HOLCOMBE JOTTINGS

Produced by Bryan Weston & published by Holcombe Residents Association

A 75-YEAR-OLD HIGH FLYER  

One of the residents of the village, who is also a Member of the Residents Association, recently did a Wing Walk in the build up to the Schneider Trophy taking place at Bernfield, Isle of Wight .  

This all came about because last year, during the celebrations of the Teignmouth Air Race, she met a man who was talking about the 75th Anniversary of the Schneider Trophy in 2006 and he was looking for someone, who would be 75 years old at that time, to do a wing walk with the Utterly Butterly Wing Walk Team. Beryl said “I will be 75 then” and the rest, as they say, is history.

She can't understand the fuss, but she had a number of interviews on various radio station programmes before and after the event, as well as write‑ups in several local papers. By the way, this is not a picture of Beryl upside down: they didn't go that far.

Beryl, amongst her other involvements, is the Curator of Teignmouth and Shaldon Museum which is proposing to extend its premises. This will enable it to display all of the artefacts that it holds instead of having to keep so many in “mothballs” through lack of space. She decided to try to raise money for the Museum by sponsorship whilst enjoying herself on top of a plane. The Museum, in French Street opposite the Railway Station, The building is expected to cost in the region of £750,000 so all contributions would be very gratefully received.

MOTHS IN HOLCOMBE

In 2001, I started weekly trapping sessions at a garden in Holcombe. I use a "Robinson Trap" which is one of the first types of trap designed by Peter and Hugh Robinson around 1948, and is the standard trap for static use in gardens. This trap is a round drum around 30 inches in diameter and 10 inches high with a base but no top. It has a ridge around the top for a plastic collar, which is sloping up 45%, leaving a hole at the top of around 1 foot for (for the moths to get in) with a mercury vapour bulb attached in the middle of this funnel. We use more portable equipment out in the field. The designs are many and varied, but they all have a container with sloping plastic funnel with a mercury vapour bulb in the middle. The main feature of these is that they can be folded down to fit into a car.

So far I have 2,352 records from this trap, comprising 338 species of moth, and I am still adding to this number with the latest addition, a new species for Devon named " Channel Island Pug". This was found on 21st and 28th July this year, one specimen each time, leading to a follow-up on Sprey Point where 18 larvae (caterpillars) were found on the tamarisk bushes on the site. This was a surprising discovery, and I look forward to more of the same.  

Roy McCormick, F.R.E.S., County Recorder &. Secretary/Treasurer for Devon Moth Group.

The Association has produced this publication as an experiment. Feedback, positive or negative, at the Association meeting on 11^th November would be appreciated.

If you have any contributions for possible future editions, please let Bryan Weston (865474) know.

A LOCAL ARTIST

So many fine paintings exhibited in the village hall In May this year reminded me that the 1901 Census recorded that the village was then home to a painter called Nathaniel Baird. He lived with his wife and 2 children  in  “St. Bernard’s Cottage” (then called “The Retreat). He had rented the house for some years from Henry Pennell, who then owned virtually all the land and houses in and around the village.  Baird bought the house in 1898 for £750 and was able to employ a live-in cook, suggesting that he was not a struggling artist. He lived in Holcombe until the mid-1900’s, and then in Exeter , Lewes, Henley and Rodmell , Sussex where he died.  

Reference books state that he was born in 1865, though the 1901 Census gives him as aged 41. He was born at Yetholm in the Scottish borders. He studied art in Edinburgh , London and in France . He had a work exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1883 when he was 18 years old (or 23, depending on his true year of birth), either of which seems a remarkably young age for his work to be selected by that august body. He was elected to the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI) in 1897. Beyond the above, there is no other information readily available about his life.  

            Plough horses on the Sussex Downs

        (When I saw this, I thought it was Holcombe)

           Golden Days

Some of Baird’s work is held by the Victoria and Albert Museum , the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, the Leeds Art Gallery and by the Royal Albert Museum in Exeter . However none seems to be on public display.

 Bryan Weston

IT’S A DOG’S LIFE

Hello, I’m Bella, the grey Lurcher. I’m often to be seen around the village with my dad and know most of the houses where members of the Association live. I thought I would take pen in paw to tell you something about my adventures. One day not long ago, I was stretched out in my garden enjoying the sunshine and hoping for a cat (or two) to appear. Then I caught a scent that just had to be investigated. There was a sort of dog in the garden next door, which turned out to be a fox according to dad, so I just had to have a closer look.

For about three hours I followed this and other foxes all over the fields around Manor Farm. I met all the farm animals, lots of rabbits and I forget how many foxes. I’m sure that as one disappeared,  another one came to have a run with me. That could be the reason why I ended up more tired than the fox did!

After a while I heard farmer Humphrey in his Landrover and saw my dad was with him. I was pretty good, I thought, and waited for him to come over to me. Farmer Humphrey offered me a lift in the Landrover but dad said that the state I was in, he couldn’t afford the cleaning bill. I had to suffer the indignity of being hosed down in the road before getting into the shower at home.

Since all this happened I have seen lots of fox hunts on television. I wondered, from what they were saying, whether I had been a naughty girl to do what I did. But I would do it again if I got the chance.

