Thursday 30 July 2015

How the West Was Once: a 1960s Devon holiday by ITV News

How the West Was Once: a 1960s Devon holiday

How the West Was Once: a 1960s Devon holiday 

 Credit: British Pathé


Fancy travelling back in time to see how Devon looked more than half a century ago?
We've been delving deep into the British Pathé archives and discovering wonderful old tourist board films

that offer a fascinating insight into the past.devon







Credit: British Pathé
devon
Credit: British Pathé
devon
Credit: British Pathé
devon
Credit: British Pathé

Kathy Wardle's been taking a tour of Devon's holiday resorts in the 1960's...

Sunday 26 July 2015

Constable or Wainwright?

Where is this?
painting of thatched roof of long, low cottage in cornfield. church tower on horizon

painting of thatched roof of long, low cottage in cornfield. church tower on horizon




The painting is called 'Cottage in a Cornfield'. It's in the Manchester Art Gallery. In 2006, the Tate Gallery said that it wasn't by John Constable. So who painted it?

Discussion on the web suggests that the location might be Starcross. UK Art Detective on the web

and that the painter was  Thomas Francis Wainewright.

Perhaps we could help by verifying the location. The only church near to Starcross with a plain tower is St Clement's Church at Powderham 


The tower on All Saints, Kenton, has pinacles on each corner


Neither St Mary's Cofton
nor St Paul's Starcross has a tower



If  you can help the Art Detectives in their quest to discover the painter and the location, please comment below

Thankyou

Thursday 23 July 2015

Our FAMOUS swan on TV

Our wacky bird on yesterday's news. In front of her is Muffy the Muff by the West Teignmouth Craft Group
You can see The Swan of the Exe's magnificent plumage, which is made from white-plastic-milkbottle feathers attached to a piece of a green trawler-net; and her orange bill which is a canoe paddle we found a few years ago on Teignmouth back beach



Muffy the Muff by the West Teignmouth Craft Group
Rising out of the sea at the front of her driftwood boat Muffy is our first group sculpture project. With driftwood collected from the estuary beaches, cardboard, old chicken wire, a broken paddling pool and a lot of laughter we have created an environmentally friendly figure head.
West Teignmouth Craft Club is a free weekly craft group for adults in West Teignmouth and we meet every Friday at 10 am at the Meadow Centre, Kingsway. Led by local artist Amy McCarthy

Monday 20 July 2015

With a little help from our friends

Here's (too many) photographs of our Swan of the Exe being put in place by Teignmouth Pier. She was a few feathers short on her plumage, so Vicky and Monica enlisted the help of some children who were admiring all the sculptures as they were being installed.