Appledore Pilot Gig Club: The longest and most gruelling race in the Pilot Gig calendar will take place on September 12 after the authorities have consulted tide tables and tidal conditions in the Taw and Torridge estuary. "We have calculated that with a 9am start we will have enough water to run the race beneath the bridges at Bideford and Barnstaple and still be able to run a women's race back from Barnstaple. With luck we should also be able to get a race in for juniors from Appledore to Crow and back", said Len White from Appledore Pilot Gig Club.

With the popularity of the sport still growing and more and more North Devon clubs being formed, the Appledore club who are assisted by Barnstaple Link Rotary club, hope to attract even more crews than the record breaking number last year. "The race is a major event in the gig calendar so we attract crews from as far as Bristol", added Len.

The race was originally started by Barnstaple Link Rotary club to celebrate the opening of the Taw downstream bridge at Barnstaple. The race starts at Bideford, passes under the new Bideford bridge and ends at the new Barnstaple bridge. With the race now well established, the Rotary club are privileged to still be involved and their president, Keith Rogers, will make presentations to the winning crews.

Barnstaple Floral Art Club: On a wonderful sunny day NAFAS president's day for 2010 was held at Filleigh Village Hall.

Mrs Vera Ackland, as president, welcomed Lady Arran as guest of honour and all representatives from the Devon and Cornwall area. There were members from clubs as far afield as St Austell, Plymouth, Topsham, Sampford Courtney and many more, making up a total of 140 guests including the National Chairman and chairman of the Devon and Cornwall area.

Mrs Vera Ackland, this year's president, is a founder member of the thriving Barnstaple Floral Art Club and is also a well known lady in the Barnstaple area, having lived in and around Barnstaple all her life. She was in business with her late husband for many years in the town.

Vi is a member of the award winning Barnstaple in Bloom and is a regular member of Barnstaple Parish Church. In one way and another flowers have played a great part in Vera's life. She is a really busy person, having as part of her duties as president to visit clubs all over the area, and, as a demonstrator she is well known as she entertains various clubs with her expertise.

All the guests were welcomed on arrival by Mrs Carol Schiller, chairman of Barnstaple club, and then given coffee and cake kindly donated by members of our club.

The morning entertainment was entitled 'Deco Style' and was presented by Pamela South with friends from Dartmouth Flower Club, plus three well-known demonstrators: Sue Kehoe, Claire Foley and Alison Penno. It was a mixture of flowers, music and stories from 1920s and 1930s in the art deco style.

The morning raffle was drawn with lovely prizes kindly donated by Vera's friends and associates.

During coffee and lunch breaks there were several trade stands for guests to peruse including jewellery, accessories, florist and floral essentials; a cake stall with cakes kindly donated by area members, and a plant stall with a variety of beautiful plants.

An excellent cold meat buffet lunch was provided by Paul from The Jack Russell Inn, Swimbridge. This was served by members of Vi's lunch committee, resplendent in floral aprons to reflect the theme of the day. Lunch concluded with strawberries and clotted cream.

A national demonstrator, Angela Turner from Dorset, provided the entertainment for the afternoon. Her demonstration was called 'Party In The Park'. This was a talented and enjoyable performance with the final arrangement 'Last Night At The Proms'. All the guests were given a union flag to wave and raised the roof singing Jerusalem, a truly rousing end to a perfect day. The flowers were raffled off allowing several guests to go home with an armful of exotic blooms.

The day came to a close with tea and biscuits for all.

Since that day Vera has received an enormous amount of cards and would like to say a big thank you for them and to everyone who helped towards making her special day such a resounding success.

Barnstaple Inner Wheel: President Ruth Roberts has just completed a successful year which raised £2,721 for charity.

Ruth's most recent fundraising event was a concert at Christ Church and we all enjoyed the singing by Barnstaple Male Voice Choir and Barnstaple Ladies' Choir.

This well attended event raised more than £1,000. Proceeds were recently presented to Keith Chivers of the North Devon Music Centre and Chris Willis of Go North Devon.

Earlier in the year other donations have been made to ShelterBox and Children's Hospice, the association president's charity.

Overseas charity donations this year included the David Rundle Trust, Polio and Lepra.

The club holds a luncheon meeting once a month and recent speakers have included Marjorie Dix who spoke on myasthenia gravis and rotarian Herbert Malek who spoke about his recent charity motorbike tour in India which raised more than £6,000 for North Devon Hospice.

This was Ruth Roberts' third time as club president, in 32 years as a member, and at a recent meeting she handed over the presidency to Suzanne Lyons.

Suzanne was a founder member of South Molton Inner Wheel in 1972 and joined the Barnstaple club six years ago.

Her chosen charities include Devon Air Ambulance Trust and Barnstaple Visually Impaired Group.

The club will also continue to make regular donations of food to the Freedom Centre and Barnstaple Poverty Action Group as it has in the previous year.

