 6 large tables and a notice board.

'Did Queen Victoria ever come to Starcross?' We were excited to learn that the answer is yes. An excerpt from her diaries - freely available on the internet - describes a journey from Budly Salterton to Powderham, on board HMY Victoria and Albert.

Jon gave the group half an hour to root about in the evidence presented; to discover what Starcross would have looked like to Queen Victoria. Their searches produced more questions: Was the quay Ashes Quay? The allotments were called Ashes Field… so who was Ash? More local knowledge was added to the equation: violet farming and salt mining.

We were honoured with the presence of Isambard Kingdom Brunel himself at this meet. Mr Brunel (aka Dave Grylls) spoke to us about the Newton Abbot Town and Great Western Railway Museum - which is ADMISSION FREE 

Jumble Sale. Saturday, 29^th October 2016. 2:00pm. St Paul's Church EX6 8QB

Many thanks to everyone at St Paul’s who worked very hard to make this happen.

This raised £89.40p

Wednesday 9^th November 2016, 7:30pm St Paul’s Church

Kate Green from Villages in Action addressed our meet of Starcross History. The Lottery funded Unearth project is supported by South West TV and Film Archive and the South West Heritage Trust. Starcross, Brentor, Buckfastleigh, Chagford, Colyford and Colyton Parish, Crediton, Rattery and Whimple will unearth their histories. All will be published online. There will be a multi-media performance in each village, to illustrate the history unearthed. Each village will also have a film night. The Starcross Film Night (to be confirmed) will be in St Paul’s Church on Wednesday, January 11^th at 7:30pm.

It was decided that a core group of researchers would meet regularly. The bi-monthly meets of Starcross History will resume after the Unearth project.

see appendix 1 for the log the Unearth project

Thankyou for the Music in St Paul’s Church Saturday, 20^th May 2017

As part of this musical weekend in St Paul’s, Starcross History presented  workshops to make a Glass Harmonica, and Comb&paper mouthorgans

Wednesday 8^th November 2017, 7:30pm St Paul’s Church

Starcross History group was taken back to the 18^th and 19^th centuries, as Kenton’s Ian  Graham-Jones presented an illustrated account, with music, of John Marsh’s visits to Devon. Starcross’s Jon Nichol read extracts from the diaries in the voice of the curmudgeonly John Marsh; (1752 - 1828) diarist, composer, writer and father of 6. 

“ …[St Nicholas Church] Sidmouth… 2 psalms and an anthem sung by a coarse sett of singers accompanied] as coarsely by some noisy and untenable clarinets etc. ”

“St Sidwell’s in the suburbs, [of Exeter] a handsome church lately rebuilt with a good organ badly played. ”

An expedition to Mamhead, Oxton and Powderham describes the Reverend Swete’s Oxton House as  “a pleasant cottage”. The return journey was through Starcross to Dawlish.

Ian Graham-Jones has some John Marsh scores for sale, and the deciphered diary extracts in a bound cover.

Next meet

Please does anyone know of a speaker for around May 2018? Should we try an afternoon meet?

Projects

Mosaics and Horses

Immediately after this AGM, Alma Harding and Joanne Bickel will lead a workshop to create mosaics and horses.

Mosaics

Mosaics will be sited around the village, to commemorate Starcross’ history.  This idea follows on from the Peacocks’ Tails’ Trail  which took place during the 2016 St George’s Day Celebrations at St Paul’s Church. Led by artist Melissa Muldoon, children at Starcross Primary School made Peacocks’ Tails which marked an history trail around Starcross. Members of St Paul’s Church suggested a more permanent history trail.

During the Unearth Project, it was apparent that, although people are interested in our history and the origins of Starcross place names, information isn’t readily available. 

Andrew Stacey ,Community Art and Design Adviser for Teignbridge, has contacted me about this project.

Today’s workshop will demonstrate how straightforward it is to create outdoor mosaics.

Horses

Starcross History plans to call its entry for this year’s Teignmouth TRAIL “Horse” - to go with our mosaic of a blacksmith’s forge.

Horses, horse’s heads, or anything horsey can be made from plastic rubbish. Any size - but the sculptures will be open to all the elements on Teignmouth seafront for the summer SO they must be secure and will have to be securely anchored down using fence posts with metal drive-in spikes.

TRAIL http://www.trailart.co.uk/  is a protest about wasted resources. That our horse sculptures look out to sea  will speak of the galloping plastic pollution of the 5 oceans.

