AT 7.30PM.

Those present: Cllrs. Ms C Miltenburg, B Marshall, J Pearce, P Rugg,

Mrs E Sweetland, and R Wood, guest speakers Kimmo Evans & Patricia Farrell (East Devon AONB) and Mrs M Thomas (Clerk).

GUEST SPEAKERS – WILDSCAPES, SHUTE AND WHITFORD

Kimmo Evans following his presentation this time last year East Devon AONB has assisted with further work within the parish including the Parish Biodiversity Audit which is a snapshot of the wildlife within the parish on public land and he introduced Patricia Farrell to explain this further.

Ms Farrell explained the aims are to help visitors and residents to find out more about wildlife in their parish greenspaces, to be a starting point for encouraging involvement in the local area. Examples for different areas were given such as Whitford: carved wooden furniture and images of wildlife printed on laminated plastic, Shute Churchyard: posters highlighting the ecology of the stone walls, an annotated plan highlighting areas of wildlife interest, Umborne Hall: Carved wooden furniture, willow sculptures. The emphasis is on locally relevant ideas and feedback would be grateful.

A short question and answer session followed when it was asked a project such as protecting the wild fauna at Shute Church as EDDC just cut the complete area without consideration to wild plants. It was agreed this could be taken forward and the AONB could act as a broker.

It was agreed ideas would be given consideration prior to the next meeting.

Kimmo Evans gave a brief report that Cosmic’s Digital Mentors are supporting the Devon and Cornwall County Council’s Rural Connection programme to introduce fast broadband to digitally deprived rural areas with the aim of providing free satellite broadband installation. To check out if parishioners are in the eligible areas, they should contact Tooway Direct Website.

Kimmo Evans and Patricia Farrell were thanked for attending the meeting and wished a Happy Christmas before they left.

APOLOGIES

Apologies were received and accepted from Cllrs D Loud, Dist Cllr I Chubb,

C Cllr A Moulding, PCSO Amanda Wooster and C Pole-Carew.

MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING

The circulated minutes of meeting held on 3rd November 2011were approved and duly signed as correct .

MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

Blackdown Hills Community Plan Following the response from the previous meeting a reply has been received stating they will keep the Parish Council informed of the development of the Community Plan and would like it noted that the AONB boundary is not an exclusive one, merely a convenient way of describing and collecting the Blackdown Hills parishes together and parishes partially within the area will receive the same attention as a parish with 100% footprint inside the boundary. It is hoped that all parishes could consider some sort of contribution in order to move the Plan forward and bring parishes together in appropriate common aims. Noted.

Sandbags Reported in the Parish Magazine some empty sand bags are stored at Seaton Junction. Agreed Cllr Carol Miltenburg to supply some to Cllr Ella Sweetland.

PARISH PLAN

Cllr Rick Wood announced the report has been sent to the printers where six copies will be produced for proof reading and a meeting will be held in the new year. All were again thanked for their hard work especially Carol Miltenburg for revamping the charts and all her hard work.

CORRESPONDENCE

EDDC – Locality, offer or workshop. At a recent “Working together for the Future of East Devon” organised by EDDC Locality were invited to speak about the new Localism Act. At this event Locality made an offer to run a workshop event in late January for those wanting to know more. Agreed Shute Parish Council would be interested depending on date and time.

EDDC – Shaping the Future EDDC wants to keep East Devon an outstanding place to live, work and enjoy leisure time and have set out how they can make this happen in a document Shaping the Future. To take part in the consultation it is asked for replies to be returned by 13th January. Details to be circulated to Councillors for them to reply as an individual and Cllr wood to reply on behalf to the Parish Council.

Shute Hill Woods Brian Lavander sent a copy of his e-mail to Silviculture, Managers of Shute Woods. It is pleasing to see that the view from Shute Hill Woods Armada Beacon has been opened up and one can now see the Axe valley and estuary clearly even though Seaton Bay is still rather obscured. It is asked appreciation is passed onto W A Nicholls. Noted.

HIGHWAY MATTERS

The Oaks, Umborne DCC state they have no finances to provide any measures for protecting the building form damage caused by passing vehicles and can only suggest the proprietors erect some warning posts on their property (not the highway). Noted.

Snow Warden/salt. A request has been received form DCC stating they need further information as to where the salt will be distributed before this matter can be taken forward. Agreed to Clerk to consult with DCC to seek clarification as to facts needed although Councillors are not happy with this as it is felt the ‘Snow Warden’ should be left to use his own common sense.

