Eales Dock

Please does anyone have any more information about Eales Dock? Here's the results from AI:

Eales Dock is a historical small tidal dock located near Dawlish Warren in Devon, England, originally built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel's South Devon Railway. [1]

History and Location

• • Origins: It was constructed by the South Devon Railway under the direction of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. [1]
  • The Landowner: It was built to satisfy local landowner Charles Eales, who wanted to maintain his private access to the sea across the railway line. Local folklore also suggests Eales used the secluded dock for smuggling. [1]
  • Current Status: Located near Shutterton Creek on the Exe Estuary, the dock area remains permitted for continued boat access by agreement, despite local wildlife conservation restrictions and voluntary exclusion zones protecting wintering birds (read more via the South East Devon Wildlife). Today, the site is also a well-known spot for railway photographers capturing trains running along the sea wall. [1

  
  

  The Smuggling Connection

  While the dock was ostensibly built for legitimate sea access and trade, historical local lore strongly indicates that much of Charles Eales' immense wealth actually came from using his highly secluded new dock for smuggling. [1]

  During the 18th and 19th centuries, Devon's rugged shoreline and hidden coves made it a hotspot for "free-traders". High taxes on European imports meant that smuggling goods like brandy, gin (Geneva), tea, and tobacco was incredibly lucrative. Having a private, secluded dock with access hidden beneath or alongside the railway line provided the perfect, inconspicuous landing point to move contraband inland without alerting revenue cutters. [1]

Here's a photo from flickr

https://flic.kr/p/2rNVp9n

If you have some information, please contact the Starcross History Society and 

Alan Humphries

Landline 01395901259

Mobile 07519551098

email : humphries.alan@ gmail.com

On Brunel in The Brunel Tower

Jon Nichol's talk on Brunel has been postponed until FRIDAY 30th OCTOBER. This is because David Force had already arranged a  talk about the railway on Friday 25th September, in The Shaftesbury Theatre, Dawlish. The Starcross History Society wishes  every success in fundraising for Assist Teignbridge and Dawlish Action for Youth 

David's presentation at the Shaftesbury Theatre, Dawlish, is

"180 Years of our Beautiful Dawlish Railway". 

and

his colleague Jimmy Hill will remember 

"The Good Old Days in Dawlish"

https://shaftesbury-dawlish.co.uk/box-office/

from The Shaftesbury Theatre website:

"

Local historians, David Force and Jimmy Hill, return to the Shaftesbury Theatre for another evening delving into the history of Dawlish.
As this is the 180th Anniversary of the opening of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s railway in 1846, David will be exploring the dramatic changes that came to Dawlish and Dawlish Warren thanks to the railway, as well as Brunel’s legacy, which is still being felt today.
As a true Dawlishian, Jimmy will be looking at the town in the 1950’s and 1960’s, before supermarkets, housing estates, traffic lights and potholes, as well as telling more amazing tales of his mis-spent youth!
We can promise you an evening with loads of laughs and interesting facts, as well as plenty of old prints and photos. If you’ve seen these likely lads before, you know you’re in for a great evening. If not, do come along and see why these shows are always a sell-out.
All proceeds will be shared between two brilliant local charities, Assist Teignbridge and Dawlish Action For Youth.

David Force & Jimmy Hill History Evening

Shaftesbury Theatre
Dawlish

Fri 25 Sep 2026, 7:00PM

"

Tickets cost £10 (if there's any left)

Discovery of Brunel's Underground Chamber

underground chamber

Work on the Brunel tower car park is suspended whilst archaeologists investigate an underground chamber. Was it the reservoir for the water which was needed for the beam engine inside the tower? The beam engine was used to create the vacuum in the pipe of the atmospheric railway

Iconic Railway Carriages to open all year round

Not only have the historic Great Western Railway holiday carriages been saved, but, reports Devon Live,  planning permission has just been granted for the facility to open all year round

"

Iconic Dawlish Warren railway carriages holiday park to open all year round

The holiday park consists of eight chalets in converted rail carriages

Plans for a railway themed holiday park to open all year round as a holiday destination have been approved.
The Brunel Camping Carriages site in Dawlish Warren – which features eight chalets in converted rail carriages – was sold at auction for £261,000 last year.
The holiday park consists of eight chalets in converted rail carriages, all of which are named individually after UK cities.
 Earlier this year, plans were approved to allow use of the site as holiday accommodation for eight train carriages and land for camping to be used between period of March 1 and October 31.