There will be some wacky horses at today’s workshop - broken Christmas lights make great manes and tails, and it’s surprising what you can achieve with Benecol cartons…

Starcross Archive

St Paul’s Church have started to gather materials for the Starcross Archive. If you have anything, please get in touch.

We need a lockable cabinet to fit on a windowsill please - to house a Roman amphora dredged from the mouth of the Exe

Unearthed Treasures

The huge amount of information gathered during the Villages in Action Unearth project needs collating.

It could be referenced to the National Curriculum, put online, turned into eBooks or published in hard copy?

We could have a Starcross pageant.

Information unearthed could be included on the history trail

Monica Lang 

Chair Starcross History

Tuesday, 30 January 2018

Appendix 1. Unearth log

Wednesday 9^th November 2016, 7:30pm St Paul’s Church

Kate Green from Villages in Action addressed our meet of Starcross History. The Lottery funded Unearth project is supported by South West TV and Film Archive and the South West Heritage Trust. Starcross, Brentor, Buckfastleigh, Chagford, Colyford and Colyton Parish, Crediton, Rattery and Whimple will unearth their histories. All will be published online. There will be a multi-media performance in each village, to illustrate the history unearthed. Each village will also have a film night. The Starcross Film Night (to be confirmed) will be in St Paul’s Church on Wednesday, January 11^th at 7:30pm.

Unearth Project: Thursday 8^th December 2016, 7:30pm St Paul’s Church

A welcome to the village, to unearth the history of Starcross; to bring any photographs or artefacts you have unearthed, and have your questions answered.

Unearth Project:Starcross at the Movies.Wednesday,11^th Jan, 2017 7:30pm St Paul’s Church

South West TV and Film Archives footage from Devon and Cornwall and STARCROSS. Some of the SWFTA  archives are accessible online; via  the British Film Institute Player as part of the Britain on Film project. 
Haymaking, cidermaking and village life. The Starcross footage included a demonstration about the Starcross School buildings, the Royal Western Counties Hospital and the last conductor-operated bus through Starcross; a Devon General AEC Regent double-decker.
An online search revealed no films about Starcross. SWFTA's collections are available to all. Visits to SWFTA in Plymouth are to be arranged. We will be shown how to research their archives. and discover some of their extensive range of films about Starcross.
During the interval, we looked at a collection of historic material from Starcross which was on display. The Punishment Book, dated 1911, from Starcross School contained records of how many strokes of the cane children were given for "talking in the classroom" "stealing an apple" or "receiving stolen fruit". Photographs included the Penny Farthing bicycle which used to be in the hedge outside Penny Farthing Cottage,
The core group of researchers were delighted to find that new information had been added to the collection; on the paper provided on tables: memories of Magic Lantern shows in St Paul's, and a project to research the famous, prizewinning, Powderham herd of South Devon cattle which was sold after the tragic death of the herdsman John McMahon.
Starcross Primary School is involved with the Unearth project. Children were allowed in for free, although it was quite a late night. Headmaster Iannis Ireland, and history lead Georgie Lax are very supportive of the project and are excited that the children can be involved and learn about the history of their village

Kate Green, from Villages in Action, will help Key Stage 2 children to research Starcross history, and teach a group of 8 students how to use digital equipment, so that they can interview and record stories.
Unearth Project:Starcross Stories on Wednesday, 25th January 2017 in St Paul's Church; from 3pm until 5pm.

Invitations were sent to key people in the community. Refreshments were provided. More Starcross Stories were unearthed.
The completed research will eventually be used to create a multi-media production about Starcross, probably in July.

Unearth Project:February 2017, Starcross Primary School

Key Stage 2 children will become local historians when they spend a day learning heritage research techniques. Kate was expecting lots of “wow moments” as the penny dropped, and children connected the history in books with where they live now.

Starcross school’s board of governors blew the dust off a very old Punishment Log Book. Its pages detailed: 3 cane strokes of the buttocks for stealing fruit…2 strokes of the buttocks for receiving fruit… 2 strokes for a devil-may-care attitude. History enables villagers to see where they live from a different vantage point and deepens their relationship with it.

Unearth Project: research by Peter Halmkin. Dawlish Stamp Club February 2017

Peter kindly donated a copy of The Postal History of Starcross, Devon from 1822. This includes copies of photographs, postcards, postmarks and stamp cancellers.

Unearth Project: Exeter Heritage Centre. Wednesday 22^nd February 2017

6 researchers from Starcross met up with Kate Green from Villages in Action 
 and 6 researchers from Whimple

The publicly accessible centre is run by the South West Heritage Trust. There is access to all the documents and books AND, online; the British Newspaper Archive AND a family history website. All you have to do is fill in a very simple form and, if you have ID with you, they give you a card which lasts 4 years. This card is also valid at the North Devon Record Office in Barnstaple
If you want to photograph the documents you discover, it costs £5 a day, or around £80 for a year's photographic subscription.
Catalogues are freely available online.