Potholes to be reported are at Lower Woodhayne Cottages and on the road from Haddon Corner to Kilmington. The Clerk to take appropriate action. Also agreed to place details of where to report potholes on the notice boards i.e tel 08451551004 or e-mail cfc.roads@devon.gov.uk

The Chairman reported the lengthsman has been working within the parish. Also, a wall at Little Umborne is leaning towards the highway and he has reported this matter.

PUBLIC FORUM

Mr B Gardner reported Yarcombe Parish Council send ‘welcome packs’ to newcomers to the area giving local information. After discussion it was felt this is a good idea and the Clerk to contact Yarcombe Parish Council seeking further information together with costs.

EAST DEVON LOCAL PLAN

A report for the new proposed Local Plan has been received for consultation. It was agreed for the Chairman to look into this matter further circulating the ‘Plan’ to other councillors on request or for information to be sought on-line with the aim to give comments at the next meeting.

PLANNING

Report of meeting held with EDDC Enforcement Officers

A brief report was given when it was explained two EDDC officers met with Councillors. They explained delays have occurred in enforcement due to the lack of officers at EDDC but now one is back from sick leave and another employed which should assist with the delays. Mr David Cocker will be the new officer for this area. Matters regarding the Samurai Boatyard and Shute Garage were discussed and it was agreed EDD will look into the locations and send an update as to the situation is at present.

Planning Applications

11/2512/FUL Old Post Office, Shute. Construction of lean-to extension on front elevation. As this is a retrospective application and an objection has been received form a parishioner it was agreed a site meeting should be held prior to observations being returned.

11/2680/FUL Bridge Meadow, Whitford Road. Construction of single storey timber barn. (Adjacent parish). As no details received, to investigate prior the next meeting.

Planning Decisions

Grant of Conditional Planning Permission

11/1920/FUL Shute Garage, Shute. Retention of extension to sales office.

11/2110/FUL Berkshire House, Hampton Court, Whitford. Single-storey garden room extension.

Notice of Refusal to Issue a Certificate of Lawful Use

EDDC refuses a Certificate of Lawful Use of Development in respect of the use of land and buildings at a site east of Square Acres, Shute (opposite Shute Garage) because it is not satisfied on a balance of possibilities that there has been such a use continuous and interrupted for a period in excess of ten years before the date of the application.

Correspondence

EDDC – Report on present situation and actions to be TAKEN AT Sumarai Boatyard, Seaton Junction. (appendixed to these minutes)

EDDC – Shute Garage, Enforcement Action

EDDC are aware of the outstanding conditions re permission 09/0995/FUL that have still not been complied with. Prior to the submission of the current application of the variation of conditions on that application they were in the process of seeking authority to take enforcement action in respect of the non compliance with the conditions on the permission. Following communications with the Highway Agency it was decided that any further action would be halted until the outcome of the current application. Enforcement action will be pursued to secure the implementation of the outstanding conditions and they are preparing a report seeking authority to serve an Enforcement Notice.

FINANCE

Cheques to be paid

Whitford Village Hall , annual hall hire £50.00

Umborne Hall, annual hall hire £50.00

M Prideaux, tidying War Memorial, annual payment £25.00

A Gosling, Auditing accounts 2010/2011 £20.00

R B Lawrence, highway work £1,935.00 + VAT £387.00 £2,322.00

HMRC – PAYE £ 138.60

Mrs M Thomas Clerk’s salary Aug- Nov £554.72 plus 4 months expenses for internet/tel £40.00, postage £22.00. paprer/envelopes £25.50 £642.22

Shute PCC grant (budgeted Feb 2011) £1,000.00

Payment proposed by Cllr C Miltenburg, seconded by Cllr Mrs Sweetland and agreed.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Reported on the news Devon & Cornwall crime figures have increased by 66% . It was agreed to ask PCSO Amanda Wooster to attend the next meeting to explain these figures and actions that will be taken.

Cllr Mrs Sweetland reported there was a nasty accident at Seaton Junction recently and asked for a speed limit together with new bollards and repainting of the SLOW sign. Agreed to make a request to DCC.

DATE TIME & PLACE OF NEXT MEETING

The next Parish Council meetings to take place on 19th January 2012 at Umborne Hall at 7.30pm.

There being no further business the Chairman wished everyone a Happy Christmas and Prosperous New Year and declared the meeting closed at 9.10pm

Short mat bowls became official in November 1989, although the beginning really started in 1988 when Devon Sports Council launched Action Sports to encourage the older population to “get off your armchairs?” By fund-raising events such as Table top sales, concerts by Tina and the Corry Dale singers and jumble sales etc. we were able to purchase our own mats and other equipment in April 1991, at a staggering price of over £1000, thus saving Action Sports the need to bring their equipment to Whitford. From then on, success followed success, winning Leagues and Tournaments. In our best years we had 30 members and a waiting list of would-be bowlers.