The iconic Brunel Camping Carriages Site at Dawlish Warren

 The applicants had asked planners for approval for the change of use of Brunel Camp Site in order to operate the whole park as a year-round holiday destination – which has now been approved.
Work has already begun on converting and improving the carriages.
 
Approving the application, planning officers said: “It is assessed that extending the available holiday season at this existing holiday park will improve the tourist accommodation provision in this area without having an adverse impact on the character of the surrounding area.
“The proposal offers clear socio-economic benefits to the local economy and tourism accommodation and can be provided in this location without harm being caused to residential amenity and as no additional facilities are proposed by this application or additional holiday units the proposal to expand the operating hours will have no adverse impact on the character and appearance of the area and therefore should be encouraged.”

Site Manager Josh Webster with one of the carriages being renovated at the Brunel Holiday Park (Image: Andy Uglow, Pyramid Torbay Photography)

 

 

 Outlining the plans, the applicants said: “The coaches have been a unique tourist attraction in Dawlish Warren since opening and have accommodated hundreds of families over the past 50 years.

 “Residents of Dawlish and regular users of the accommodation support the fact that the holiday park has been a prominent fixture in the village and a well-known and popular feature.
“The coaches were originally donated over 50 years ago for the use of members of families of the Great Western Railway Association and were later opened to the general public for holiday use.

"
the Devon Live link for this, their story

TILES WANTED for The Starcross History Mosaics Project

With lots of help from the village, The Starcross History Mosaics Project will create a series of mosaics to celebrate its fascinating history.

The first design being worked on is for the forge.The forge mosaic will have an anvil, horse-shoes, hammer & tongs and a HORSE (of course), set against a background  of the red&orange-glowing coals of the furnace.
The forge used to be called Smiths Forge  The Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies   hold a bundle of documents, dated 1728-1894.

Another current design idea is of Brunel with his iconic cigar and stove-pipe hat, by a red sandstone tower.

The owner of the house where Captain Peacock lived, has kindly agreed to display our mosaic of The Swan of the Exe  - which will be based on this excellent photograph ( kindly forwarded by The Liverpool Archives) of Captain Peacock's folly, The Swan of the Exe, with Mr Dixon, of Dixon's Yard at Exmouth (where the yacht was built)  and Captain Peacock on board

Teignbridge District Council point out that the siting of mosaics might mean getting planning permission, and they have offered the help of their Community Art and Design Adviser.

Anyone could have a go at making a mosaic. But broken tiles can have sharp edges, cutting tiles can result in flying shrapnel, tile adhesive can stick to stuff you don't want it to, so be aware of the Health and Safety aspect of what ought to be a harmless hobby.

The steps to create an outside mosaic could be:
NB wear goggles to protect your eyes, and gloves to protect your hands.  Put your hands inside a pillowcase when you cut tessarae; to prevent pieces flying.

• Find a piece of wood with at least one side unvarnished and unpainted.
• Drill holes where you will fix it to a wall
• (you will leave a space around the fixing holes you have drilled - you tile over the top of the screws after the mosaic is fixed in place)
• Create a design out of simple shapes 
• Draw it onto the unvarnished, unpainted wood
• Collect the tessarae - which need to be small, thin and flat. You could use pebbles, or tiles, or pottery or shells. If you need to cut tessarae, do it inside a pillowcase to prevent pieces flying. 
• Sort the tesserae into colours
• Use WATERPROOF adhesive cement. Polyfilla is ideal. Either butter it on to the tesserae or put it onto the wood - whichever way suits you is best. 
• After it's dried for a couple of days, grout it all with WATERPROOF grout.
• Leave a couple more days.
• Use yacht varnish to make the wood waterproof on the back and the edge of the wood.

