To all residents, parishioners, friends and neighbours of Widecombe-in-the-Moor

Be it known that the Parish Council of Widecombe-in-the-Moor

intends to undertake the ancient custom of Beating the Bounds of the Parish 

during the month of September.

This time-honoured tradition, observed for centuries throughout England, provides an opportunity for parishioners to walk the boundaries of their parish, to renew knowledge of its extent, celebrate our shared heritage, and strengthen the bonds of community and place.

All residents and those with an interest in the parish are warmly invited to take part in this special occasion. The route will follow sections of the historic parish boundary, and participants will have the opportunity to learn about the landscape, history and landmarks that define our parish.

• The Beating of the Bounds will be undertaken in three stages across the three weekends following Widecombe Fair: Saturday 12th, Saturday 19th and Sunday 27th.

• Places will be limited and advance booking will be required,

• you can book to attend one, two or all three days.

• In the event that the walks are oversubscribed, priority will be given to parishioners and those with close ties to the parish and community, particularly those able to participate in all three stages of the route.

• The total distance covered over the 3 days will be 37km.

To book your place, please email:

claire.partridge@widecombeparishcouncil.gov.uk

Please include:

1. Name(s) of all participants

2. Which day(s) you wish to attend

3. A contact telephone number

Furthur details of the walks, distances, and other important information can be found on the Parish Council website Latest News - Widecombe Parish Council.

The last time the entire Parish was beaten was in May 2000, so it has been a while. Before that there was a Beating in 1977 to mark Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee, and there is believed to have been one in the mid 1980s.

‘Manor’ Beatings have been more frequent, such as Spitchwick on a regular basis, Dunstone and Blackslade

Before the age of the written word, the Beating of the Bounds was a regular event taking place every 7 years, often during Rogation week. It is believed to originated during Anglo-Saxon times. It had both religious and civil aspects: the religious in blessing the forthcoming harvests, and the civic in knowing the legal boundaries of the Parish.

A number of prominent parishioners and church leaders would lead a group of the locals, including the young of the Parish. At each boundary marker, they would hit the marker with sticks; although it was also common for the youngsters to be ‘bumped’ on the stones so as to impress the markers’ locations on their young minds!

In this way the boundary of the Parish was passed through the generations.

The prolonged drought has had an impact on everyone, whether a farmer trying to grow winter feed for their stock, or an amateur (or not so amateur) gardener. On top of this the sudden explosion in Bluetongue virus cases, and Devon’s unenviable position as a leading hotspot of infections, has lead to the cancellation of livestock classes at Widecombe Fair, just as it has at many other shows this summer.

The organisers are aware that local shows provide a vital opportunity for farmers to meet up with others going through the same challenges and compare notes. They want to make sure that this important support network is still available for those who had intended to show their cattle and sheep at this year’s Fair so a social gathering is being arranged, which will include a representative from the Farming Community Network. They will hear about it directly from the organisers. The Farming Community Network representative will also be sharing a stand with the Dartmoor Hill Farmers and will be available throughout the day.

Widecombe Fair will be different this year, but there’s still a full day of things to do and see and local residents can still play their part in making it a memorable one. Plan your day on Tuesday 8th September around the following events:

• Devon Axe Team display featuring the Devon Lumberjack Championships (Forestry Ring)

• Town Crier competition (Church House Square 11am, 2pm)

• Family Dog Show (Jubilee Ring 11am)

• Terrier Racing (Main Ring 11.45am, 3.15pm)

• Dartmoor Hill Pony Display Team (Main Ring 1pm, 4.30pm)

• Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team (Jubilee Ring 1.30pm)

• Vintage Cars and Machinery Parade (Main Ring, 1.45pm)

• Canine Capers (Jubilee Ring 2pm)

• Border Morris Dancers (Jubilee Ring 3.30pm)

• Uncle Tom Cobley Downhill Race (Main Ring 3.45pm)

• Bale Tossing competition (Jubilee Ring 5pm)

• Tug of War competition (Below Main Ring 7pm)

• Organ recitals with a modern twist (St Pancras Church 11am, 1 pm, 3 pm)

We are also excited to welcome some new attractions this year, including:

• Shire Horse Display Team (Main Ring 12.30pm)

• Dart Angling Association fly fishing demonstrations (Moor Field)

• Clayzer laser clay pigeon shooting (Moor Field)

In addition to the events taking place in the various rings the Fair Field will be full of stalls selling food, drink, crafts, rural products and of course there are the famous Widecombe History Group’s tent, with their local history research, and the Craft and Produce tent. The vintage and classic vehicles will be on display taking you back to earlier days.

The Village Green will have even more stalls and woodworking in progress. And don’t forget that there will be live music all around the village throughout the day.

Here is a message from the Craft and Produce tent team:

The 8th September is approaching fast and we’re sorry the livestock show is not going ahead this year. But for sowers, growers, gardeners, makers and bakers of our Parishes the show tent is very much open for business.

We’ve tried to put together a schedule for everyone: visitors and competitors alike, and we hope you agree.

So, - calling all exhibitors and anyone who isn’t yet but could be: -

It might be necessary to dig deep (literally) for veg and floral classes. With this weather, if you have something to harvest, that’s already very impressive. And of course, there are plenty of craft and home produce classes. The event is all prepared but there’s no show without your contributions. Details of the classes and how to enter are on the website, link below.

https://www.widecombefair.com

The services offered by Lucy are listed in the Parish Link and have been described in a former Rolling Along post. So I’m not going to itemise them all again here. Instead, I want to celebrate Lucy’s dedication to her rural ‘beat’. In addition to her weekly visits, she’ll be here on Widecombe Fair day and she attended the Village Fete on the Green in July.

Lucy got a friend of hers to make the above animation, which I wanted to share with the wider Rolling Along community. It shows that even when she isn’t driving that multi-coloured van, her heart is still in the villages she visits.

These days we are encouraged to use self-service tills in supermarkets, ATMs in banks – or online banking, even better. You can’t ring up individual branches of chain stores and if you go onto websites with a query, it’s an automated chat bot that will answer. All of which makes it a very special service we have in our Dartmoor villages: an actual living, breathing human being behind the counter.

Oh, and if you miss Lucy in Widecombe, you can catch her in Ilsington after she’s left here or in Postbridge during the (Monday) afternoon.

Please note, Lucy will be away for a well-earned break next week, so won’t be with us on Monday 17th August.

“The Corvus Consort Quartet at Saint Pancras Church was billed as a Sacred Meditation and that was exactly our experience of it.

The simple, unaccompanied singing characterised the beauty and vulnerability of the human voice. The audience fell into a deep stillness as the singers moved behind us and around the whole space. The acoustics of the Church were used to full effect with the programme of sacred music; many people were rapt by the sound as the individual and collective voices called into the silence. An ancient faith was evoked in us. Of all the Church music I’ve heard I can’t think of a more fitting tribute to that historic building than this music. We felt a sense of enormous gratitude to hear singing of this quality here in our beautiful Church in the moor. It felt like a blessing.”

