Tregadillett Brownies have recently returned from an amazing weekend away at Crantock for our Pack Holiday. This year the holiday was organised by Tawny Owl Sally Adams, as she was working towards her 'Going Away with' Licence - which we're very pleased to say that when the Assessor came to visit, she was very happy with everything that she’d done and was happy to sign it off.

We started off at Tregadillett where everyone piled onto the minibus driven by Brown Owl Sara Fuge, with a few nerves and a bit of trepidation! Each girl was given a special festival wristband to wear for the weekend. The journey went well with Tawny Owl leading the girls in singing for much of the time. Snowy Owl Beth Martin followed in her car along with a parent who kindly transported all the luggage in a van for us.

Arriving at the hall, we had no sooner unloaded the luggage when the supermarket delivery arrived which meant we could get straight into making lunch.

After lunch, once the hall was set up with the girls beds, the Brownies started the first activity. Each Brownie had a white cotton T-shirt to prepare for some tie-dying. It was lovely sunny afternoon and once the dying was completed, it didn't take long for all the T-shirts to be hung out to dry. Each one was individual decorated with the patterns made by the tie-dyeing process.

While this was going on, we had a very unexpected accidental meeting with a lady who suddenly recognised Brown Owl from when she was a Brownie many years ago! A very happy reunion with Snowy Owl too as they were in the Guides together!

The first evening involved making ‘Smores’ from chocolate biscuits, marshmallows and using tea-lights followed by hot chocolate before bed time. This was supposed to help with going to sleep but it is always a bit difficult the first night as everyone is both excited and wondering what to expect. Eventually everyone fell asleep!

The next day everyone took it in turns to make their own packed lunch to take for the day out to Newquay Zoo. We all enjoyed looking at the animals - especially the three baby lynx who were just beginning to explore the outside inclosure. There were also some very brave Brownies who volunteered to feed 'live' food (crickets and beetles) to the meerkats! Before going back to the hall, the gift shop was a must! After a great amount of deliberation, a lot of fluffy animals joined us on the minibus back to the hall.

After the day out at the Zoo, we headed back to the hall for a short rest time. Then we headed down to Crantock beach for some time on the beach and a quick paddle before going for tea at the wonderful Beachcomber cafe. The staff there were amazing and we all enjoyed having tea cooked for us. Each girl went back to the hall with a 'Crantock Crab' each too!

The second night was easier as everyone was absolutely exhausted after a full day. The last day was filled with preparations for the finishing festival. Flower headdresses were prepared, beautiful colourful butterfly wings were completed and face painting done to make everyone ‘festival ready’. Finally after all the packing up was completed, the parents were allowed in to the hall to collect their luggage before returning to watch the 'festival' when all the girls paraded around in their colourful T-shirts, headdresses, wings and face paints.

All in all, a wonderful happy and successful Pack Holiday weekend! Once all the girls had left, the ‘Owls’ packed the last of the boxes into the vehicles and left soon afterwards for a well earned rest and a good nights’ sleep in their own beds!

Tregadillett Brownies are now looking for another Leader to join us to help with regular weekly meetings. This could just be for the weekly meeting or if you felt like giving more time, there are plenty of opportunities available. As you can see we have great fun together and we love being able to give this opportunity to as many girls as we can. Some of their experiences last a lifetime but it does mean that without Leaders we are limited to the number of girls we can help.

St James the Great Parish Church celebrated Harvest Festival on Sunday, October 5, with the Holy Communion service led by Rev Jane Bradbury.

The church was beautifully decorated for the occasion with sheaves of corn, bright floral arrangements and masses of fruit and vegetables, along with an assortment of other produce for which we are all thankful, which was given by church and choir members and people of the parish. There was a wheelbarrow either side of the chancel gates, both of which were full of plants, fruit and vegetables.

Beautiful harvest Hymns were sung and were led by the choir and our organist Luke Francis, together with Bude Metric Brass, under the conductorship of Colin Gay.

The hymns included in the service were: ‘Come, Ye thankful people, come’, ‘To God be the glory, great things He has done!’, ‘Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father’, ‘Guide me, O Thou great Redeemer’ and ‘We plough the fields and scatter’.

During Holy Communion the Choir rendered: For the beauty of the earth and Through all the changing scenes of life.

The offertory was taken up by Rachel Jenkins and Jules Evanson.

After the service, all the produce which was given for the celebration was transported to the Grenville Rooms and placed on the stage.

A team of willing workers had prepared a delicious Harvest Lunch and before the meal was served, Rev Richard Ward-Smith said Grace.

The meal consisted of cold beef and ham, boiled potatoes, salad, coleslaw, chutneys and bread rolls. Sweet trolleys followed with delicious desserts, all of which were home-made and given.