NB wear goggles to protect your eyes, and gloves to protect your hands.  Put your hands inside a pillowcase when you cut tessarae; to prevent pieces flying. 

There's lots more advice on the internet, but much of it is around mosaic suppliers. Using unwanted materials such as old/broken tiles and shells is the cheapo way


Please get in touch if you can add to this basic how2, or would help with this project. Do you have any plain coloured tiles? It doesn't matter if they are broken. Any colours, but we need red and orange for now. and silver and gold.
 
Many thanks to Joanne Bickel and Alma for their advice and encouragement.




 

Dawlish Warren Railway Camping is saved

http://www.brunelholidaypark.co.uk/

Atmospheric Tower 1975 from the British Film Institute Player

 Film footage of Brunel's Atmospheric Railway tower in 1975 is freely available online via the  British Film Institute Player thanks to the Britain on Film Project

 This footage is between 24 and 25 minutes into the film on THIS LINK

March Meeting. The Atmospheric Railway and Railway Carriage Camping

Our March meeting - The Atmospheric Railway Pumping HouseTop of FormBottom of Form

Val Forrester started her talk by paying tribute to her late husband Richard Forrester. It was Richard, the keen industrial historian, who saved our Brunel Pumping House. He’d always been an innovator, for example, he built an autogyro in the roof of their first flat and made a flymo type lawnmower in a dustbin lid. When they first visited the Pumping House, he took Val into the cavernous room that once held the massive steam-driven pump. The floor was covered with a deep layer of… guano; from all the pigeons.

“Would you like to live here?”

 She agreed, because she really liked old buildings and, if Dick said he could replicate the atmospheric railway system, she knew he could. But unlike the Victorian William Gibbs, (the son of an Exeter surgeon, who made his fortune from the import of guano from the Pacific), Dick Forrester didn’t make a fortune from the guano floor-cover.

He converted the top of the tower into a flat, which included the promised, very beautiful kitchen. Valerie  and Dick moved in with their two sons. Valerie described the problems of simply going in and out of the flat, let alone bringing home the weekly family shop; when the only access was  - up a ladder! The family managed like this for some time until Dick built the staircase.

Dick’s clever design, for his ride-on model of an atmospheric  railway, used ordinary household vacuum cleaners to create a vacuum in a pipe. The pipe ran from one end of the building to the other. His flat-bed truck ‘train’ was propelled along by atmospheric pressure. Visitors were keen to ride the train for the whole length of the building. That exciting working model is remembered fondly by the thousands of visitors to the Forresters’ Atmospheric Railway Museum in the Brunel Pumping House.

In response to the many visitors who enquired where they might get a cup of tea, the Forresters opened a café in the tower, and served cream teas. Valerie concluded, “ I like to think that we brought something more to Starcross; that we made it worth a visit”.

Campaign to save Railway Carriage Camping at Dawlish Warren

Keen railway historian Adrian Wood kindly led the discussion. The site will close after August. The Great Western Railway Staff Association have managed to continue to operate the camping carriages for 23 years after the privatisation of the railways. All but one of the carriages now needs replacing. Could the trend for holidays in the UK in quirky accommodation and glamping be exploited;? Perhaps one of the local holiday camps might wish to add railway carriage camping to their site? Or perhaps they might purchase the original site to provide another aspect to their existing campsite? Rail Holiday in Cornwall  provide holidays in specialised glammed-up railway carriages. They  wish us well with our campaign, and have offered their advice when we need it.