Michael Brown, concert organiser, adds:

“This group comprises some of the UK’s finest young professional singers. Three of them sing in the Choir of the Chapels Royal, as well as with groups such as The Sixteen and BBC Singers. They form the core of the 18 strong Corvus Consort, who will be performing in several concerts at this year’s Whiddon Autumn Festival from 16th to 20th September.

Offering a concert of unaccompanied serious choral music was a new venture in recent years for St Pancras, and it is great to know it was so well received. We are hoping to have the group back around the same time next year, when we hope it might be a little less hot! We will also avoid clashing with the Wimbledon Men’s Tennis Final.”

Music loving readers might like to make a note of two more concerts in the diary: Sarah Harris will be giving us a jazz concert on Sunday 8th November, performing classics from the Great American Songbook (George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter) with a modern twist. And on Sunday 6th December the Ferio Sax Quartet will be back for another advent concert with some Christmassy favourites (think Nutcracker, Sleigh Ride etc) and others: not to be missed.

Did you know that there is a volunteer run pothole repair scheme in the Widecombe Parish run by Sue Raynor? It’s a great opportunity to mend these tiresome and destructive holes and to meet and work alongside your neighbours.

Sue heard about the scheme on Jeremy Vine’s Radio 2 show when a councillor from South Hams talked about Devon Highway’s Road Warden Scheme which, via their individual parish councils, assists and funds volunteer groups who can repair potholes in their Parish which do not meet Devon Highways’ own criteria. After approval from Widecombe Parish Council and Sue’s appointment as their Road Warden, she spoke to Devon Highways who provide all the materials and grants for basic equipment such as the High Vis jackets, Tampers, Shovels etc. as well as public liability insurance.

The scheme has now been running since March 2025 and needs more volunteers. Various roles are required from cleaning out the edges of the holes to filling them with Cold-lay Asphalt, which is also provided by Devon Highways. Once the holes have been filled and tamped down, the edges are sprayed with Tac spray and the team then moves on. Volunteers need to be reasonably physically fit and wear good sturdy boots. High Vis jackets and trousers plus thick strong gloves are provided but you can always bring your own. There are also roles for 2 people at the beginning and end of each working team to operate walkie-talkies and warn the team of any traffic or cars wanting to drive through. Finally, we have to have at least one volunteer present who has undertaken Chapter 8 training for safely managing traffic on highways (the cost of which Devon Highways also cover).

Since the project started, the team has repaired over 100 potholes by September (at which point Sue stopped counting!) and has been invited to Yorkshire and even Barbados to repair potholes by grateful and admittedly, slightly incredulous motorists. It’s great fun and the team always break for tea, coffee and cake. The team usually start at 9.30am and finish by 1pm.

It’s important that volunteers don’t just turn up as Sue has to provide Devon Highways with a list of names and provide volunteers with a copy of the Highways Road Safety Awareness course. She also has to complete a risk assessment for each session of repairs. The team are all on a WhatsApp group and if the weather is terrible, the session is cancelled. They also do not meet over the school and bank holidays.

Large holes on main roads need to be reported to Devon County Council at https://www.devon.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/report-a-problem/report-a-pothole/ but if there are any worthy of the team’s attention, let Sue know.

The parish is a large area, including Widecombe, Ponsworthy and Leusdon and the roads go as far as Newbridge, Buckland Bridge, Cockingford Bridge, Near Holwell Down, just past Natsworthy Manor, the boundary between Blackaton and Challacombe, Grendon Bridge and up to Ephraim’s Pinch just before Soussons Forest, Babeny and down to Dartmeet.

On 30^th July, the Pub Quiz night at The Old Inn in Widecombe will be in aid of the Pothole repair team so that funds can be raised to buy a whacker plate (which sadly is not funded by Devon Highways) so to help really bash the Cold-lay Asphalt into place and consequently more holes can be repaired.

Please come to support this event, raise a quiz team or join one and sign up to be a pothole volunteer. It’s fun and a great community project where the benefits can be seen instantly.

Sue Raynor can be contacted at hameldown@btineternet.com or 01364 621244.

CONSTELLATIONS

Dartmoor is blessed with excellent dark skies compared with much of the rest of the UK, but sometimes this can be a double-edged sword when navigating around the sky as the sheer quantity of stars can obscure the familiar shapes. In summer, though, the crepuscular light that persists late into the evening will hide some of that noise and make the larger constellations a bit easier to make out. So it’s often a good time to refresh your knowledge of the skies just by stepping outside with nothing but your eyes (and perhaps an app on your phone) to guide you.

Ursa Major - aka The Big Dipper - is still resplendent as it is for much of the year. You’ll struggle to make out any detail in its galaxies that we featured in the spring edition, but the constellation itself is always a great sight and a useful navigation aid for the heavens in general. As a reminder, Ursa Major is perhaps the easiest way to find Polaris, the North Star, to orientate yourself for any observation session. Use the two stars of the Big Dipper’s bowl closest to the horizon as pointer stars to show the way to Polaris and you’ll never be lost again (unless it’s cloudy, of course).

Finding north using Ursa Major and Polaris

High in the skies at this time of year is the grand cross of Cygnus, the Swan, a constellation that’s thankfully easy to recognise from its moniker. The four brightest stars form a clear crucifix, but looking further beyond its arms will reveal stars that make up the swan’s wings, completing the illusion. Cygnus is an excellent target for a long-exposure photograph which doesn’t require much magnification to reveal plenty of nebulosity - and an abundance of stars - throughout its shape. If any of you were brave enough to tackle the barn-door mount from last time, or alternatively have a whizzy gadget that can do it for you, now’s your chance to put it to the test. Don’t go for too long an exposure though as sunlight is never too far below the horizon at this time of year. As we drift into autumn Cygnus becomes central to the Milky Way, so keep coming back to it over the coming months to see more and more.

The central cross of Cygnus showing a wealth of stars

The brightest star in Cygnus is Deneb, located at the head of the cross - seen with a blue tinge in the above photograph. Nearby to Deneb is the grand North America Nebula, so named for its shape resembling that continent. This is a tricky object to spot without dark skies though and is most easily found with long-exposure photography. Its distinctive red hue adds to its elusivity - the rod cells in our eyes, used for low-light vision, are particularly insensitive to red light so spying red nebulae is difficult without ocular assistance. This, by the way, is why astronomers use red light torches to get around - they’re excellent at lighting the way without impacting much on our night vision.

Deneb, along with Altair and Vega, make up the famous Summer Triangle - an asterism (or unofficial constellation) that’s a favourite for astral navigators throughout the northern hemisphere. Altair is positioned in the middle of a line of three stars that form part of the constellation Aquila (the Eagle) whilst Vega heads the small constellation Lyra (the Harp). All three are blue-white stars which tells us that they’re relatively young and hot. Together they form a right-angled triangle which can be seen at all hours of darkness throughout summer.