The club is holding a fundraising Jazz in the Garden and cream tea in August at the Old Rectory, Ashford, in August with music provided by DeJa Blue.

Speakers in the next three months will include Phil Noall of the Freedom Centre, Alison Neave first aid trainer and Richard Rumbold of Devon Air Ambulance Trust.

Bideford Bridge Rotary Club: Steven Sherry is the new president of the Rotary Club of Bideford Bridge for 2010-2011.

Steven moved to the Torridge area in 1979 with his wife Carolyn. Steven is a chartered civil engineer with his own private practice consulting on planning, environmental and waste issues. Through his work he supports development of local businesses encouraging employment wherever possible.

Steven and Carolyn have three children, Alex now married and living in New York, Elizabeth, now married and living in Nottingham, and Matthew who lives in Exeter. They are proud to have four grandchildren whom they visit regularly. Steven played league squash, badminton and volleyball in his younger days but now enjoys the more leisurely pursuit of golf.

Steven is a trustee of the Strange and Amory and James Colmer's Almshouses which provide accommodation for people within the Torridge area. He has been a member of Bideford Bridge Rotary club for 23 years supporting fundraising for local charities.

His preferred charities for the year will be Children's Hospice South West, Northam Lodge, North Devon Hospice and the David Rundle Trust. Other local charities will be supported whenever possible.

Steven wishes to continue the fun and fellowship of weekly Rotary meetings while maintaining the club's community service projects and moving forward the club's international service project to supply Glostavent anaesthetic machines to the third world.

Bideford Inner Wheel: Marwood Hill Gardens was the setting this year for our handover meeting. We had a most enjoyable lunch which was followed by outgoing president Wendy Lea relinquishing her chain of office to incoming president Maggie Ellison.

This is Maggie's first year as president and we are all looking forward to a busy, active year. The afternoon ended with some members taking a stroll around the gardens.

There is no meeting in August, this is traditionally the time for family, friends and grandchildren.

We meet again on Thursday, September 2, when we will be having lunch and hosting district chairman Wendy Matthews.

Christ Church Short Mat Bowls Club, Barnstaple: Christ Church will have three teams, two afternoon and one evening, in the North Devon and North Cornwall Short Mat Bowls League for 2010/11.

Angels are captained by John Fry, Sinners' captain is Mary Biederman; and the evening Saints have Hilary Iley in charge.

The annual day trip, this year to Bath, has a full bus with a waiting list already.

A social evening with hot dogs, burgers, desserts etc, was enjoyed by more than 40 short mat bowlers at Christ Church. Local clubs joined in from Bratton Fleming, Shirwell, Christ Church in Braunton, and Goodleigh, to take part in games and target bowling.

Organisers worked in the kitchen to produce the food while others kept games going and target bowling featured some keen contestants. Maureen Smith from Shirwell won the ladies' prize; but a play off was required to settle the gents' top spot, Harold Ford was the final winner. £132 was raised for the Church Project 'Young Families Work'.

Devon Army Cadet Force: More than 100 members of C (North) Company Devon Army Cadet Force have paraded through Bideford in celebration of 150 years of the youth movement.

The parade began in Victoria Park on Sunday, July 11, and was led by the Devon ACF Corps of Drums, based in North Devon, to St Mary's Church where Padre Captain Alan Glover greeted its members.

Readings were given by Staff Serjeant Jason Jones of Chulmleigh and Reverend David Hull of Shebbear detachment.

Staff Serjeant Matt Sanders of the Barnstaple detachment was called to give his account of why being a member of the ACF is of benefit to young people. Matt told of many achievements he has made including BTec diplomas in music and public services and Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award, and cited making many good friends as one of the greatest things anyone could gain from being part of the organisation.

During his address Officer Commanding for North Devon, Major Joe Martin, ran through the history of the ACF up to the present day. One item of local interest in that history was that in 1980 six detachments from across the UK were selected to trial allowing girls to join. Torrington was one of them. It was noted that Mrs Alison Fulford of Torrington, wife of Deputy Commandant for Devon Lt Colonel Ashley Fulford, was one of the first female Army Cadets in the country. Today a third of cadets are female.

Also present for proceedings were the Mayor of Bideford, Councillor Phil Pester, and his wife Pam. Speaking of the importance of youth involvement in the community the Mayor said "It has been great to see the young people of today participating in such a fine event".

Councillor Pester is hoping to hold a youth parade in Bideford on September 5 and is inviting organisers of local youth groups to get in touch with him or with the Town Hall.

The Army Cadet Force is a voluntary youth organisation offering progressive personal development training to young people of 12-18 years.

There are 10 detachments across North Devon, to find your nearest ACF unit call 01271 342296 or check the internet for North Devon Army Cadet Force.

Okehampton U3A: Okehampton branch of U3A is having a social afternoon today, Thursday, July 29, for those wanting to find out more about U3A and its activities, to meet members and get to know new people.