Historic England have explained that portable railway carriages are not within their remit, so they had to refuse my application to list the site. (although they are keen to help if they can) This rules out Heritage Lottery and other similar funding. Historic England advised me to contact our district council. Teignbridge Planning referred

 me to their local plan, which will be the consideration for any change of use. https://www.teignbridge.gov.uk/planteignbridge  Maureen Pearce is their Team Leader, Design and Heritage. She tells me of a precedent for a listed railway carriage; in Shirwell, North Devon. This carriage, built for Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in 1897, is now a skittle alley. Here’s the online link  http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-98228-skittle-alley-30-metres-south-east-of-you#.VuvqNNDFBVc  

Negative reply from Historic England re listing the camping coach park at Dawlish Warren

Another strategy is needed to save the iconic railway carriage camping park at Dawlish Warren because the attempt has failed to persuade Historic England to list it in the National Heritage List for England. We will discuss this at our meet on 9th March.

Historic England say that there is no evidence to prove that the site " possesses evident significance that makes it obviously worthy of inclusion on the National Heritage List for England". It follows then that the threat to its existence is not a consideration for Historic England.

The options open now include contacting Teignbridge,  our local historic environment records officer, and local conservation groups. Or maybe another application might be successful if it were to be worded in a better way than I did? The Great Western Railway Staff Association are actively trying to find a purchaser who will take on the carriages with the site; so that camping carriages on Dawlish Warren will continue.

Can anyone please help with any of this?

If anyone has any more suggestions about the way forward, please get in touch ASAP.
Thanks

Historic England replied today, Friday, to my application which I submitted 4 days ago. Here's what they say:

Monica Lang
Starcross History
Our Ref: 1433532
Direct Line: 0117 975 0675
EMail:
Emily.Sheen@HistoricEngland.org.uk
19 February 2016
Dear Ms Lang,
Brunel Camping Coach Park, Dawlish Warren, Dawlish
Thank you for your application for the assessment of Brunel Camping Coach Park for listing.
We appreciate your time and enthusiasm spent considering places that could be added to
the National Heritage List for England.
We have now carefully considered the contents of your application. Unfortunately, the
current circumstances of Brunel Camping Coach Park do not fall into any of the three
categories used by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to prioritise designation
resources on those sites that are most in need of protection. Those categories are:
1. Threat: any candidate for designation demonstrably under serious threat of demolition
or major alteration
2. Strategic Priority: any candidate for designation of a type that is a strategic
designation priority under the Historic England Action Plan, Historic England’s
programme of strategic work. You can find a list of this year’s projects on our website
3. Evident Significance: any building or site that possesses evident significance that
makes it obviously worthy of inclusion on the National Heritage List for England
Historic England is therefore currently unable to take your application further. Although you
mention the closure of the site in your application, at present we cannot consider the site to
be under serious threat demolition or alteration. Should the situation change, particularly with
regard to any specific threat to the building, you could submit a new application in the future.
We should also point out that on the information provided with your application, it appears
that the building is unlikely to meet the statutory criteria for listing - special architectural or
historic interest - in any event. Horizontal surfaces such as pavements and other similar
structures are listed only exceptionally, and the criteria for selection are stringent: in order to
merit consideration for designation, they must be of demonstrably early date, be undisturbed,
and form part of the curtilage of listed buildings or structures. Therefore even if the
circumstances of the site were in the future to fall into the priority categories set out above,
we would still be unlikely to recommend it for designation unless there was significant new
information supplied with the application at the time.
There are other approaches to the protection of this site that you can take. Your local
authority can advise you on the local designation options available, and you may wish to
speak to your local Historic Environment Records Officer or conservation group for advice on
such matters. Please follow the link below to download a copy of our 'Frequently Asked
Questions' document also lists the national heritage societies that have an interest in
particular types of buildings and sites. You can also consult our website for more information
at www.historicengland.org.uk.
http://services.historicengland.org.uk/webfiles/GetFiles.aspx?av=4BA63605-1430-4676-8212
-1EBF0969FB61&cn=7DA3AC92-33FE-47E2-B3A2-0EC9A95F709A
We are sorry if this is a disappointing response. Historic England administers a large number
of applications for designation on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The
Department has decided that the finite resources available for the assessment of designation
applications have to be prioritised to the categories most in need of attention. All applications
are rigorously assessed on their individual merits - please see our website for further
explanation of the criteria used to decide on designation, and for guidance on submitting
designation applications. Answers to additional questions that you may have can also be
found in the 'Frequently Asked Questions' document.
Yours sincerely
Emily Sheen
Designation Co-ordinator - West
Historic England
Designation Team West
29 Queen Square
Bristol
BS1 4ND
Data Protection Act 1998
Your personal details, along with the other information you have provided and information obtained
from other sources, will be retained by Historic England for administrative purposes and, where
applicable, for future consideration. Historic England will not release personal details to a third party if
the disclosure would contravene the Data Protection principles.
Freedom of Information
Historic England is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 which provide a general right of access to information we hold. We
may provide the information you have supplied in response to a request made under this legislation,
subject to any exemptions which apply. Historic England will consult with external parties as
necessary prior to releasing information.