The Summer Triangle in and around Cygnus, The Swan

THE PLANETS

Astute observers will note that the planets don’t get too far above the horizon during summer, since the plane of the ecliptic (the disc that all solar system objects travel in) is angled such that its objects appear high in the sky during daytime, but shallow at night in accordance with the Earth’s rotation. At the time of writing Jupiter is a little too close to the Sun to safely identify but you should be able to spot Venus shortly after sunset in the west. Mars and Saturn are both (very) early morning objects though if you stay up late enough Saturn will be visible rising in the east.

Aside from our regular solar system objects Comet 10P/Tempel will brighten throughout July, hopefully becoming visible in binoculars and small telescopes as the month progresses, reaching its closest approach to Earth on 3rd August. Look to the eastern horizon from 11pm or so though it’ll become easier to spot later in the night, in the south-east. It’s currently positioned between Aquarius and Capricorn and is fairly close to the Moon, but as we nudge towards August there will be less lunar interference.

Locating Comet 10P/Tempel in the south-east

Don’t forget the Moon - there may be less to see in the summer night sky but you don’t need dark skies or much equipment to enjoy our most familiar celestial neighbour. A simple pair of binoculars can reveal magnificent detail in the craters and seas and never gets boring, especially as each day will show different structures as the terminator line (separating night and day) moves throughout the month.

DEEP SKY

The never-dark nights will currently obscure many faint objects, but there are still some sights worth your attention. The Great Globular Cluster (M13) in Hercules is one such sight and, being a close concentration of stars, means it’s fairly identifiable even when the skies aren’t as dark as we’d like. Start by identifying Vega as mentioned above; then find Arcturus by extending the curve of the Big Dipper’s ‘handle’ towards the horizon to a bright orange star (‘arc to Arcturus’). Head in a line from Arcturus to Vega; one-third of the way is a semicircle of stars (Corona Borealis), then a further third along is a lop-sided rectangle known as The Keystone. Find the two western stars (on the side nearer Arcturus), then two-thirds of the way from the lower to the higher star is the Great Globular Cluster.

Locating M13, the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules

M13 contains around a million stars and is around 25,000 light years from Earth, with a central span of a hundred or so light years. Globular clusters are curious objects in that, through spectral analysis, scientists have determined a distinct lack of heavier elements (i.e. anything other than hydrogen and helium) in their structure, suggesting they were formed very early in the history of the universe, before supernovae had allowed those heavier elements to become part of the cosmic make-up. So when you look at one of these jewels in the sky you’re observing amongst the most ancient objects we know of.

I’ve often referred to stars’ colours as a way to identify them but, let’s be honest, these colours are usually quite difficult to make out. So let’s take a look at a lovely double-star, Albireo, to give us a reference point. Start with the Summer Triangle and identify Deneb, at the head of the Cygnus cross. The other end of the cross is Albireo. To the naked eye Albireo appears as a single star but a pair of binoculars or a small telescope will reveal an orange giant next to a smaller hot blue star. Their close proximity to one another makes the colour contrast quite spectacular.

Colour-contrasting binary star Albireo

‘SPACE WEATHER’

The Sun is still in a period of high activity so keep a close eye on potential Aurorae appearing over our Devon skies. We’re not positioned at the ideal latitude for this celestial theatre but improving camera technology makes it easier than ever to pick up the pink and green hues digitally, even with a humble smart phone. A tripod is, of course, highly recommended to give the best chance of capturing these sights with longer exposures.

Aurora curtains over Hound Tor, May 2024

Noctilucent clouds describe the phenomenon of high-altitude clouds being lit by the sun from below the horizon, giving an eerie reflective glow in the evening sky. These sometimes appear as wispy blue tendrils after sunset and are a spectacular sight when conditions allow. They will only form in specific circumstances, requiring the right temperatures and pressures in the upper atmosphere, and are not easily predictable so keep your eyes peeled low in the north-east to see if you can spot any.

FURTHERMORE

Binoculars are a great way to experience the night sky but larger ones can be especially cumbersome to hold steady for any length of time, especially if you’re standing. So why not use your DIY skills to construct a binocular holder that can either attach to a tripod or to a deck chair for supreme comfort? There are lots of ideas out there; the below is similar to one I’ve constructed in the past (though it’ll take up some space in your garage…)

Smart telescopes are a fast-improving way of getting into astrophotography with minimal experience, as the telescope does all the alignment, tracking, stacking and processing for you! There are several on the market ranging in price and ability, below is a link to a summary of many of the popular ones at the moment. Whilst these can be quite expensive they’re significantly cheaper than buying all the components of a full astrophotography set-up individually.

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/buying-guides/best-smart-telescope

Some other things to spot in July that we haven’t covered here including an elusive lunar crater, star clusters and a potential meteor shower.

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/space-astronomy/astronomy/night-sky-highlights-july-2026

Iwan Lewelyn-Jones came back to Widecombe on Saturday to give us a wonderful piano recital. Born and brought up in Anglesey, Iwan is a top concert pianist and Music Director at Bangor University.

He played music by Liszt, Rachmaninov, Debussy, Chopin and Schubert. It was stunning, and the audience were clearly deeply moved.

The concert raised over £1500 from ticket sales and the wonderful cream tea provided by our loyal local bakers. Proceeds are going into the project to provide assisted access into the church.

If you couldn't be there, here is a piece by Liszt called Liebestraume, a well known and wonderfully lyrical piece which you may recognise.

We are back with another top quality concert on Sunday July 12th at 4 pm from Corvus Consort Quartet, who will give us a programme of sacred and summery secular music. More details to follow.

If you missed that lot, we can’t help you, they are one-off events. But put it in your diary to come along to the next half-year’s offerings!

First up, on Thursday 9th July, we are all invited to have a close-up view of the organ that used to be in St Pancras Church. It’s now in a (rather smart) barn at Michael and Philly’s house on Widecombe Hill. This is a chance to find out why it was such a good idea to replace an organ built in 1830 with one built in 1918. Michael is (among lots of other things) our church organist and he’s opening his barn so we can discover just how the most complicated musical instrument there is actually works! He may even, if we’re lucky, allow us to have a go at ‘Chopsticks’ on it. I definitely want to.

On Thursday 11th August, we have a cheese-tasting organised by Ian Wellens of The Cheese Shed from Bovey Tracey. And no, this doesn’t mean you have to bring lumps of cheese for him to taste and guess what they are. He will be providing the cheese. Bring your own tastebuds.

On Thursday 10th September, it’s the turn of Alister Jamieson from Ponsworthy, to tell us about hedgehogs. No doubt you’ll have seen the signs around Ponsworthy reminding us to take care of hedgehogs, and maybe noticed the notice in the Parish Link. And perhaps even spotted some of these elusive creatures around our area. Alister and his wife have been making it their business to spearhead the return of our spiky chums to our bit of Dartmoor, and there is a lot he can tell us about their mission.

