Since the summer of 2020 we have been recording all the plants and flowers, invertebrates and fungi that we have identified in the churchyard. We believe this is important as the church was recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086 so the land is ancient and has many similarities to a wildflower hay meadow which has had no insecticides or ploughing and so is very important from a biodiversity point of view.Our identifications, as at 20th April, 2023, now total:148 plants204 invertebrates34 fungi, lichens and protistaA moth trap has been used since March 2022 and, from the trap set on 10th April, the Shoulder Stripe became the 125th recorded species. During the winter we continued to get new moths at each trap set though no moths were caught in January. But we did have a November moth in November, a December moth in December and a Winter moth in December. We've also had several new ones in traps in March and April increasing our total from 100 to 126!We neatly maintain the main area where the graves are that are currently cared for by relatives and friends, but we leave other areas uncut except once a year, and other parts cut less frequently. We have provided water for birds and animals, solitary bee and insect homes, and have cut pathways through the areas managed for wildlife to allow people to wander and see the different wildflowers and fungi at different times of the year. We have sown 12 patches (each approx 2 sqm) with yellow rattle and mixed wildflower seed from local sources. Rattle grows on the roots of grasses, preventing them from growing so much and allowing other wild flowers to grow naturally from seed already in the soil or from new locally sourced seed. This is to try to help the grass to be less thick in places as we do our best to help wildlife to thrive. If we get rattle growing we can use our own seed to do more patches in the very grassy areas. We are pleased to be recognised as a Wildlife Friendly Garden by the Devon Wildlife Trust.On another news item you can download fairly up-to-date records of all that has been seen and identified.
44 people gathered in the Village Hall at 4pm for our fun Crib Service. We couldn't use the church as there wasn't enough space with part of the church cordoned off because of damage to the ceiling. But we were warm and happy and everyone had fun as we sang easy songs, watched videos of the Christmas story, thought about the Joy Jesus brings to everyone, and the children had great fun getting all the right characters into the three different nativities - an olive wood one from Bethlehem, a hand knitted one, and a felted wool one from Nepal, bought to support the poor people there. You can open a photo of the Nepalese crib if you'd like to see it. At 9pm the church looked beautiful with its decorations and candlelit window cills (more photos attached) as we thought about the two kings - King Herod and the baby King Jesus. 16 of us made it feel quite full and happy as we celebrated our Christmas Eve Communion and sang carols.
Nearly 50 of us, including 13 children, took part in the Trusham Remembrance Sunday service at the village war memorial. Children read out the names of those from our village who had died as a result of the two World Wars and put poppies with the men's names on them into a stand on the memorial.The memorial had extra decorations on it this year as we had put out an appeal for handmade poppies to decorate the chains along the front. A group of charity knitters who heard about this provided us with about 300 of which we’ve used many along the chains and in the church. Other villagers made their own using crochet, knitting or sewing with felt. These were put into a wreath. Some of them had even been made from wool from Helen Havill’s sheep which had been spun and dyed red for us by Anna Leatherdale - so a real local initiative and thanks to all our crafty contributors.We heard the story of Walter Tull, born to a British Mother and a Barbadian father and whose grandfather had been a slave in the Caribbean, who became only the third black professional footballer in the UK. He played for Spurs and Northampton Town and was signed to play for Rangers after the war.Early in WW1 Walter signed up for the Footballers' Battalion, the 17th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment. He was a very capable soldier and was promoted three times before reaching the battlefield. At that time, Army law stated that anyone who was not of 'pure European descent' could not become an officer. But Walter was so commended by his commanding officer that he was made an officer - the first black combat officer, it is believed, in the British Army. He died during the Battle of the Somme in March 2018, lies in an unmarked grave in a field in France, but is remembered on the Arras Memorial, the same memorial where George Dolbear from Trusham is also remembered. Michael Morpurgo was inspired by Walter Tull's life to write his children's book 'A Medal for Leroy' which isn’t Walter's story but has some similarities.