Next meeting: Wednesday, March 9th, 2016 SPEAKER: Valerie Forrester: Brunel's Pumping House in Starcross. DISCUSSION: the threatened railway carriage camping site at Dawlish Warren

Application filled in to list the iconic railway carriage camping site at Dawlish Warren with Historic England

Historic England do not list railway carriages for preservation. They are concerned only with buildings, and with sites. They have sent a link to their online application form which enables us to ask them to consider a site for listed status. It took a while, but the form has been completed, so, fingers crossed, Historic England might agree with Starcross History, and decide that the site is an important part of our seaside heritage, and designate it so. This will mean that the site will have to continue to use railway carriages to accommodate the holidaymakers.

THIS LINK
explains the steps to take to get the site listed.

The Great Western Railway Staff Association have explained that they have explored all avenues to getting the carriages preserved, but that this is not economically viable. If a buyer for the carriages and the site can be found, the iconic railway camping carriages will continue. In any case, GWRSA will sell at the end of this season in August. Tracy Baker, the secretary of the Great Western Railway Staff Association (who own and manage the iconic site) writes that the carriages may have to be cleared before they are able to sell the site.

Historic England will consider all the information provided, and decide the fate of the Dawlish Warren camping carriages.

Here's some of the details from the online application:

Threat

 The iconic railway carriage camping site at Dawlish Warren has been used since the 1930s. It is still owned by the Great Western Railway Staff Association. Articles in the press, and a piece on the television, alleged that it is to close. 

Reasons

The iconic railway carriage camping site at Dawlish Warren is called The Brunel Camping Railway Coach Park, after the Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who is associated with this site as he built the adjacent Great Western Railway. It is owned and managed by the Great Western Railway Staff Association. The GWRSA secretary Tracy Baker has emailed me to say that she intends to clear and sell the site to the highest bidder, if a buyer cannot be found who will continue to run the site as a railway carriage camping site, and who will put in an offer for both the carriages and the site...

There is a media campaign to save this iconic site. People are very sad that the site could close forever, and an important part of English heritage will be lost.

Here is the wiki entry for the site:
"In 1935 a camp coach was stationed in the goods yard which could be rented by holiday makers but the facility was withdrawn in 1940. Camp coaches were reintroduced in 1952, and by 1959 there were nine coaches stationed here. After 1964 the public camp coach service was withdrawn but the coaches at Dawlish Warren continued to be managed by the British Rail Staff Association for its members. The old coaches were replaced for the 1982 season by the current vehicles, since when the connection to the goods yard has been removed."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawlish_Warren_railway_station

Comments

You kindly explained that the movable railway carriages would NOT be something that Historic England can list. Please be aware that it is not the railway carriages that need to be protected. It is the iconic site which is such an important part of our heritage. If it became yet another caravan site, (which could happen since no planning permission would be needed as there is no change of use,) we will have lost something irreplaceable, since the carriages would need to be enthusiastically maintained so it would not be a commercial option unless grants could be found to finance the work. The carriages themselves will need to be constantly reviewed and replaced or mended. Many people have already added their voice to the campaign to save this iconic site, and getting it recognised by having listed status with Historic England would ensure its continuation since that would be a passport to getting some funding.