On Thursday 8th October, we’ll have the Newton Abbot Ukelele Club.

Formed in 2008, members meet every Wednesday evening at the Old Rydon Inn, Newton Abbot to enjoy singing and playing popular songs mainly from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. They encourage participation in singing the songs, for which songbooks are provided, shaking maracas, and dancing along. It’s just about having fun in a very amateurish but enthusiastic way.

Our last meeting of the year will be on 12th November, when Graham Hawkins of the West Dart History Group will tell us about Agatha Christie, who might have been a neighbour of his, back in the day.

To sum up:

Thursday, 9th July: Michael Brown demonstrating the organ at Northway Farm, Widecombe Hill, TQ13 7TE. 7.30pm NOTE VENUE!!!

Thursday 11th August: The Cheese Shed at the Church House, Widecombe. 7.30pm

Thursday 10th September: Hedgehogs at the Church House, Widecombe, 7.30pm

Thursday 8th October: Newton Abbot Ukelele Club at the Church House, Widecombe, 7.30pm

Thursday 12th November: Agatha Christie, Church House, Widecombe, 7.30pm

Entry: £3.00 for each event.

See you there!

NOTE: This is a large email, and may be truncated by some email providers, or may not work properly. If this happens to you, then to see the entire post please go to our Substack internet site at widecombe.substack.com

If you play one of the videos you will be sent to the our Substack internet site, where you can continue to read the post and play the videos in situ.

Intro

One night down at the Ruggle, rehydrating from a vigorous practice session in the Tower, the Ringers learnt that fellow ringer Frank and his wife Sue were planning to celebrate their wedding anniversary with a trip to Guernsey.

After a few more restorative drinks, someone thought it would be a good laugh if the whole motley crew interrupted their romantic getaway.

And with that, the idea of a Bellringing Tour was hatched. The bellringers had been on tour before, but not for many a year, so there was quite an enthusiastic response to the proposal.

The Tower Captain, with great efficiency, immediately booked the hotel, a little place set on the esplanade about a 10 minute walk from the centre of the capital St Peter Port, for the Monday to Friday. He also organised four churches at which to ring, and a rather unusual session at a private school in the capital. In fact there are only these four churches on Guernsey where the bells are hung for English Change Ringing as opposed to swing chiming.

Mike then left it to the rest of the crew to book their flights. Well, one couple had to go and come back a day early; another couple managed to booked the right flight on the Monday afternoon; another couple panicked when they couldn’t find the flight so book with the day before couple; and with only 5 seats on the flight remaining, the other 6, plus luggage, decided to pile into Richard and Caroline’s people carrier and catch the ferry from Poole. The ferry six endured a nail biting hold up when the M5 was closed for several hours, which panicked the rearguard duo who set off far too early and ended up with several hours at a rather quiet Exeter airport.

The advance party of John, Debbie, Ian and Jane spent the Sunday touring the island via the rather comprehensive and cheap bus service. They caught the bus that tours all the way round the island, stopping off at the Shipwreck museum (recommended); then another bus across the island stopping at the Little Chapel, a rather quirky affair built by a monk with an obsession for broken crockery.

By Monday evening the various groups had arrived at the hotel and the Anniversary Couple joined us for dinner; the chef apparently panicking somewhat when he was suddenly informed that he had a party of 14 to feed.

Tuesday

Next morning, after hearty English breakfasts, and armed with the trusty bus timetable, we all trooped off into St Peter Port to catch the bus to the first church – Ste Marguerite de la Foret, or Forest Church as it is also known. Well, four managed to get on the bus, leaving the remaining eight standing on the pavement sans bus timetable. However, the bus service is so simple and frequent that they eventually worked out another bus to catch and we all met up at the church. Frank and Sue joined us, and we wandered off down the road to the nearby Occupation Museum, a marvellous little place with heaps of memorabilia collected from the German occupation of the island during WW2. Thoroughly recommended.

The Forest church is a little 13th century affair with 15th century additions; although a church has stood here since before 1048. (more information can be found at https://forestparishchurch.org.gg/forest-church-introduction/ )

The six bells are lighter than those at St. Pancras, and are rung on the ground floor of the church around the font.

Video: the first session

After this session it was a walk to the airport, another bus, and then some necessary refreshments at Longfrie Inn

Down the road was the second church St Pierre du Bois, a lovely church set in the west of the island, with some beautiful stained glass windows. (More information at https://stpeterschurchguernsey.co.uk)

This church has a sloping central aisle leading up to the altar with a 2m incline; the bride literally walks down the aisle when leaving the church!

St. Pierre du Bois has 10 bells, and again they are lighter than St. Pancras.

Video: in the ringing chamber

At this point we had a little hiccup with the buses, as the local bus stop didn’t list the one we were after, and no bus arrived at the given time. We faced rather a long walk back to the airport. Walking in the rural parts of Guernsey can be rather a dodgy experience as the buses have a habit of mounting the pavement whenever they meet oncoming traffic on the narrower roads, so we were rather relieved when the bus finally turned up late and we were able to flag it down in the road.

That night we went to the Balthazar restaurant. After a good meal, the highlight of the evening was a trip to the ladies loo. Walking in, the loo has a rather eccentric décor with a disco ball hanging from the ceiling and an enormous button on the wall.

When the button is hit the lights go out, the disco ball spins with brightly coloured lights and 1970s boogie music starts! It was such good fun, that all the lads trooped into the ladies to have a go. Apparently a video of the loo had gone viral on TikTok a few years back, but not surprisingly this had completely bypassed all of us.

Video - cringe factor: off the scale.

Wednesday

Day 2 of our tour and we were off to the north east end of the island to St Michel du Valle, built on a hill above a lovely bay. This part of the island used to be cut off at high tide, but the channel was filled in during Napoleonic times. The channel area is still however called The Bridge even though the bridge disappeared in 1806.

We were rather early so we wandered off down to the bay, which on a good day would be packed with families on the beach, but today was rather cold and windy, although that didn’t stop some indulging in an ice cream.

This pretty church has stood here since at least the 6th century with a number of additions built in the 13th century. (More information can be found at https://valechurch.gg/history)

Again the six bells are rung from the ground floor round the font. They were cast in 1891 using metal of 3 mediaeval bells from the Exeter foundry. The tenor weighs 6.5cwt

Video:

Rejuvenating lunchtime drinks were had on the terrace at the Slaughterhouse on the harbour back at St. Peter Port. The Slaughterhouse is now a large modern restaurant, set in the old abattoir building.

Then it was off to the Town Church, situated in Church Square at the end of the long High Street with numerous shops to explore.

Getting into the ringing chamber was rather a challenge involving clambering over the roof as restoration work was being carried out inside the church.