Hold on – did I hear the rustle of dog bags and jingle of my lead – YES – time to go out. again. See you around. Bye-bye everyone.

Carol  & Gerry Chambers

HAVE YOU NOTICED THE DIFFERENCE?

In living memory Holcombe has had at least one Dairy herd. That came to end in 2003 when most of my dairy cows were sold to be replaced by a suckler beef herd.

To most people I don’t suppose it looks much different but to me it is a world of difference. To start with I don’t have to get up so early to do the milking but the biggest change is the production of the farm. I was producing 360,000 litres of milk per year from about 50 cows. I was making about 500 tons of maize silage and 200 tons of grass silage to feed through the winter. It required very careful management of the land to achieve that level of production. Soil acidity levels had to be correct, in this area that meant regular liming and the use of about 20 tons of artificial fertilizer.

Now, inputs are low and output is low. No fertilizer purchased this year, no maize being grown and only about 200 tons of grass silage preserved for the winter. There are 39 adult  cows, mostly Aberdeen Angus, and one Aberdeen Angus Bull. Most cows calve in the early Summer and suckle their calf for almost a year. The calves are then sold at Exeter market to a beef finishing farm before the cows start calving again.

It’s nice to see the fields green again now that some rain has come. I have been feeding almost full winter rations for nearly two months now which is going to make it  a long winter. It’s a good job I had some silage left over from last winter, it might just be enough to see us through to the spring.

I feel I would like to say just a little about the new system of farm subsidies adopted by this country and no other. The Single Farm Payment or SFP. All subsidies in the past have been to encourage the production of crops or animals that Governments have decided should be encouraged, indeed the only profit on a lot of products was the subsidy but you had to produce that product to get the payment. The SFP has no bearing on production. It is based on acreage and complying with environmental guidelines, like hedge trimming every other year and not annually or leaving an untouched two metre headland around fields to allow for so called better wild life habitat. There is very little we can produce in this country that can’t be produced a lot cheaper in other parts of the world mainly because of labour cost. The SFP will ensure that we will become more and more dependent on imports for our food.

I leave it to you to decide the future impact of that policy!!   

On 3^rd October, the herd had their three-yearly TB test. We are fortunate to be in one of only about four parishes in Devon and Cornwall to have three-yearly tests. Everywhere else has either annual or biannual test because of higher infections of TB. We also have very low numbers of badgers here. 

The test consist of each animal being given two injections in the skin of the neck on one day and the thickness of the skin is then checked after 25 hours. One big difference with the beef herd is that they are not handled twice a day like the dairy herd and they seem to know when a vet is around. I had to shut them in the night before when they came in to feed or they would not have come near the yards on the morning of the test.. 

I had no reactors but if I had had then the animals that reacted would have to be slaughtered and a retest of all the animals after 60 days and the same applies if there is another reactor. Some farms have gone on like that for years without a clear test. But any infected badgers on the farm are protected by law and cannot be touched.

There has been an exceptional amount of foxes here this year. The noises at night have been like I have never heard before. Almost like a lot of cats fighting. I am convinced that city foxes are being caught and released in the countryside. I have heard the same comments from other parts of the country. They are not  able to feed properly as they are what I call ‘Mc Donald's or KFC’ foxes and are not at all at home in the country. I tried to phone the RSPCA to find out if they are doing it. The only number I could get a person the end of the line was by selecting the number for giving donations. I never did get an answer.

We said goodbye to the last four swallows on the 1st October. I always record when the first ones arrive,  and when the last ones leave. They arrive consistently  one or two days earlier every year but leave a day or two later each year. Is it because of global warming do you think?

It has been an enjoyable year as far as our tourist

business is concerned. The weather has been as hot as the Med. at times which always makes for happy visitors. People are always so pleased that  they found Holcombe, especially those that visit the Castle for their evening entertainment. I would like to thank those locals that make visitors feel so welcome and for all the gossip that we hear at breakfast! We are all fortunate to live in this great village which makes the fight to stop unsuitable developments worthwhile, some we win, unfortunately, some we loose. 

I know parking is a problem in the village but could I request that people give a little consideration when  parking across our entrance at the end of Hall Lane . Sometimes it’s almost impossible to get out there with a tractor  It is the entrance our signs guide people to use because it is safer than turning in Fordens Lane but at times they turn away because of the cars parked across the entrance.

Humphrey and Jean Clemens, Manor Farm

DID YOU KNOW THAT after World War One, Holcombe had an agriculture and horticulture training centre for disabled survivors, giving one year's training in poultry keeping, pig breeding, fruit growing and gardening etc. The centre could house 72 men in 6 large corrugated iron-clad huts. There were 43 trainees in residence by June 1920, with 44 acres under cultivation.

In September 1920 there were 60 resident trainees. Government doubted whether the industry could absorb more disabled men. By March 1921,  there were 74 trainees and 14 had completed their training. In June 1921, 47 men were still in training and 44 had completed their training. The centre closed at the end of September. Overall, 76 completed their training, 42 becoming Devon smallholding tenants. Fifteen found employment in agriculture. Five went  abroad to farm.

The land became 2 farms and 5 smallholdings, the latter having a bungalow converted from the huts. Most original residents trained at the centre and some of their descendents still live in the village. One remaining hut looks, externally, much as it must have done than 80+ years ago.