Railholiday Cornwall notified of the plight of the iconic Dawlish Warren railway carriages

Railholiday Cornwall continue to restore railway carriages for holiday accommodation.
"...[They] are currently working on a big project that will see the conversion of a brake third coach designed especially for wheelchair users and the coach built by GWR for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee."

"...[They are] very proud of [their] newest addition Mevy, a GWR Slip Coach, with its first class sleeping compartment and bespoke triple bunk beds for children. Converted and equipped to the highest standards in an eco friendly way, Mevy has fabulous views over the surrounding countryside and unlike our other coaches is set away from the line. Mevy is sumptuously upholstered and equipped with allergy free mattresses and bedding. Sorry no pets."

Their other superbly converted railway carriages are an old luggage van, and a travelling post office.

Please have a look at their terrific website, which is accessible for the partially sighted.
Railholiday - A Cornish holiday with a difference

• Perhaps they can help with the campaign to save the Dawlish Warren carriages. Here's the email sent today.

Hi

The iconic site at Dawlish Warren is to be demolished when the 2016 summer season finishes. Please can you help and advise the campaign to save it?  I thought that the first step would be to get the site listed with Historic England, which would be a passport to funding from Heritage Lottery and the DofE and all sorts.

The details of the emails I have sent, the new Facebook campaign group, press articles are on this link:
http://starcrosshistory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/campaign-to-save-iconic-camping.html

yours sincerely-

Monica Lang

Chair

Starcross History
http://starcrosshistory.blogspot.co.uk/

Congratulations on your beautiful website and your innovative  conservation of your railway carriages.

Campaign to save the iconic Camping Carriages at Dawlish Warren

GRAND OLD LADIES: But the end is in sight for these converted railway carriages, now too costly to maintain as holiday accommodation. Picture Alan Craig.

Article in Dawlish Gazette Wednesday 2nd December by Ellen Grindley
accessed online  31st January

AN iconic railway camp site at Dawlish Warren is to close after rising repair and restoration costs made it financially unviable.

Brunel Railway Camping Park, Beach Road, will open for its last season next summer after more than 50 years.

The eight converted railway carriages – with many original features – are run as holiday accommodation by a non-profit making association but although the operation breaks even the coaches are in need of expensive upkeep.
Tracy Baker, general secretary of the Great Western Railway Staff Association, which runs the park, explained: ‘Although the coaches break even, their upkeep and restoration is very expensive and they are in need of some tender, loving care.
‘I still think that the site could be run as a going concern and it would have been lovely to see it continue, but no one has come forward.’
FULL STORY IN OUR DIGITAL EDITION


There's a Facebook group Save Dawlish Warren Railway Carriages!

It seems that the iconic carriages will be scrapped in October; at the end of this season.

To stop this happening, the site needs to be listed with Historic England.


Here's 2 emails sent:

Hi
I was just invited to join a Facebook group called Save Dawlish Warren Railway Carriages!
I see from an article in the Dawlish Gazette - 2nd December - that you would prefer the wonderful site to remain, but of course the costs of maintaining the ageing coaches is prohibitive. - I think I'm emailing the GWR staff association???
I wonder if you would consider getting your site listed with Historic Buildings? If this was successful, you would then qualify for loadsamoney under the Heritage Lottery Grants and the Department of the Environments and all sorts. Also, there might be a keen team of conservationists who might be willing to help with the work.
sincerely
Monica Lang
chair
Starcross History
Details of recipient etc:
from: Monica Lang
to: brunelccpark@aol.com
date: 30 January 2016 at 21:54
subject: Saving your wonderful holiday railway-carriages park
mailed-by: gmail.com

 Dear Ruth Garner
The iconic Dawlish Warren Camping Coaches are to be demolished at the end of the 2016 season in October.
Sophie Pearce did a piece on Spotlight Southwest on January 29th. You can contact Sophie on sophie.pierce@bbc.co.uk
Here's the website for the Brunel Camping Coach Park Railway Holiday Accomodation https://sites.google.com/site/brunelpark/home
There's a Facebook group Save Dawlish Warren Railway Carriages!

