Main Hall/Kit

Plant Hunters and Pioneers                                                     Caradoc Doy Over several generations from before 1808, the Veitch family and their plant hunters introduced

A Teenager’s Boer War:  A talk by Paul Rimmer

At 18 years old, the youngest officer on active service in the Boer War (1899–1902), Vernon Kyrke’s experiences are told through his letters and photographs. Plus Lustleigh’s response to the war and why a statue in Exeter upset the people of Crediton.

Sins as Red as Scarlet: A talk by Janet Few
As late as 1682, three impoverished women from Bideford were hanged in Exeter, condemned to death for the crime of witchcraft. At the dawn of the Age of Reason how did intolerance and antagonism in a prosperous Devon trading and fishing port erupt in this trial and execution?

Dartmoor: A celebration of its people, places and wildlife Andrew Cooper
From the sub-arctic wastes of the mid-winter high moor to people living in the most iconic wild worked landscape in Britain, featuring locals and celebrities, set against a background of astonishing natural beauty, a wealth of prehistory and abundance of wildlife – a popular speaker returns.

The Yanks are here and they’ve drunk all the beer: A talk by Bill Hardiman
How did quiet Moretonhampstead react to the presence of US forces in World War Two? Bill explores the social and cultural consequences of several hundred young American men in town from a US Army engineering regiment on Mardon Down.