Sadly now, our club is struggling to survive due to the natural movement of people and of course the demise of members. Now we have only 5 playing ( yes FIVE) members. We meet every Thursday evening at 7-30 in Whitford village hall so why not pop along, see what’s happening, have a friendly chat, a cuppa and biscuits. First attendance FREE.

Please contact Bob White on 01279 552886 for more information.

Shute House is a large country house in a landscaped park. It is currently divided into eight separate freehold properties with a further seven properties at the Stables.

The house was built between1787 and 1790 for Sir John William Pole who was married to Lady Anne  Pole ( Anne Templer of Stover ). Some time after his marriage to Anne in 1781, Sir John William Pole changed the family surname to ‘De La Pole.’ His reasons for doing this are not known.  In 1788, Sir John William bought the Lands of the Shute Estate from the Petres.

The old Shute House (Shute Barton) had been in continuous Pole ownership from 1560 when William Pole bought the house from Sir William Petre and leased 160 acres of land at Shute for 1200 years. Sir John Carew Pole gave it to the National Trust in 1959.

The new mansion Sir John built, not far from the older building, stands in beautifully wooded grounds with views out towards Colyton and the coast.

The plan of this large stuccoed house is that of a square body with two wings connected by corridors. It has a slate hipped roof, parapet rusticated quoins and stringcourses. The front north entrance has a central round-arched portico with Doric columns. There are three storeys, a basement and five bays with sash windows with glazing bars.

Low flanking quadrant walls (screening service wings) with niches containing urns
and terminating in two storey, four bay pavilions, also with rusticated quoins,
parapets and hipped roofs.

The south garden front has 3:1:3 bays left and right with full-height semi-circular bays with
sashes, some retaining glazing bars. There is a central flight of steps with cast iron
balustrade. The first floor windows have iron balconettes. Set back right and left, the
rear walls of the service wings have blind arcading. The interior contains Adam style
rooms with moulded plaster ceilings, marble chimneypieces and a staircase with wrought iron balustrade.

The house contains a private theatre of circa 1900, in the north east wing, the moulded plaster ceiling and proscenium arch have been retained

Shute School c 1955

Shute House c 1902

A local resident recounts how even in the early 20th century, tenants of the estate used to go up to Shute House 3 times a year to pay the rent, in a room which was eventually turned into a small theatre. In return, they received a cup of tea. The house had a lot of servants in those days.

Shute House 2012:

Nurse Pearse: “Shute House was a school for young ladies. Dr. Bridie was at one time the headmistress and then a Miss Freeman took over and, at the end of term when the 6th formers had done all their exams before they went home, I used to go up and give them a lecture on home-nursing. They were nice girls and always came to Shute church on a Sunday. Old Mrs Newberry was living in Shute Barton Gatehouse with her daughter who was in her sixties” ( from Brian Vaughton’s Life … as it was)

Joan Freeman: I worked with Dr Bridie until she retired in 1947 and she asked me to carry on from there. She was ahead of her time in lots of ways now. She wouldn’t have dreamt of letting the children use Christian names. We never did, and I would find it very odd. But I was used to conventional ways, much more so than she was. But she started a very friendly, easy-going school, but working hard, enjoying life, enjoying the country. That was one of the great things about the girls, partly it was wartime, and they knew their parents were glad to get them out of towns. We only had a few day girls, say 6 or 8. I suppose they were safe here already and Colyton is so good – who’d want to go anywhere else? The school was opened in 1933 and built up from next to nothing. Dr Bridie had a school in Birmingham and brought down a tiny nucleus. Miss Robert-Jones who later ran Pippins the prep school, went round lots of families to tell them more about what Dr Bridie hoped to have as a school, recruiting people. I was brought in 1941. We could only fit in about 80 beds so it was an upward limit of 80 in the summer and a few less in the winter because one kept a small room or two for flu’s and the such like. This was inevitable. And so we were round about that for a long time, and certainly not above 100. A number of them had ponies and Dr Bridie let them bring any of their pets, which was a novelty in those days. The youngsters brought their guinea pigs, hamsters and rabbits galore. Not many schools then had pets and this was a great thing.

After the war, we had 4 from St Lukes, the teacher training college in Exeter. The ponies were kept down at the stables and the children did everything, get their hay, provide it, break the ice in winter. One of the trainee teachers was staggered that the girls could do all that and were made to do all that and enjoyed doing it.

