Show and Tell

SHOW AND TELL. Westbank Charity Shop. Tuesday, 17^th September, 4pm until 6pm

Meet “Dobbin at the Forge”, who is installed in the patio garden. We'll have a laptop displaying our Starcross History website, and some items of interest. Have you any stories to tell? Have you anything to show from our village past?

There will be plenty of the shop's posh coffee and cake on sale, so it will be a great opportunity for a natter. We hope to plan some more events and projects. It's going to be difficult to top last year's win on the Teignmouth TRAIL with Kattanga, our War Horse, but we have a design for some gallopers; reminiscent of the carousel that used to visit the village every year. Who knows anything about the fairs they used to have here?

Did our Captain Peacock (designer of the Swan of the Exe) invent the screw propeller? If that's true, then wouldn't it be great if we could get a screw propeller from somewhere and install it as a memorial to the great man?

And how about this idea to reproduce our Stairs Cross? Was it made from red sandstone? It might have been... like the one at Clyst St George. Red sandstone would be a relatively easy stone to work with. Where can we find a big enough piece of it? Who would like to carve it?

Who would like to help with a mosaic of the Cockwood Lime Kilns & sailing barge? Can you suggest more mosaic ideas?

Everyone's invited to all our meets, but usually we get around 20 max... There's access for wheelchairs via the back entrance. No admission or membership charge. Donations accepted

Sailed Barges

A potential site has been located for a mosaic of a sailed barge bringing limestone from the quarry at Berry Head to the Cockwood lime kilns. Research is ongoing about what the barges looked like. They were probably Thames barges.
HERE'S a record, from the Mersea Museum,  of a barge named Active which sunk off Berry Head on May 29th, 1988.
A copy of  Big Barges (recommended by Ron Green of Mersea Museum) by Hervey Benham and Roger Finch is ordered.

 The real thing is not far away though. A Thames barge, The Vigilant,  is being restored on Topsham Quay by Andy Voysey, who has kindly sent these photographs.