Welcome back to another year of Thursday Club!  We have a busy programme to look forward to and hope that the Club will continue to be supported by many of you.

We ended 2025 with a wonderful Christmas lunch at the golf club.  Only 22 members made it but this small (but beautifully formed) group had a great time.

Our first meeting was on 8th January 2026 and we welcomed Nigel Grist who has had a fascinating life with many facets to it, including photography, printmaking, marine biological surveying and being a Moorland Guide on Dartmoor.  His talk 'Tour of the Tors' is a general view of the moor, its geology, botany and archaeology.  Details are drawn from a walk done a few years ago when he visited all the named tors and hills.  The talk didn't disappoint - Nigel is a delightful speaker with a dry sense of humour: his photographs and descriptions of the various points he visited on Dartmoor were amazing.  His fame must have gone before him as we had a huge turnout of people wanting to hear him and we will certainly be hoping he would like to come again!

As if that wasn't enough excitement for you, on 12th February we have a welcome return visit from Paul Davies who, as you know, worked for the Education Office after a career in teaching.  His talk is entitled 'Heads and Tales'.

12th March will see a visit from Helen Wilson whose talk will be 'The Remarkable Pinwill Sisters'.  The sisters - Mary, Ethel and Violet - worked as professional woodcarvers in Ermington and then Plymouth from about 1890. They were three of seven daughters of the Revd Edmund Pinwill and his wife Elizabeth, who encouraged their daughters to learn woodcarving from a team of craftsmen who came to Ermington to restore the church there in 1884.  While it was not unusual for women to learn to carve in the late Victorian period, it was quite extraordinary for them to set up in business as woodcarvers.  Unfortunately, none of the churches in our Benefice have Pinwill work, but there is a great story a little further south in Malborough and Salcombe, which Helen will be focussing on in the talk. There is a small amount of work left in Aveton Gifford after the wartime bombing but otherwise the nearest work to the north is at Ermington, where the sisters lived and learnt their craft.

Everyone is welcome to our meetings - feel free to bring a friend or two!  £3.00 per person plus £1 for a raffle ticket.  Please let us know if you have any special dietary requirements: all reasonable requests catered for!                             Lindy

Lindy Anderton (560751) Jenny Brown  Gaynor Day  Jane Howey   Moray Lewis  

Marion Luscombe    Susie Russell      Gill Townsend        Maggie Ryder (mailing list)

thursdayclubsm@yahoo.com