The philosophy of the school was for the children to grow up as children, while they were still children. To enjoy life and to learn what one could but not to make it a chore. Dr Bridie was so successful in making it a happy place where a lot of children enjoyed being in the country even though they were far away from home. They felt safe, I suppose. And they had a lot of pleasure. Later on in the sixties children seemed to change a lot and weren’t as happy. They wanted shops and a cinema to hand and didn’t enjoy country walks.

The girls were taught to use their freedom sensibly. They were sensible in those days. On Saturday they used to quite often go up just on the Beacon. The school and Shute village mixed very little really. The girls went down to the church always on Sunday but otherwise saw very little of the village. During the war we did get a Girl’s Training Corps and four girls from the village came and joined us, which was very nice. Dr Bridie was very liberal in allowing the girls to go for lessons down in Axminster at night and going out for lectures quite late at night (bedtime in those days for a boarding school was 9pm) Nurse Pearse came up and gave us first-aid lectures and examine for home-nursing.

The girls played hockey and very bumpy the ground was. I tried to change it to lacrosse quite soon when I took over nut it was difficult to get matches. The academic quality of the school was quite good without being brilliant. The kitchen of the house had previously been turned into a theatre which was wonderful for productions of all kinds, and they were very keen on drama. It was a great interest, a great entertainment and an achievement. And it was very good for them of course. Basically we were trying to produce people who would be very useful and people who would fit in. With the wartime situation, it was the Wrens chiefly that was the popular thing to get in although a few of them wanted the Air Force.

We had a cook, Miss Daley, who came up from the village and she cycled up.- she lived right out at Umborne. Life was very different for them once electricity came in the forties. We weren’t on mains water – we had a pump for the drinking water in the kitchen courtyard and another pump which was useful for the pets. We also had a pump of our own up near the Beacon for electricity.

Shute House had a wonderful view and the 2 big rooms, which had been the family dining room and the family drawing room, were long rooms.

They were used as Dr Bridie’s study (which would take all 80 girls), her own room and the school dining room. At times she would ask everybody in for a concert and everyone would get in – the children mostly sitting on the floor.

Later on when the school closed, the people who had bought the house had concerts there from time to time, so people locally came to this lovely room. There are beautiful ceilings. First of all, it was bought by one man who was going to develop it for his family, dividing it vertically. It was on 3 different floors. It must have been very awkward in some ways, because it was a long way up, eighty something steps.  When is was finally sold again, vertically divided as it still is into private accommodation, nothing had been spoilt. The people who had the old dining room and a room which was decorated by the Poles in the Chinese style and was known as the Chinese Room, that has been decorated by someone with a lot of knowledge. What was the theatre has been turned into a house by itself. It was bought by someone who was an architect and who has therefore developed it. The theatre was on 2 levels, the stage and then a sloping floor and another level. In the past,on the other side they had used one long room as a ballroom where there had been hunt dances and such like there. At Christmas time the village would come to the house. There were Christmas turkey whist drives, when the locals gave a turkey or gave poultry and suchlike for Christmas gifts to be won. When it came to the Coronation, the village came up for the coronation sports and we had a rather amusing film of the sports.

(From Brian Vaughton’s Life … as it was)

Shute House – described in the sale details as “The gracious Adam style Country Mansion” was sold by auction at the George Hotel in Axminster on Thursday 7th August 1975. Below are some of the particulars provided by Messrs. W.R.J. Greenslade & Co. Our thanks to John and Anne Dean of East Lodge who provided me with a copy of the sale details and who bought their house at the 1975 sale for £12,000 !!

( If you left click once on some of the images, they will be enlarged. Another click will make them even bigger.)

The following further points of interest, some of which were taken from Dr M.F. Bridie’s  “The Story of Shute”, were kindly supplied by Elisabeth Miller:

The Race Course: The field lying to the North of the main track over Shute Hill from Ashes Lane to the top of the Kilmington Straight was always called the race course. It may have been larger than now as the afforestation is relatively recent. (Ch 9   P143)

The Curse: Source unknown. This curse was pronounced for the building of the new Georgian House in ” a field of straight green corn”. (Ch 10   P156 – referred to again in      Ch 11   P170 and P178)

The Lady Walk: This is described as a walk up to The Beacon. Locals understand it to be principally a walk to the orchard and kitchen garden of the house (the walled garden) on the North side of Haddon Road, now part of Rowlands. (Ch 10   P 157)

The iron grilles: these were fitted on all the ground floor and semi-basement windows as a decorative addition. Another supposition for their presence is that they were fitted for the Napoloenic Wars – or even protection against burglars. (Ch 10   P162)

The Coming of the Railway:  It is said that the 9th Baronet only agreed to the railway as long as it could not be seen from the house – hence the deep cuttings – and that there should be a “halt” near enough to Shute House to bring his guests from London – hence Seaton Junction, less than a mile down the road!  (Ch 11 P173)

The water supply: There are two  large underground cisterns on Shute Hill, behind, and on land belonging to, Haddon House which were reservoirs of water (primitive header tanks?) for Shute House. There are also three brick-lined uncovered “pits” in the woodland beside The Lady Walk (on Shute House land) which must have at some stage been part of the water-supply system.