Teas, coffees, cheese and biscuits rounded off the meal.

Finally, the auction of flowers and produce was performed by Reg Hambley, with Tony Davis acting as clerk.

There was spirited bidding, with a grand total of £425 raised for Kilkhampton Junior and Infants School.

Thank you to all who worked so hard to make the Harvest Festival such a success and to all who attended.

After a Summer of visiting various railways across the West Country.

Members were welcomed on Friday, September 19, to St Stephens Hall for the start of the 2025/26 indoor meetings. The chairman Ivor Davy introduced John Fissler who retuned to give a another presentation on Swiss Railways, which was titled “Rhatische Bahn”.

In the first half John covered the history of the railways which is mainly metre gauge. As Switzerland has very little coal all of its railways were electrified by 1922. They still run some steam trains as enthusiast specials which run along side the normal timetabled trains. The longest train ever to run in the world was shown at 1.9 kilometres long made up of 25 four car units. The Vereina tunnel was featured opening in November 1999 and is 19 kilometres long. As well as running service trains through the tunnel the railway provides a shuttle service for road vehicles as well.

Finally many pictures were shown of the steam driven rotary snowplough. This machine can propel itself but most of the time it pushed by an electric locomotive so that all the steam power can be channelled towards the snowplough. After the break a series of videos that John had made over the years were shown. This covered what he had talked about in the first half including the rotary snowplough.

The next meeting is on October 17 when there will be a return visit by Keith Barrow who is Editor of Today’s Railways in Europe. Again Keith will take us on a trip round the railways of Europe.

Lezant WI members were privileged to have Dr Lesley Trotter talking about her research on Notable Women in Cornish History for their October meeting.

President Diana Anderson introduced her. She said over the years many women were enablers to family businesses or helping their husbands in many ways by bringing up the family and managing the home but few had main roles in business in the early years unless they were widowed or spinsters. She gave a broad view of Cornish Women who achieved much from the 1500’s onwards such as Jane Trevithick, wife of Cornish engineer and inventor Richard Trevithick, Anna Marie Hunt who inherited Lanhydrock with a very huge debt and was responsible for making it viable.

Elizabeth Carne became an early female banker with a reputation for trust in the 19th century and Beatrice Ruthbone became Cornwall’s first female member of Parliament and went on to be the first sitting member to give birth to a child, she was also the founder of hearing dogs for the deaf. Ann Glanville became the champion pilot gig rower with an all women crew also having 14 children! She gave many more examples. Dr Trotter suggested members look up Hypatia trust.org to find out much more on Women’s History if interested. Karen Luxon thanked her for this informative talk

Competition winners were Shrub 1st Jo Rider, 2nd Judith Smith 3rd Irene Nash, Flower1st Ruth Burden 2nd Jo Rider 3rd Irene Nash. Picture of a notable woman, 1st Jo Rider, 2nd Yvonne Taite 3rd Ruth Burden

Final preparations were discussed for the Lezant WI Craft Fair and Coffee Morning at Trebullett Chapel Hall on Saturday, October 25, from 10.30am to 12.30pm. Members were encouraged to give out fliers to advertise this event

The next monthly meeting takes the form of the Centenary tree planting in the grounds of Trebullett Chapel on November 12.

The October meeting of Holsworthy History Society was held on October 9 in The Manor Suite at 7pm.

The speaker was Mr David Kendrick who spoke on the life & sad death of Edith Cavell, the brave nurse who was condemned to death on October 12, 1915.

A very moving account of her life from being born a vicars daughter through to her nursing career during WW1 which led to her sad death by a firing squad & a meagre grave but later to be exhumed & brought back to England where she was finally laid to rest in her birth place of Norwich after a service in Westminster Abbey.

The next meeting is on Thursday, November 13, when the talk will be by a member of The Bude Canal Trust commencing at 7pm.

Connect Bude's ninth annual general meeting and public meeting takes place at 11am on Saturday, October 18, at The Falcon Hotel, Bude with coffee available from 10.30am.

The group, which has over 500 members and supporters, is campaigning to reinstate rail to Bude will share recent progress with members, supporters and anyone who is interested in public transport solutions in the 'rail desert' of North Cornwall.

Colleagues from Connect Launceston will be present and Tim Steer, the new chair of Railfuture Devon & Cornwall will be sharing news from across the region. Bruce Thompson will also be updating those who attend on the progress of action to ensure fast reliable bus connections to the new Okehampton Parkway station which is opening in 2026. All are welcome at this short and informative meeting.

Any queries can be made to the chair, Richard Wolfenden-Brown on 07922 594244 or [email protected]