ON a day when the odd cloud or two would have been welcome, Newton Revels pulled in the crowds again with a superb show of what local people can do.

A very large crowd joined in the festivities and were highly entertained by the excellent Joth Taylor and his Band, a demonstration by the local ZUMBA experts and a dance performance by Newton St Cyres Primary School.

In addition there were demonstrations by Newton St Cyres Football Club, Cricket Club and fun sports organised by the primary school.

Attractions included the Giant Inflatable Challenge, Up-Close Magician Mark Leveridge, Spangles the Clown as well as a number of sports including archery, target golf and petanque.

There was lovely food provided by the Village Hall team and their hog roast, church teas and cakes and the French Café which was run by the Twinning Group.

A large number of local charities and organisations set up stalls, displays of vintage cars, working model trains from the G Scale Society, the History Group, Friends of Newton St Cyres School, Friends of the Arboretum as well as Geoff Jackson and his model car and tractor display.

Members of St John Ambulance were on duty and were joined by the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service complete with five firefighters and a fire engine from Crediton.

Said Jim Enright, chairman of the organising committee: “Newton Revels has two aims. Firstly to provide the villagers and the wider community with an afternoon of entertainment and secondly to raise funds for and by local charitable organisations.

“We are very grateful to the numerous local organisations who provided more than 40 exciting draw prizes and to the several hundred visitors who came along to enjoy the Newton Revels. Also to Bernaville Nurseries who supported the printing of the brochure.

“My sincere thanks go to the very hardworking organising committee and to the very numerous (almost 100) helpers on the day.

“Our MC, Stuart Doyle, kept everyone informed of what was happening, Quicke’s gave us the use of their field for parking, the Rec use of their facility and the Parish Hall use of their room and their tables and chairs.

“Tesco Crediton provided hundreds of baps courtesy of their Community Champion, Andrew Drayton.

“Whilst we are still preparing accounts we confidently predict that we have exceeded our income target by raising close to £1,000 for local good causes in addition to the thousands raised by the charities themselves.

“Planning now starts for 2018,” said Jim.

Once again, the sporting challenge was well-supported with those taking part enjoying themselves.

The challenges were elements of archery, cricket, football, golf, petanque and tennis.

There were joint winners of the Individual competition, both coincidentally called Alex - Alex Tamlin and Alex Carder.

The winners of the Team competition were Field of Force, led by captain Keith Mitchell, beating second placed Devon YFC by one point.

The highest individual score in both competitions was 32 points, scored by Wolfy, otherwise known as Martin Edworthy from the Beer Engine A Team.

Organiser Eric Fee congratulated all the winners and thanked all the competitors with a special thanks to the organisers of the various sports who gave their time.

MINING BOOKLET

Newton St Cyres History Group member Brian Please has printed a booklet, copies of which were for sale, about mining and miners of Newton St Cyres.

He says it can be claimed that Upton Pyne with Newton St Cyres had the first commercially successful manganese mines in the world.

He had maps, names of mining families plus loads of information back to Roman times. “We moved here last year and local books say we have a mine in our back garden, which triggered me to find out,” he said.

Brian added that he would be glad to hear from anyone who may have more information.

Manganese was important because it took the green tinge out of glass which meant that, for the first time, clear glass could be made.

Another display showed progress in the Arboretum near the parish church since it first opened to the public five years ago.

Members of the Devon and Cornwall Group of the G Scale Society had a model train going around a big layout in one of the tents. They meet once a month at Newton St Cyres.

Sue Read