The nine bells, called the Liberation Bells, are the heaviest set on Guernsey and were cast by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough in 1994; the tenor weighing 21cwt. They are similar in weight to our Widecombe bells, so the ringers were well pleased with their peals. (More information on these bells, and the Towers on Guernsey and Jersey can be found at https://cibells.com/towers/guernsey-town-church )

Video: calling in the Tower church tower

We left the Town Church and walked up to Elizabeth College to meet with Duncan, a very enthusiastic maths teacher who is also the Tower Church’s Tower Captain. He has built two simulators at the school for the children to carry out the extra-curricular activity of bellringing. One set resembles a giant Meccano set with bicycle wheels and little miniature bells. We all had a go including the non-bellringers .

The other set is on a rather larger scale, but with no actual bells. The ropes disappear through the ceiling to the wheels above where sensors instead of bells are linked to a computer. The computer is then set up for 6, 8, or 10 bells and it creates the correct sound for each bell selected. It is a way of learning to play the bells without any of the dangers in a church (and without annoying the neighbours), although pulling too hard on the ropes does cause an alarming loud thud on the ceiling from the moving parts, and there were quite a few thumps as the ringers got used to the set up.

Video: getting used to the kit.

One or two of the ringers appeared to be rather fascinated by these contraptions so perhaps a similar Heath Robinson affair will appear in the Widecombe Tower at some future point...

Rather a unique and fun ringing session to end the tour. Since we were now running late, instead of returning the hotel to change we all just ambled off back to the Slaughterhouse for our last dinner all together.

Thursday broke with full on sunshine.

The Advance party had to leave early. They would have their own little drama with an aborted landing at Exeter airport which was rather alarming. The ferry six, having found their sea legs on the crossing, either went off to catch the ferry over to Herm island for a walk, or for a boat trip around the island, and they managed to spot the local puffins on the water. The rearguard duo went on the round the island bus tour, and then a visit to Castle Cornet, the fort protecting St Peter Port harbour. First built in the 13th century, it has been altered and developed over the years, and was the last Royalist stronghold to surrender during the English Civil War. Another recommended activity.

All eight eventually met up back at the hotel, and caught a bus into town, and landed up at the newest restaurant to open in St Peter Port, a place called Zen serving asian food. Some absolutely delicious dishes were had, and we slowly strolled back to base, fully sated.

Next morning an early breakfast for the ferry six, and off they went, whilst the rearguard duo enjoyed tea and coffee out in the sunshine, before heading to the airport. Finally the Anniversary Couple could enjoy their visit with some peace and quiet.

Guernsey is a marvellous little place with a stunning coast line, lovely beaches, interesting attractions and masses of good eating places. We all had a thoroughly good time, and would highly recommend a visit. A great Tour.

So, Tower Captain, where are we off to next ???

Iwan Llewelyn-Jones is returning by popular demand to give us his third concert, and it will be a stonker. He is playing Rachmaninov Preludes, Chopin, Debussy and Liszt, on a piano which is even larger than the usual one we hire thanks to a generous sponsorship.

Iwan was decribed by the Daily Telegraph as “a pianist of impeccable taste, confidence and sensitivity”. He has performed at many of the word’s most prestigious concert halls, including the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Leipzig Gewandhaus and Sydney Opera House. He is a Steinway Artist, and is Director of Musical Performance at Bangor University combined with an international performing role. We are lucky to have music of this quality coming to us in Widecombe, and we hope you will come along to experience it.

Children under 14 go free, by the way!

Unreserved seating tickets at the door or online (see above). Why not bag a seat and then come and enjoy some double chip chocolate cake at the back of the church?

Or for an even better guaranteed seat close up to the action, email Michael Brown on mikebrown007@hotmail.com

Come and support the Monday craft market in Church House which is running from June until the end of September with the aim of supporting the pre-school.

Exhibitors come from all over the South West. The variety of crafts for sale is constantly changing but you might find potters, woodturners, resin jewellery makers, soap makers, locally grown flowers and framed wildlife prints by Sheree and Brian Sedgebeer.

Here are some examples of the wonderful crafts for sale:

A year ago, we were largely a fundraising operation, with volunteers continuing site preparation on Hayes Field. Today there is a building you can walk into and stand inside.

The shift came last autumn with a grant from Teignbridge District Council and DEFRA — tied to delivering a watertight shell by the 16th of March. Our contractors, Duraform Homes, started on site on the 17th of November and, through a hard Dartmoor winter, hit every deadline. Floor slab cast before Christmas, reinforced concrete walls, steel roof trusses, triple-glazed windows, watertight on time.

That was only possible because the fundraising team kept delivering alongside the construction. The Bernard Sunley Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, National Lottery Awards for All, the Elmgrant Trust, Widecombe Fair, Widecombe Parish Council, plus generous local donations and loans, have all kept the project moving — and extended Duraform's contract beyond the original scope.

Since then we’ve confirmed an additional contract for a permanent roof covering – a profiled steel, ‘standing seam’ finish in dark grey to match surrounding slate roofs. This has matching soffits and fascias and has roof lights fitted. We’ve also been able to fit ceiling insulation inside the main hall.

Over £500,000 has been raised to date with the bulk of that generously donated from local people. This is incredible and a testament to the hard work of the Trustees and the support of Widecombe residents to achieve a community building fit for the future.

Approximately £250,000 more is needed to complete the hall & open the doors. Work to complete includes external finishes, internal fit-out, and landscaping works. To achieve this, major grant applications continue and more local events are planned.

Our Mid-Summer Dinner, Dance and Charity Auction

is on Friday the 26th of June at the Lavender House Hotel in Ashburton — Russell Steer is hosting the auction; there will be great music from Go Tell Alice and a delicious three-course meal.

Auction lots include local AirBnB and hotel stays, lunch and dinner vouchers, logs, sauna sessions, cakes and signed children’s books.

Tickets are available via our website or direct from Chris Mayhead (chrismayhead@gmail.com) for £36 per person.

By way of reminder, this community building has been designed using local feedback from the original feasibility study - prioritising accessibility, comfort, environmental credentials, easy maintenance and flexibility of space to allow for a multitude of uses such as the pre-school, large functions including wedding receptions, indoor sports, music events, meetings, fitness classes, a new youth club and no doubt plenty more things that we haven't even thought of yet!

As soon as it's safe to do so, we want to invite everyone onto the site so you can see what's been achieved for yourselves. We can’t wait to welcome you into YOUR community building.

You can follow us on our website - www.widecombecommunityhall.org, or on facebook - www.facebook.com/widecombecommunityhall

The 2026 Widecombe Parish Council Annual Community Meeting was held at Leusdon Memorial Hall on Thursday, 21st May. In a well-attended meeting, it took some time to hear from representatives of all the community groups active in the Parish. The meeting was attended by several Parish councillors as well as Sally Morgan, the Devon County Councillor for the Bovey Tracey area, which includes Widecombe Parish.

