SEPTEMBER 2018

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

As I said in last month’s report, for reasons of dates and deadlines, there would be no reports of the Apple Pie Fair until this month’s report (which you are now reading, and many thanks for that!).
What I did forecast was that the History Group would have a display in the Village Hall telling the history of the Fair with many old and recent photographs, and another display about the Torbay Chalet Hotel (or “holiday camp” as it was better known). This latter was shown at our Open Meeting in June, and created much interest, and did so again. We were surprised by the number of people (of all ages) from this area and further afield, who had not heard or known about it. On reflection this is perhaps not so surprising as the “Camp” closed 20 years ago this year. We were very pleased at the interest it again created. Putting the display together reminded me that much of our Archive material for Torbay Chalet was donated to us by Bob Hooper, who was Managing Director there for many years before his retirement. I was also reminded of the recent passing of Bob’s wife Esme, who was his “right hand man” on many social occasions at “the Camp”. Both were also long time Members of the Group.

Our next Open Meeting, which is also our AGM, is on Friday 7th SEPTEMBER. 

Our Speaker will be former police officer Simon Dell, who will give us an illustrated talk titled “Policing the Peninsula”, which is a history of policing in the West Country between 1850 and 2000 (with some amusing anecdotes apparently).

Simon is a new Speaker to our Group, partly due to his being much in demand (this being the reason why this Meeting is not on our usual 2nd Friday of the month – he is booked elsewhere on that date).

Our AGM is also the time to renew your membership of our Group, and we sincerely hope that you will be able to do so. Our annual subscription is still only £5, which entitles you to free admission to all our Open Meetings (in March, June and September). Our Open Meetings are open to all, including non-members (£2), and the free coffee and biscuits alone are worth the subscription/non-member fee!

I have mentioned many times before the Group’s concerns about our membership numbers, and I apologise for bringing it up again. We appreciate that the problem of falling membership numbers/attendances at Meetings is affecting most local organisations (and not only in South Devon), resulting in the closure of some, and the reasons for the problem are varied and genuine. Our current membership is just under 60 and the average attendance at our Open Meetings is between 30-40. We hope therefore that, if you are a Member or a “lapsed” Member, you will be able to help keep us in existence by renewing your Membership – remember, it’s only £5 per year. And we are of course always looking for new members, so why not give us a try and come along to our AGM on Friday 7th September – 7.30 pm in the Village Hall. We shall be very pleased to see you.

Tony Chidlow .. Chairman