The card index can be freely searched. Ask at the desk, and someone will dive down into the archives, and bring out your discovered map, plan or document. Starcross information tends to be filed under the parish - which was Kenton, until the 1980s when Starcross had its own Parish Council.
some of the Starcross Gems unearthed

·                 the account book of THE STARCROSS BREAD AND COAL CHARITY 1879 to 1903.

·                 Plans and specification for the Red House, Starcross 1933

·                 deeds relating to a rabbit warren and salt works in Kenton 1704 - 1790

·                 Illustrated Catalogue "The West Country" depicted by Devonshire Artists 1908

Unearth Project:Sunday, 5th March 2017 in St Paul's Church; from 2pm until 2pm.

Pictures, photographs and documents were brought into St Paul’s to be photocopied

Unearth Project: Artists announced Monday, 13^th March 2017
Following interviews over the last two weeks, Kate Green and the Villages in Action team have chosen a creative team for the Starcross Unearth project.
The successful candidates are:

·                  Jim Causley : Songwriter, folk musician

·                  Peter Margerum : Visual artist, sculptor

·                  Lucy Bell : Playwright, producer, director

·                  Charlie Coldfield : Actor

Unearth Project: Artists meet the Starcross research team. Weds 19^th April 2017 in St Paul’s Church 6:00pm

Unearth Project: More Starcross Stories. Weds 10^th May 2017 in St Paul’s Church 7:30pm

The enthusiasm to discover even more Starcross Stories won't end with this project. Villages in Action will put everything on a web page.

We considered if we could publish eBooks aimed at the Key Stages of the National Curriculum, or should we aim for a hard copy of a book? 
Starcross's history has universal appeal. We have evidence of Romans using the river. There were Roundhead v Cavalier battles fought on our shores. The remarkable Swan Boat is still within living memory, and its Victorian designer was the redoubtable Victorian; Captain George Peacock. Also within living memory is the Royal Western Counties Hospital, with its wonderful innovations for the education of idiots. Then there's the scenic Great Western railway line; still dubbed God's Wonderful Railway. And Brunel's Atmospheric Caper
 The online British Newspaper Archive and the Devon Heritage Centre in Sowton continue to yield more tales. These have been augmented with local knowledge from some of Starcross's more senior residents, and caches of documents and photographs from places which include Starcross School,   St Paul's Church and the village pubs.

Unearth Project: The Villages in Action Show. Starcross Unearthed Friday 15^th Sept 2017 6pm for 7pm St Paul’s Church

What are the stories that make Starcross such a unique place? Who are the characters that have lived over the centuries in the village? Playwright Lucy Bell, actors Charlie Coldfield and Kirsty Cox, sculptor Peter Margerum, digital artist Kate Green plus folk musician Jim Causley presented a weave of local stories into a fascinating evening of song, drama, interactive art, sound and archive images.

Starcross Archive

The Unearth project has gathered a lot of material. Some of it is housed in a Starcross Archive, in St Paul’s Church. Please get in touch if you have any more material

We need a lockable cabinet to fit on a Church windowsill please - to house unearthed artefacts which include a Roman amphora dredged from the mouth of the Exe.

Unearthed Treasure

Help is needed to collate the huge amount of information gathered during the Villages in Action Unearth project. Some of the material could be referenced to the National Curriculum and put online, or turned into eBooks or published in hard copy.

We could have a Starcross pageant.

Information unearthed could be included on the history trail

Monica Lang

Chair Starcross History

Appendix 2. Mosaics and Horses Workshop

Alma Harding and Joanne Bickel will lead a workshop to create mosaics and horses.

The children from Starcross Primary School will be an important part of these 2 projects

Mosaics

Mosaics around the village will commemorate Starcross’ history.  This idea follows on from the Unearth project and the Peacocks’ Tails’ Trail  which took place during the 2016 St George’s Day Celebrations at St Paul’s Church. Led by artist Melissa Muldoon, children at Starcross Primary School made Peacocks’ Tails which, for the day, marked an history trail around Starcross. Our mosaics will mark a more permanent history trail.

During the Unearth project, it became apparent that, although people are interested in our history and the origins of the Starcross street  names, information isn’t readily available. Our street signs could be illustrated with mosaics. Andrew Stacey, Community Art and Design Adviser for Teignbridge, has explained about permissions and funding.