So this was a great opportunity to meet local representatives, and there was plenty of time to chat informally with them about local issues.

Chair of the Parish Council, Yvette Elliot, opened the meeting with a brief resume of some of the issues currently facing the council:

• The Widecombe Road Warden Scheme, led by Parish Councillor Sue Raynor, has filled more than 100 potholes around the parish in the last year. Materials and equipment are provided by Teignbridge Council, but the work is done by volunteers from the parish. New volunteers are always welcome.

• Discussions have taken place with Widecombe Primary School to improve parking arrangements outside the school at drop-off and pick-up times. A number of parking permits have been issued to parents, so they can walk from the public car park. A proposal for a designated school bus space outside the school entrance is under consideration by Teignbridge, but this is not a quick process.

• The proposal to transfer responsibility for Public Conveniences to Parish Councils is still under discussion. Teignbridge Council has only committed to keeping them open until April 2027.

  • Yvette Elliot has personally addressed Teignbridge Council, pointing out that the cost of maintaining the Public Convenience in Widecombe exceeds the Parish Council's total income.

• The Parish Council Precept (the part of the council tax bill allocated to Widecombe) for the 2026/27 year totals £7,707 (a 5% increase). This equates to £25 per household in the parish.

• The brand new parish council website is now functioning, with its new Widecombe Parish Logo

• Two councillors are about to step down. Anyone interested in taking up the role is encouraged to discuss the commitment involved with existing councillors.

• Widecombe Parish Council has appointed a new Town Crier, who will represent the village at various events, not least Widecombe Fair. He will also help publicise events in the village on social media.

• The Parish Council is supporting the Beating of the Bounds later in the year. The event is being organised by Parish Councillors Tom Guest and Claire Partridge.

• Yvette Elliot is stepping down as Chair of the Parish Council in May 2027, after 4 years in the role.

There then followed a series of individual reports from almost every community group operating in Widecombe Parish. Just a few key points can be mentioned here! The full minutes of the meeting will soon be available on the council website.

• Widecombe New Community Hall Committee

  • A £75,000 grant from Teignbridge came with the condition that a water-tight shell for the new building had to be completed by 16th March

    • The bulk of £500,000 so far raised has come from “incredibly generous members of the community”

    • Roughly £250,000 still needs to be raised

    • The midsummer dinner, dance, and charity auction is on Friday the 26th of June at the Lavender House Hotel in Ashburton.

    • Once it is safe, open days will be held later this year for local people to view the progress so far …

• St Pancras Church

  • Another opportunity to hear internationally renowned pianist Iwan Llewelyn-Jones in concert in the church on 27th June. Four further concerts are planned for later this year, all in aid of funding the new access scheme.

  

• Shallowford Farm

  • Celebrates 50 years of “making the difference” this year, over 1,000 young people have already benefitted from a visit this year alone

  • Shallowford’s 50th Birthday Fete is on 18th July

Rolling Along

• ‘picture stories by and about the people of Widecombe’

• we will try to bring you more news from some of the groups we have not been able to mention here in the coming months

• Rolling Along now has 390 subscribers and rising, the vast majority located in the parish of Widecombe, so we provide a very effective method of communicating with people in the parish

• we are free to subscribe to and always will be

• we invite anyone with a relevant story to contact us, we prefer to do picture stories rather than just make announcements

Subscribe now

In Ecclesia exists to bring choral music to churches which do not have a full choir and where Evensong is rarely sung. They sing in churches and cathedrals up and down the land, and have been doing so since 1955.

The musical elements of this service are based on the theme of Pentecost, and will comprise:

Introit: Listen, sweet dove. Grayston Ives

Preces and Responses. Philip Radcliffe

Psalm 67

Office hymn (plainsong): Come Holy Ghost

Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in C. Charles Stanford

Anthem: Loquebantur variis linguis. Thomas Tallis

Hymns: Come down, O love divine and Oh thou who camest from above.

Voluntary: Choral Song in C. Samuel Wesley

The choral director is John Young, who is organist at King’s College Taunton and Chorister Tutor at Salisbury Cathedral.

This is indeed a special service for us at Widecombe and we hope it will have widespread appeal.

Please note that there will be no morning service that day. This Evensong service will be taken by Lay Minister William West, and everyone is welcome to attend.

Meet your local Parish Councillors in this open meeting, which is usually very well attended. This is a great opportunity to hear firsthand what’s been going on in the village over the past year. This year, the meeting is being held in Leusdon.

Widecombe Parish Council invites you to the Annual Parish Meeting. Join them on Thursday, 21st May 2026. The meeting starts at 7.30 pm in Leusdon Memorial Hall to celebrate the wonderful community that comprises Widecombe Parish and everything it offers. The evening starts with a Cheese and Wine reception from about 7 pm.

Representatives from all the local groups will give short reports on their activities over the past year. There will be a report from the Parish Council, and usually Dartmoor National Park and Teignbridge Council are also represented.

“This is a great opportunity to bring matters to the Parish Council’s attention and make them a focus for the next 12 months.”

Widecombe in the Moor Parish Council now has its own website, where you can find minutes from recent meetings and details about all the local councillors.

It’s just before 9am on a sunny, but cold, Monday morning in the main car park, Widecombe, next to the Café on the Green - one person has already collected his newspaper and another has taken cash out of his bank helped by Lucy Musselwhite, the driver of Ashburton Post Office’s outreach van.

Lucy has been driving the van four days a week for 3 years now, on a schedule that starts at Widecombe(9-10.30am) and covers communities, without a permanent Post Office presence, from Drewsteignton in the north as far as Buckland Monachorum. On arrival in the car park her first act is to set up the Starlink dish that keeps the van working in the most rural of areas. It takes about 10 minutes to get the outside of the van set up and a little longer to get her PO terminal in action and welcoming interior of the van ready for customers. She even has her own crew of knitted helpers that come along for the ride.

The van offers a range of Post Office services from:

• basic stamps and other forms of postage, including accepting post that needs to use Parcelforce services

• banking (both money in and out)

• delivery of library books ordered from the local library

• Pay Point for utilities

• Amazon and other shopping returns

• a range of stationary

• both One4All and Amazon gift cards

• local paper deliveries

• and acting as an information point with local free magazines and posters

Lucy has accepted post for all over the world including far flung places like Australia and Borneo, and is hoping that she will get some for Peru (her favourite country) one day! Does anyone know someone in Peru with a birthday coming up?

There are many regular customers in Widecombe and the queue is a very sociable place, perfect for finding out local news. Lucy has a Facebook page, The Crew of the Outreach, which helps to spread the word that she is there and can be a useful source of information if she has to change her schedule at the last minute. It currently has 197 followers. Do follow it if you can.

LATE NOTICE: The van will be at the Old Inn car park on Monday May 4th for technical reasons and there will be no van on Monday 11th May. It’s unusual to have service disruptions like this and Lucy does her best to make sure her customers are aware of anything in advance.