Everyone is welcome at the meeting, at 2.30pm at the Ockment Centre, North Street.

Shebbear Shunters: On Saturday, July 17, nine members of the Shebbear Shunters, a group of steam enthusiasts, spent a fascinating day at the headquarters of the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway at Woody Bay Station. After a ride on the narrow gauge train which journeys through wonderful panoramas of the surrounding countryside, members explored the site, talking steam with various members of staff. They also took full advantage of the tempting array of sandwiches, hot dogs and the beer festival before setting off for home, a walk or a visit to the Cliff Railway.

Shebbear WI: Our group took part in the craft exhibition in South Molton featuring WIs from all over North Devon. Our exhibit was very well received, the variety of skills shown being mentioned particularly. It was good to see so many members and partners giving their support.

Two members went to the Hungarian Day at Longdown which they greatly enjoyed .

At our monthly meeting we were informed and entertained by Virginia Peacock speaking about the Second World War and its impact on the lives of people in North Devon. Ration books introduced a discussion of food and household goods. In this respect people in Devon were lucky to have access to food denied many people elsewhere.

Of course Devon received many evacuees and members reminisced about knowing and in some cases being, evacuees. Virginia had discovered that a school of 150 pupils had been sent to Clovelly, a school for 20 pupils. The horrors of children being chosen and rejected were discussed. Throughout all the discussion and information, appropriate music of the time was played by Virginia's husband. Some pieces reminded members of the large numbers of Americans billeted in the area at the time. The evening finished with an exuberant 'Land of Hope and Glory'.

There will not be a formal meeting in August, but a walk from Watergate to The Puffing Billy and back has been arranged. Members are to let Marilyn Pearce know if they wish to take part and meet in Shebbear Square at 10.45am on August 24.

Torrington and District Historical Society: A gathering of the Torrington and District Historical Society took place at the Grade 1 Listed St Andrews Church, Alwington, on Monday, July 12. They were shown around by members of the PCC, who pointed out interesting items such as the Alwington Bible scenes from both Old and New Testaments carved on bench ends.

After the meeting, refreshments were provided in the adjacent old schoolroom.

West Down WI: The July meeting of the WI commenced with welcoming visitors and singing Jerusalem. President Toni Buchan conveyed the good wishes of the 'Women's Rural' organisation, the Scottish equivalent of our WI. She told us that they experience many of the same problems that we do, particularly in reaching out to younger women to join.

Speaker was Jane Williams from Ilfracombe who is a pilates instructor. She started her career as a professional dancer, which is still apparent by watching her movements and posture. Many of us envied her agility. We found the reasons for the exercises she demonstrated could help with some problems that we may have. We all took part in an exercise session and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

The cake stall at the recent Village Fayre raised £113. Members were thanked for their contributions towards this.

The Craft exhibition at South Molton was a great success. All who attended were impressed with the variety and standard of displays on view.

We were given a questionnaire to bring to the next meeting, with questions on holistic health and nutrition. Next session is with Naomi Devlin, a nutritionist and homeopath. The questions will help her assess our 'metabolic type', and range from food likes and dislikes, concentration, to personality. This suggests a speaker not to be missed on Thursday, August 12.

Competition was for a limerick on exercise. Winners were: 1 Janet Tolman; 2 Ruth Verney; 3 Lydia Odell. FOM winner was Janet Tolman with a lovely weigela.

Woolsery WI: Despite being a lovely summer's evening, when we might have been drawn to spending the end of the day in the garden, almost all of our members attended our July meeting. Since we last met, a walk from Yelland to Fremington and back, was enjoyed by several, to add to our tally of miles for the Triathlon; and an outing to Rosemoor was also a success. Invitations to future events from our County Federation include the Autumn Special Council Meeting at Plymouth, and a Victorian Christmas Fayre outing to Worcester. But it's still summer, I hear you say. Yes, but these offers are good value for money, and are quickly taken up, so we need to book early.

Closer to home we have a Jammy Chutfest, yes, that is a Jammy Chutfest, have you worked out what it is yet? A celebration of all that is jam, preserve, conserve and chutney based. Arlington Court is hosting the event where WIs and members of the public are welcome to bring their glut of homemade summer jams and chutneys to swap or sell.

As our advertised speaker was unable to attend, we welcomed Allison Neave who came to tell us all about her work as medical trainer, teaching paramedics and first responders. With the help of an adult-sized mannequin we were reminded of the procedure to follow, should a person need resuscitation. She also demonstrated on a child and a baby mannequin. Several of us have completed first aid courses at some time, but it is amazing how things can change over time. She also demonstrated how to use a defibrillator which nowadays can be purchased by organisations for use in public places.

We now have a break for August and meet again on the first Thursday of the following month, September 2. Continuing with our interest in saving the honeybee, our speaker will be Flowa Houldsworth from 'The Horestone Apiary'. All welcome.