News

Winter 2009

This year saw the release of my new film on DVD, 'Lost Villages' which is based loosely on my book 'The Lost Villages.' In the film I visit many of the communities covered in the book that vanished from the landscape during the twentieth century for many different reasons. Once again it was a huge joy to make and took me to a diverse range of places around Britain, where I met an interesting and varied selection of people.

I open the film at Morwellham Quay on the river Tamar, which was once a thriving mining village, from where copper ore would be ferried down the river to Plymouth. From there we go to Dylife in the Welsh mountains another lost mining community, and we visit the Llywernog silver-lead mines near Aberystwyth, to give us some idea of what it must have been like to live and work here. Next we go to the lost coal mining village of Penybanc near Merthyr Tydfill, where we meet Edna Davies and Roy Evans who lived in the village as children, and Ifor Coggan whose grandfather ran a shop. In Somerset we visit lost communities that revolved around mills, at Clicket on Exmoor and Fernhill in the Mendips. We also visit the reconditioned corn mill at Clapton near my birthplace of Crewkerne. The Scottish islands are represented through trips to Mingulay aboard the MV Boy James with skipper Donald MacLeod, and we also take a look at St Kilda. Next is the turn of the fishing village of Hallsands on the coast of south Devon, which was swept away during a severe storm in 1917. We then went to a group of villages that were drowned to supply other towns or cities with water, these were Stokes in Bowland in Lancashire, West End in Yorkshire, and Greenbooth in Greater Manchester, where Margaret Fulwell lived on a farm overlooking the village. Textile mills were a common feature of all these places and to give an idea of conditions in a textile mill at the time we go to Coldharbour mill in Devon to see demonstrations of cloth being made. From there you are taken to villages that were commandeered for the army during the Second World War and never given back. We visit St Eval Churchtown in Cornwall, Tyneham in Dorset, and Tottington in Norfolk. We also go to Imber on Salisbury Plain and speak to Ken Mitchell whose grandfather was the blacksmith Albert Nash. Moorswater in Cornwall was torn up to make way for the A38 and Derrel Weaver gives a moving account of growing up there. Derrel also writes and performs rock and roll songs and a couple of these feature in the film. A quick plug, his latest album is called 'Looking Back and details can be found on www.desertwind.webeden.co.uk. Finally, after visiting the site of what was once Charlton near Bristol which was bulldozed to extend the runway at Filton, we end the film at Sipson on the edge of the current Heathrow airport. Sipson is currently under threat because of a planned third runway. Local resident and campaigner Linda McCutcheon explains what is being done to stop this from happening. Music for the film was very kindly composed by Rosie Evans. The film is available on widescreen DVD at www.1st-take.com.

As expected the film has had a lot of publicity, perhaps most importantly on ITV Westcountry Tonight who decided to do their own mini series on lost villages featured in the DVD and book. The series was presented by Clare Manning and was broadcast in October. I appeared in the films talking about lost villages and what we have learnt from the past.

The second half of the year has been all about the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain in 2010, for which I am writing a commemorative book in association with the Battle of Britain Fighter Association. This has involved meeting and interviewing several Battle of Britain veterans, so more about that next time.

On a personal note there have been highs and lows. My wife Della and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with a Mediterranean cruise, but my father Richard sadly passed away at the age of 81.