Whilst there is a strong community element to the van’s services it is a commercial venture and needs to justify it’s existence. To make it pay it needs to make an average of 25 transactions an hour, so with the hour and a half stop in Widecombe it needs to average of 40 transactions a week to make it viable. Even a single stamp to post a birthday card makes a difference. Thankfully there are a couple of small businesses in Widecombe that make regular use of it’s services which help to boost its use as well as many private users. It also gets custom from visitors to the village, even if only taking cash out to pay for the car park!

The van has also provided invaluable banking and postal services at Widecombe Fair for the last few years. Now you will never run out of money on Fair Day!

The message is clear - do remember that the van is there every Monday, 9-10.30am, and make the most use of it’s range of service that you can. It’s a lifeline for many and a really convenient way to use a local Post Office and so much more.

The WHG Programme runs from May 2026 to April 2027, detailing each month's talk; the summer outings and the dates for Terry's Village Tours.

Our Monthly Talks

Yet again Rose has arranged a varied mix of topics covering not only Dartmoor, but also WW2, the raising of the Mary Rose and even an environmental disaster from the Seventeeth Century.

If more information is required please contact Rose at lizwellfarm@gmail.com / 01364 621444

All Talks are held at Church House, Widecombe on the 1st Wednesday of the month, Doors open at 7pm for tea and coffee with the talk starting at 7:30 pm. The only exception is the New Year lunch in January, details of which can be found below.

Our Summer Outings

Helen has organised a series of outings this summer, some during the day and an evening one up to the Rifle Range led by Terry and Flash. Last year's walk with Simon Dell which was disrupted by thick fog, has been rearranged for August, and our annual picnic this year will be held at Moorlands Farm in July.

If more information is required please contact Helen at helenagsec@gmail.com / 01626 821221

Terry French's guided walks around Widecombe village

Take a walk with Terry around the Village and find out about its history, activities and people. Terry has lived and worked in Widecombe Parish for many a long year now, and has numerous stories to tell. No two walks are ever quite the same!

It may be possible to arrange a group walk on an alternative date. Contact Terry direct, or the History Group at widecombehistorygroup@gmail.com

Hard copies of the Programme can be obtained at our monthly talks. Hope to see you at one of our talks or outings this year.

Observing or photographing these individual galaxies is not particularly straightforward without fairly specialist equipment. There are, however, regions of the sky apparent at this time of year that will show an abundance of galaxies across a large region and are worth a virtual visit. Ever seen the famous Hubble Deep Field photograph? It’s the result of an experiment when NASA scientists working with the aging Hubble Space Telescope decided to image an area of space without much in it, so they thought. The resulting image showed hundreds upon hundreds of tiny, ancient galaxies, some of them dating back to the earliest periods of the universe’s history (around 13.8 billion years). This image showed that wherever you look, the secrets of the cosmos can be revealed - you just have to look hard enough (the camera shutters were open for about 100 hours).

But you don’t need a space telescope to see clusters of distant galaxies - just point a tripod-mounted camera at the correct spots in Leo or Virgo, open up your ISO and aperture, set to a minute or so exposure and let rip. For better results, an equatorially-aligned mount that can follow the stars will give you much longer exposure times without seeing the stars drift. If that’s out of budget, see the later links to building your own simple version that might just do the job.

Start with the constellation of Leo by following a line from the end of the Big Dipper’s pan (i.e. the last two stars at the opposite end of the handle) towards the southern horizon. About halfway is Leo. The two bright stars forming the lion’s feet are Denebola (left) and Regulus (right). The Leo Triplet of galaxies (M65, M66 and NGC3628) is about a third of the way from Denebola to Regulus.

Next - back to the Big Dipper, follow the curved line that makes up the handle and continue that line to find Arcturus, one of the brightest stars in the sky (‘arc to Arcturus’ is often cited). This line from the Big Dipper to Arcturus more or less forms a right-angle with Denebola in Leo. From the middle of these two, drop towards the horizon a little to find the bright star Vindemiatrix in Virgo. Halfway between Vindemiatrix and Denebola is the enormous Virgo Cluster which spans around 8 degrees in total. There are something like 2,000 galaxies in that region, though only(!) around 160 are visible with an amateur telescope or binoculars. This provides a great spectacle to observe or photograph and is the closest us mortals can get to NASA’s own extraordinary contributions.

Star Clusters and Planets

I’ll be honest - most of what’s been presented so far is very difficult to see, even with binoculars. If you do manage to get a peek they won’t look anything like they do in photographs, even with a big telescope. So let’s scale back a bit and find something a bit easier!

Start by identifying Gemini from its twin stars Pollux and Castor, which appear next to each other with very similar brightness, high in the south-western sky. Jupiter is currently hanging around in this area just below the twins which should help you orientate as it’s very obvious and bright. As we’re here point your binoculars / telescope / keen eyes at Jupiter and see if you can make out any of the four Galilean moons (Io, Calisto, Europa, Ganymede) - these will appear as specks of light around the planet’s disc, usually around the equator. If you can make out some specks but can’t count four, that may be because one or more of the moons is behind or in front of the planet itself.

From the Gemini twins, look back to Leo and identify Regulus again (see above if you’ve forgotten). Halfway between Pollux (on the left) and Regulus is Cancer; two bright-ish stars here form a short north-south line. Between these two stars is the rather lovely Beehive Cluster (M44), a gathering of stars that is worth losing yourself in with binoculars, especially.

As we’re in this area, head back to Gemini. The twin stars Pollux and Castor form the heads of two stick figures, seemingly holding hands, with Jupiter passing through the middle. Look towards the feet of the right-hand figure, and head right a short way to find the Open Cluster M35, another loose gathering of stars that rewards a long gaze through binoculars especially. At first you will see several fairly bright stars, but the longer you look, the more faint stars will emerge from the background.

A particular favourite of binocular users is Kemble’s Cascade, an asterism located in the constellation of Camelopardalis which appears as a nearly-straight line of more than 20 stars of various colours. Start from the W of Cassiopeia; the shallower V is to the left. Follow a line from the right V through the left V and on a couple of steps to a parallelogram of stars - that’s Camelopardalis. Just to the lower-left of these four is a near-vertical line of stars appearing a bit like a waterfall, hence the ‘Cascade’

.Finally the easiest object of all - Venus - is the brightest object in the sky save the sun and moon, showing off its brilliance in the hour or so after sunset close to the western horizon. It’s worth a closer look with binoculars or a telescope as it will often show a clear phase - much like the crescent moon - rather than a full disc typical of the more distant planets. This is explained by Venus’ proximity to the sun relative to the Earth, which reminds us all to take precautions to never look at the sun with any magnifying device as permanent damage to the retina is possible.

