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Women's Institute: The Village
1939 - 1959 |
Week St. Mary is a parish situated at
the Northern extremity of the delectable
Duchy of Cornwall, surrounded by the
parishes of Jacobstow, North Petherwin,
Marhamchurch, Poundstock and Whitstone
on the border line of Devon and
Cornwall, and almost equi-distant from
Launceston, Bude and Holsworthy. It has
a population of 402, according to the
figures of the 1951 census, a drop of 58
in twenty years. No figures are
available since 1951, but there has been
a steady decline in the past hundred
years.
It has also
changed in composition, there being
fewer children and more retired couples,
the former due no doubt, to modern
family planning, and the latter to the
War, when it was a reception area and
those seeking shelter stayed on.
There is no
railway or daily bus service. Its
isolation and extreme northern position
in the County affect it adversely in
some ways. It is an entirely
agricultural area, producing high-grade
cattle and sheep. Ever since the
fifteenth century, when Thomasine
Bonaventure, the Shepherdess of Greena
Moor, met and married John Bunsby, the
Wool Merchant of London, who was later
to be its Lord Mayor, and Thomasine an
enlightened benefactor of her native
village and County. It has reared the
gentle sheep who feed and clothe us and
fertilise the land.
In this
village too, at Swannacott Manor, dwelt
Sir Richard Grenville and the tenants
still have the ancient right and honour
of paying dues to the Sovereign of a
goatskin. Goscott’s offering is a Rose,
sword and pewter and are in Swannacott
to this day. Another historical survival
is the “Poor Man’s Piece” existing
before the enclosures. That charity is
still administered yearly by the Parish
Council and the rent paid to the poor
recipient: an illustration of the
Welfare State in olden days.
Being a
highly agricultural area there have been
no outstanding changes in scenery, but
if scenery has not changed, manners,
morals and customs have greatly altered,
due to the War in the first half of the
period under review, and to economic,
educational and cultural changes in the
latter period. From a native insular
community it now comprises varied
British, German, Austrian and Polish
inhabitants. Most of these changes have
been for the better. Twenty years ago
illegitimacy was frequent, now it is
very rare.
Conscripts
have married wives from other parts of
England thus bringing fresh blood and
differing temperaments to mingle with
the conservative West Country nature.
But the later changes have been equally
spectacular.
Agriculture, an industry vital to the
nation, and to Week St. Mary, is now
scientifically operated and mechanised
by the use of the Combine Harvester,
Baler, Hedge Trimmer, Manure spreader
and many other labour saving devices.
Some of these implements were in short
supply in 1939, but now they are in use
in season every day. The land has also
improved by the use of modern
fertilisers and the draining of marsh
land, thus bringing a greater acreage
under cultivation, producing more crops
and improving the landscape.
Agricultural wages have risen from
thirty-shillings to £7/14/- with a
recent award of a further four
shillings.
New Council
houses with all modern conveniences and
the reconditioning of old cottages have
greatly improved the structural
appearance of the village, and the boon
to the housewife of main drainage and
water supply (electricity was already
installed) are other recent and very
necessary improvements. The water supply
from two bore-holes was sufficient to
meet all needs of the past very dry
summer.
The weekly
market has increased in the past few
years by one hundred per cent, both in
numbers of cattle and dealers attending,
cattle lorries and cars extending the
whole length of the village on market
days. The standard of cattle sold is
much higher due to improved methods of
feeding, introduction of TT certificates
and better farm buildings.
Eggs are
now collected by lorries from Egg
Packing Stations and graded and paid by
weight. Many of the farms have their own
electricity plant installed. A Honey
Factory for processing Nature’s
sweetmeat, the work of the busy bee, has
been a recent hive of industry, many
tons of honey being sent all over the
country from the Sunny West.