I'm hoping that the site can be listed as of historic importance - which will be a passport to some funding to renovate and preserve this important site
Please can you tell me how to get the site listed? I couldn't locate it in your Southwest Register 2015 Heritage at Risk https://content.historicengland.org.uk/…/sw-har-register20…/
Yours sincerely
Monica Lang
Chair
Starcross History
http://starcrosshistory.blogspot.co.uk/
from: Monica Lang
to: southwest@historicengland.org.uk
date: 31 January 2016 at 13:13
subject: Dawlish Warren Camping Coaches
mailed-by: gmail.com

Volunteers needed in Dawlish Community Art and Craft Centre

Can you spare an hour or two to help The Dawlish Community Art and Craft Centre? Their organiser, former Dawlish librarian Jo Bickel, has kindly offered to sell our booklets about The Atmospheric Railway, (by the man who stopped it being demolished - Richard Forrester), for £3 each. Their shop is run entirely by volunteers, so Starcross History would like to reciprocate Jo's generosity by finding some helpers for her

Jo also gave us some white net for the maquette of Vicky Jocher's Swan of the Exe.


 The Dawlish  Community Art and Craft Centre is a "Community Interest Company"

A community interest company (CIC) is a new type of company introduced by the United Kingdom government in 2005 under the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004, designed for social enterprises that want to use their profits and assets for the public good.
Community interest company - Wikipedia, the free ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_interest_company

The centre operates from a shop called Butterfly in Queen St., Dawlish.

All the helpers are volunteers. The centre also runs FREE craft workshops and FREE classes. It has facilitated a Chronic Pain Support Group.
Art&crafts workshops are reasonably priced.

Jo writes,

 I need help keeping the FB page and website up to date and to promote us on other social media sites. I need help in the shop with sorting stock, working on the till and cleaning. I need someone to help me write a training manual for volunteers and prepare tasks for them. I need someone to make craft kits to sell to raise funds or to use at kids events. etc, etc

We run free craft activities in the local care homes and are constantly looking out for "Needs" within the community, then matching them up with a solution, as with the ESOL classes and the "Bodgers" group. There are a few projects that I have in mind but don't have time to set up, like organising hydrotherapy at a local facility for people with chronic pain, etc. Id be happy to meet someone who can negotiate such projects.

Here's their programme for July and August 

Booking essential with deposit no later than 7 days prior to event.

JULY

Coffee & Craft for Carers

Monday 27 July 2.00 – 3.30

Take a little time out for yourself and try a new craft.

Free, but donation towards materials please.

In Stitches

Every Thursday 6.30 – 8.30

Knit, Crochet, Sew and socialise £2

Want to learn? Join us and we will teach you. £5 inc materials

 AUGUST

Art Class

Every Tuesday 5.30 – 7.30

Learn new techniques or simply socialise and create £6 

Bring own materials or purchase from Butterfly

In Stitches

Every Thursday 6.30 – 8.30 Knit, Crochet,

Sew and socialise £2

Want to learn? Join us and we will teach you. £5 inc materials

Coffee & Crafts

Monday 3 August 12.00 – 2.00    £2 inc tea/coffee

Bring whatever you are working on, bring your lunch and meet likeminded people

Make Do & Mend

Wednesday 5 August 3.30 - 5.00    £5 inc materials.

Bring an item with you and we will show you how to repair & alter your own clothes.

Dress making course

Wednesday 12 August 1.00 - 3.30  Learn to read a pattern £15

Wednesday 19 August 1.00 - 3.30  Learn to adapt a pattern to fit you exactly £15

Wednesday 19 August 1.00 - 3.30  Create your beautiful item £15

17 Queen Street, Dawlish

www.butterflydawlishcic.org.uk 

  Tel 07966393283