DIY Project - The ‘Barn Door’ mount

A ‘barn door’ mount is a simple device that allows you to take long-exposure photographs of the stars using a DSLR (or similar), by attaching two small planks of wood (the barn doors) to a hinge and using a screw to open the ‘door’ at a rate that precisely counteracts the Earth’s rotation. You attach your camera to the upper half of this door then the whole contraption needs to be mounted at the same angle as your current latitude - 50.6 degrees in Widecombe - either on a tabletop or attached to a sturdy tripod. This then aligns your camera with the Earth’s equator, so when you turn the screw to open the door’s hinge, the camera’s movement matches that of the stars. As long as you keep turning you can take exposures of 2, 3, 5, even 10 minutes with minimal star trail effects. That will mean brighter stars and more definition of faint objects as more and more photons of light hit your camera’s sensor.

There’s not enough space here to provide full instructions on building your own, so here’s a link to some basic instructions: https://noctilove.co.uk/barn-door-tracker/. You’ll need some specific parts for the nut and bolt as only one type will do, but you can probably find many of the other parts lying around in your shed. The more accurate you make your measurements the more accurate your tracking will be, and hence longer exposures can be achieved. Don’t expect miracles though; anything longer than (say) a 100mm lens will struggle to maintain pinpoint accuracy - but shorter lenses can get great results with this project.

Once you’ve assembled everything, your camera is positioned correctly and the mount is pointing directly at Polaris, it’s a matter of turning the handle at the rate of one revolution per minute to ensure your camera keeps tracking the stars. Start with some simple targets, such as a favoured constellation, use a high ISO (800 or more depending on your camera’s capabilities) and try exposure times increasing from 30 seconds to 5 minutes or more. When you get the hang of it you can be more ambitious, especially when the Milky Way reappears in autumn - a great target for your gadget that favours a shorter lens.

A slightly more advanced version of this type of mount can be found here: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/build-a-tabletop-tracking-mount

This version is a bit trickier to build, largely as it requires bending the main bolt to an exact curve, though the build plans are somewhat more detailed so it might suit you better. It also includes the potential for adding a motor to the mechanism to save you operating it manually.

Further Reading

Best springtime galaxies to observe during galaxy season

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/galaxy-season-spring

Spring meteor showers and other sights

https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/articles/cp9me0mr20eo

Best star trackers for astrophotography (if the barn-door mount isn’t cutting it)

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/buying-guides/best-star-tracker

….but it rained.

More accurately, the heavens opened for a winter-long event and have only recently shut up shop. As I write this the moor is basking in some early spring sunshine, so let’s hope things stay steady for a little while at least.

Spring is often known as ‘galaxy season’ in the UK astronomy calendar. As the Earth makes its year-long journey around the sun, in spring the northern hemisphere points away from the central plane of the Milky Way, revealing distant galaxies amongst constellations such as Leo and Virgo. These galaxies are tricky to spot without a telescope though, so we’ll look at some other objects to find for those without such gadgets. I’ve also included links to a cheap DIY project for the handier amongst you to have a go at. If you get it right you might be able to use this to snap a few galaxies yourself!

Andromeda Galaxy (M31)

It’s galaxy season so what better place to start than our nearest galactic neighbour, M31, just around the block at a distance of 2.5 million light years. As it happens spring is not the best time to view this object (autumn is ideal), but it can still be spotted low in the north-western sky earlier in the evening. As we progress towards summer it will disappear below the horizon so grab a peek while you can!

Unlike most other galactic objects, Andromeda can be glimpsed with the naked eye - just - which also makes it a fairly easy one to photograph, given sufficient equipment. Start by identifying the ‘W’ of Cassiopeia to the north-west, then look to the lower-left to find a long line of three bright stars stretching down to the horizon. From the middle of these three stars (Mirach) head north towards two fainter stars in a curved line - the galaxy is found just to the right of the second of those stars. If you’re in the right area the right-hand ‘V’ of Cassiopeia should be pointing there too. You will probably need to use the ‘averted vision’ trick to spot the galaxy with the naked eye - keep moving your eyes around to catch a faint fuzz in the corner of your eye, which is much more sensitive to low light than the fovea. Decent binoculars should show this object’s extent quite well, as it expands to more than the width of the full moon. It’s worth revisiting Andromeda in the autumn though as its current low altitude makes it trickier to spot.

The Big Dipper (Ursa Major)

It’s one of the most recognisable constellations in our night skies and is visible throughout spring - but did you know it’s also a pointer for some of the most photographed galaxies? The Whirlpool Galaxy, Pinwheel Galaxy and Bode’s Nebula can all be found in and around Ursa Major - though you’ll need at least a pair of binoculars to catch a glimpse. Dark skies are a must so avoid any time when the moon is half full or more, as its light will wash out these faint, incredibly distant objects.

Start by following the big dipper to its ‘handle’ (if, like me, you see this constellation as a saucepan) - from the last two stars, Mizar and Alkaid, make a 90-degree right turn to the east and follow that line for about half the distance between Mizar and Alkaid. Here - if your eyes are keen enough to spot it - lies the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), so named as it exhibits the famous spiral structure we tend to associate with galaxies. Its positioning in the cosmos means that we see it top-down (not that ‘top’ or ‘bottom’ mean anything here) so we can see its glorious arms stretching out from the nucleus. Compare with the rather more edge-on Andromeda, whose appearance to us can only hint at such a complex structure.

Now head back to the line between Mizar and Alkaid; this time, form an equilateral triangle to the left where you might spot a similarly-shaped galaxy, known as the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101). As you can guess from its name, it also appears top-down and shows a slightly more expanded spiral than the Whirlpool. If this object had been named in the UK, it might be known as the Catherine Wheel Galaxy instead.

Back to the Big Dipper’s ‘pan’ - find the last star at the end of the pan’s line (Dubhe), and then locate its diagonal opposite within the pan’s square (Phecda). Draw a line from Phecda to Dubhe and extend for the same distance again, where we can find Bode’s Nebula (M81). Discovered by Johann Elert Bode in 1774, his equipment clearly wasn’t up to modern standards, as he thought he’d discovered a nebula of star-forming gas and dust and named it accordingly. Years later and his discovery was shown to in fact be a far more distant galaxy, with a clear nucleus and spiral arms stretching out.

It’s a sobering thought to consider the absurd distances involved in observing these galaxies. I’ve only described some of our nearest neighbours, largely because they’re possible to see and photograph due to their ‘proximity’. But the Whirlpool Galaxy, Pinwheel Galaxy and Bode’s Nebula lie 31 million, 21 million and 12 million light years away respectively. One light year is a little under six trillion miles so our nearest galactic neighbour, Andromeda, lies a whopping 14,696,562,500,000,000,000 miles away. Quite the celestial journey.

Please do come if you can. All are very welcome.

It so happens, that Garfield Jackson, who is a leading London viola player will be joining us and will play during the service. Garfield is giving a recital in Ashburton Arts centre at 3 pm in the afternoon.