No new
roads have been made but the existing
ones have been resurfaced after the
laying of underground telephones,
sewers, and water pipes. There have been
changes in education: the school is old
but has been modernised and is capable
of accommodating fifty pupils, but now
has only twenty, the eleven plus having
graduated to Bude Grammar or Stratton
Secondary schools, being conveyed by
school bus. School dinners for the
twenty remaining are provided at the
Temperance Hotel. The small numbers at
present at the school are considered
uneconomic by the Ministry and we risk
the closure of the school and the loss
of two teachers.
The
comparatively recent introduction of the
Health Service has been a blessing.
There is no resident Doctor, the nearest
living eight miles away, but surgeries
are held three times a week and there
are two highly efficient Queen’s
District Nurses living in the village,
their services being much appreciated.
The nearest hospital, the Stratton
Cottage Hospital, is seven miles
distant. Emergency cases are taken to
Plymouth (45 miles) by ambulance or
hospital car. The Twilight Home at Bude
receives aged infirm patients no longer
able to care for themselves and without
relatives able to help. We are glad to
report we have a Blood Donor Service
available.
Especially
noteworthy has been the introduction of
Television as an amenity in rural life.
There are approximately forty sets in
the village, creating amusements,
increasing knowledge and providing wider
horizons for the mind by a worldwide
appreciation of life and people and
nature in other lands. It is safe to say
no single factor has been greater than
the “Telly” for opening up the world to
a rural community.
Church and
Chapel have held their own, though
attendances are not large, but
co-operation between the two, both in
attendances on special functions and in
monetary aid is welcomed and generously
given.
We are glad
that Dances, Whist Drives, Socials,
Skittle Clubs and Women’s Institute all
thrive in competition with Television
for they create the communal spirit in
the village and aid various charities.
This Autumn
the young leaders of the Methodist
Church have acquired a film projector
and during the winter films are shown. A
Musical Festival is held each Spring,
including classes in singing, elocution
and woodwork. A Travelling Library has
been a great improvement on the old
method of distribution and is much
appreciated. It gives one the
opportunity of borrowing any book, no
matter how expensive either fiction or
non-fiction, and a greatly increased
choice.
An
all-night light in the Public Telephone
Box has been another amenity added, due
to the initial efforts of the Women’s
Institute. Cherry trees were planted
during the Coronation Year and public
seats provided. The R.S.P.C.A. van pays
a weekly visit to care for sick animals
and household pets. A Public Convenience
is in course of erection. The building
of new Post Office and the provision of
& letter-box at Week Green have been
welcome facilities.
We were
proud, too, when this year a working
member of the community was invested by
the Queen with the MBE for services to
agriculture. He already held the honours
of a Justice of the Peace and Alderman.
This emphasises the fact that the small
community has its public spirited
residents.
Living
standards are high. The introduction of
deep freeze refrigerators in shops and
private houses makes possible a wider
choice of food, in season and out, and
allied to the farm produce provides
abundant diet much appreciated by the
numbers of summer visitors drawn to the
area by its proximity to the sea and
moor. There are no poor, sub-standard
houses; old cottages have been
reconditioned and new dwellings built,
including an ultra modern, centrally
heated and insulated bungalow. No great
advantage is taken of hire purchase.
There is a high percentage of motor
vehicles owned per resident, due to
isolation and the problem of transport.
In
concluding, one must stress the need of
better transport facilities for non-car
owners and recognition by the Government
of that need. Hospital extension is also
a matter of priority as the long journey
to Plymouth for specialised treatment
involves a journey of 80 miles. There is
also the problem of the young people
having to go further afield to earn
their living and being compelled to
provide their transport to get there. A
Village Hall is badly needed, the
present Church Hall often being
inadequate and is not equipped with
sanitation. Street lighting is a hope of
the future.
We are
proud of the achievements of the past
twenty years, but continue to strive for
further improvements. Long may we guard
and cherish the heritage of the English
Countryside and that of our own ancient
village of Week St. Mary.
Compiled by: Mrs O Goodman, Mrs L
Hutchings, Mrs W Ridgman, Mrs D
Treleven, Miss N Orchard & Miss E
Teague. |
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An excellent article reflecting the
times exactly as we remember them -
thank you again Week St. Mary Women's
Institute. |
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