Today’s workshop will invite design and creation of outdoor mosaics. Mosaics could go on walls, plantpots, concrete slabs - anywhere. Tesserae can be ceramic (tiles and pottery), metal (bottle tops), or plastic.

Tiles, grout, wood, cutters etc have been donated from friends and from the Freecycle network. We can use more.

Please contact Starcross History with your ideas for mosaic subjects and where they could be sited.

Horse

Starcross History plans to call its entry for this year’s Teignmouth TRAIL “Horse” - to go with our mosaic of Dobbin at the Forge. A letter has gone out to the parents at Starcross Primary School, to ask them to save interesting-shaped throwaway plastic that is not currently recycled by Teignbridge District Council.

Horses, horse’s heads, or anything horsey can be made from plastic rubbish.  Our horse sculptures will be open to all the elements on Teignmouth seafront for the summer SO they must be secure and will have to be securely anchored down using fence posts with metal drive-in spikes.

TRAIL http://www.trailart.co.uk/  is a protest about wasted resources. That our horse sculptures look out to sea  will speak of the galloping plastic pollution of the 5 oceans.

Please contact Starcross History with your ideas for horse sculptures

There is no charge for this workshop, but we have to pay for the room and scrounge/buy materials, so there will be a collection pot, and a raffle. Please bring a raffle prize.

Thankyou

Monica Lang. Chair

The Constitution of  Starcross History

This group shall be called ‘Starcross History’

Aims 

 to invite speakers to meetings

to chronicle the history of Starcross¹
to chronicle the histories of Starcross residents
to catalogue and photograph buildings of interest
to have an online archive in form of website and/or a blog
to make audio &/or video &/or written record of the history of Starcross and its residents
to record the whereabouts of artefacts associated with Starcross.
to encourage, carry out, or help with; tangible projects which document , publicise or enhance historical aspects of Starcross
  to document archaeological sites in the area
   to investigate archaeological sites in the area
   to publicise historical aspects of Starcross
   to contact the descendants of Starcross historical figures, to keep them informed about our relevant research and/or projects 
  to visit places which have a connection to Starcross 
  to hold social events
  to fundraise to support all these activities

Starcross will benefit from these activities because a wider and more extensive knowledge of its history will add to its identity.

Members

To join, anyone may add their name and contact details to the list of members held by the committee.

Starcross History  is open to anyone who supports the aims of the group and participates in its activities

The group will not discriminate on the grounds of gender, race, colour, ethnic or national origin, sexuality, disability, religious or political belief, marital status or age.

There will be no membership fee. Instead, there will be collections and raffles at meetings, and fundraising events.  This will provide funds for speakers, room hire, storage facilities, a website, insurance  and administration.

Membership will cease when members  stop volunteering or attending activities, or when they ask for their name to be deleted from the members’ list.

Committee

Initially, a committee will be formed from volunteers. The committee will comprise: Chair. Secretary and Treasurer. Further committee members may be co-opted because they have particular skills or knowledge.  Thereafter. a  committee will be elected at the Annual General Meeting

Committee meetings will take place as required

The quorum for committee meetings will be half the number on the committee at the time

Meetings

Starcross History will hold a meeting every one or two months.

The date, time and place of the meetings will be advertised

A financial statement will be presented.

Members and/or invited speakers can address the meeting.

The meeting can discuss progress on projects, decide on new projects and plan future activities.

There will be no charge to attend, but there will be a collection, and a raffle, and a charge for refreshments.

Annual General Meeting

 Annual General Meetings will take place with a maximum interval of 15 months

The date, time and location of the AGM will be published on the internet, and in local media

Members must submit items for discussion at least two weeks before the published date of the meeting

Nominations for the committee will be taken as soon as the meeting date is published, and at the meeting

The quorum for this meeting is set at 5% of the membership, or 6.

Finance

The Lloyds Bank Treasurer's Account will require 2 signatories for all transactions.

All monies will be counted by 2 members, the amounts verified and recorded. The monies may be held by the treasurer or a committee member, and a financial statement presented to the meetings.

Signatories on  the bank account will be the chair, and the treasurer.

Records of income and expenditure will be maintained by the Treasurer and a financial statement given to each meeting

An annual statement of accounts will be presented to the Annual General Meeting

All money raised Starcross History will be spent solely on the objects laid out in the constitution

Dissolution

If it is agreed to dissolve the group all remaining money and other assets, once outstanding debts have been paid, will be donated to a relevant Starcross community organisation.

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1 The word  ‘Starcross’ will mean ‘Starcross, in Devon, and the surrounding area’