The Grey Lady: There is a legend that the woodland through which The Lady Walk passes is haunted by the Grey Lady. Folklore associates the legend with Lady Jane Grey, but, as it is questionable whether she actually lived at Shute Manor House, it maybe that another lady ( a Pole?) qualifies.

The Coach Road: Haddon Road, from Shute village to Haddon Corner (known as Betty’s Ground – the triangle of grass and trees) is still known as “The Coach Road”. It then ran along the old track ( just below the “new Road”) to Mount Hungary and on to Kilmington.

The Stables:

My thanks again to Lis Miller for taking the time to provide me with this information.

Dr Bridie describes them as extensive and in the ingenious form of a horseshoe, neatly hidden from the house in a dell, surrounded by trees. According to the late Miss Monica Broom, whose father bought the house called Betty’s ground in 1930) and other local residents, the two coach/carriage houses were used to house one travelling carriage and one lighter vehicle for local journeys. The horses would have been housed in stalls built to the ground floors of the two coach house buildings, perhaps 6 in each.

There was a covered way between the coach houses, where horses would have been tethered between use in the daytime. “Footings” have been identified for this. Stabling for 12 horses is probably about right for the size of the establishment, bearing in mind mounts for guests, hunting, social riding, as well as travelling.

The centre house was the Groom’s cottage downstairs with space on the first floor for other staff to sleep. The stable-boys would have slept above the horses on straw pallets on the bare boards. The smaller house would have housed food stocks and tack, but when the school was established in 1933, the girls were allowed to bring their ponies – there were more ponies than the stalls could accommodate so the smaller houses in the complex were also used as loose-boxes.

The approach was down the carriage drive from the House and through what is now a private garden – the steep concrete drive came with the re-development in 1980/81.

If anyone else has any infomation about and/or photos of Shute House, please do let me know. Also if you spot any errors or omissions, please inform me – Rick Wood

We were delighted with the huge turn out for this annual event in the hall – 75 locals turned up for an evening filled with food and fun. We had four wonderful people from Shute Stables and even a couple from as far away as Whitford! – what a grand way to start the new year!

Everybody brought a plate full of either a savoury dish or a dessert, and some even brought both so there was plenty to go round with just a few sausage rolls left at the end! After Peter’s Grace, we all tucked in table by table.

Tony and Antonia went round persuading people to part with their money in the raffle ( there were 24 prizes on the table and not all of them were Christmas present rejects!) and they raised the impressive sum of £158. Well done and our thanks to them.

Simon, down from North Devon to run the Axmouth Challenge run the next morning, looked after the bar

and there were other activities to occupy people’s minds such as Liz Gosling’s picture quiz (poor Liz was ill in bed so was unable to attend but did send the answers with hubby Tony) and this was won by Table 1 ( which we called Bernard’s table – don’t be fooled by the photo above, he can be quite intelligent at times!)  with 46/50 – superb. The children’s picture quiz prepared by Jan was won by Lydia and Ella with full marks – very well done. The table quiz with questions on the year 2011′s events and a couple of “7″th and “January” tasks, was won by Table 3 ( the Whitford/Shute group ) with 33/44 – a slightly harder quiz this one.

Thanks to all the helpers – those who set the hall up the day before, the helpers on the night – washers-up, clearers, cleaners etc. – everyone helped this event reach great heights of enjoyment.

We all went home at about 11pm tired, but contented. A great community get-together.

The event is on Sat March 10th between
10am and  4pm.

Yoga days allow you to deepen your experience of yoga. They provide the opportunity for time out of our busy lives to focus on our internal world of mind, body and breath.

Yoga jiva was founded by Di Magrane. She is a qualified British Wheel of Yoga teacher who completed her training with Margaret Woodley. Her teaching is influenced by many styles that she has practised since starting yoga 18 years ago. These include the yoga developed by Krishnamacharya and his son TKV Desikachar, as well as Iyengar, Ashtanga and other teachers of Hatha and Ashtanga yoga. Her first teacher was Jane Sleven.