March 2016 Newsletter

Torbryan talk
On February 1st we were once again delighted to welcome Rowena Riley from the Churches Conservation Trust to the village hall to update us about the Torbryan Hidden Secrets project. When Rowena visited us last year she had yet to secure Heritage Lottery funding for the project but now the money’s come through it’s a different story and progress is being made on many fronts. A team of researchers is unearthing more information about the village. Their main task is to explain the continued existence of such a high quality church rood screen in such a small village. It’s hard to imagine now but our sister parish Torbryan had for hundreds of years from Domesday up to the eighteenth century enjoyed the patronage of some of the most powerful families in the land – the De Bryans, the Earls of Northumberland, the Kytsons, the Carews, the Peters and the Wollstons. This might help to explain a lot about the church.
Rowena was able to update us also on the current state of the conservation project, particularly with regard to the panels that had been stolen, and some of the work being carried out with local schools to highlight the national importance of Torbryan’s caves. These caves house the most perfect record ever found of the animals of Britain through the interglacial period. When we say animals of Britain we are talking about hippos, woolly rhinoceroses and hyenas as well as our more familiar native species.
The plan is to run some events in the summer at Holy Trinity as well as maintaining a permanent exhibition. The Project leaders would always like more volunteers. Contact Rowena at rowena.riley@gmail.com
From the archive…
In the February edition of the magazine I said that I was holding over the results of January’s school photo and sure enough my research team have come up trumps again with the answers.
Top Row L-R Madeline Rogers, Mary Allen, Susan Shelley, Carol Havill, Phyllis Wood, Pearl Sampson
Middle Row L-R Edward Caunter, Raymond Eveleigh, Yvonne Caunter, Greenaway, Margaret Penwill, Wendy Reid, Francis Lavers, Arthur (Brian) Rogers
Bottom Row L-R Greenaway, David Harris, Jimmy Caunter, ?,?, George Allen, Ken Peacock
These school photos are a bit crowded so I’ve gone back to a smaller group for this month’s challenge. We’ve had a few pictures of the ladies recently so this month we’re highlighting the gents. If you have the answers let me know.

John Marsh


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