On This Day in Wembury — 25 November 1935
Plymouth ramblers battle rain and a flooded stream
On 25 November 1935, the Western Morning News reported on a weekend ramble by the Plymouth Group of the Holiday Fellowship which brought sixteen walkers along the coast to Wembury.
The party set out from Turnchapel and followed the cliffs towards Staddon Heights and Bovisand, before continuing around towards Heybrook Bay.
Beyond Heybrook Bay they encountered a problem familiar to walkers then and now: a public footpath had been blocked. The newspaper reported that a stile on the route, west of the rifle range, had been broken down and the right of way closed.
The walkers nevertheless managed to continue along an older path and then through the new bird sanctuary.
There they saw a flock of oystercatchers and a fine specimen of a greater black-backed gull — a reminder that the Wembury coast was already valued for its birdlife well before the modern conservation era.
The party reached Wembury just as heavy rain began.
By then, the small stream they needed to cross was in full flood and could only be negotiated by fording it.
After that soggy obstacle, the ramblers continued from Wembury and caught the bus home.
The walk was led by Mr Sandon.
It is a wonderfully recognisable Wembury story: cliff paths, blocked access, seabirds, sudden rain, a swollen stream and walkers determined to keep going anyway.
Nearly ninety years later, the coast still offers much the same mixture of beauty, weather and occasional inconvenience.
Source: Western Morning News, Monday 25 November 1935.
On This Day in Wembury — 25 November 1992
Wembury Guides held a sponsored swim to raise money for the Evening Herald’s Somalia appeal. When her sister Clare had to withdraw with a broken arm, nine year old Danielle Lester stepped in. She promised to swim four lengths but amazed everyone by completing eight. Guider Brenda Gunby and the 1st Wembury Guides raised more than £200, with some Guides swimming as many as 50 lengths at the Ballards Centre pool in Millbay Road, Plymouth.
This event reflected the strong charitable spirit of the Wembury Guides. In the early 1990s news of famine in Somalia prompted national fundraising appeals, and local groups like the Wembury Guides played their part. For a small village unit to raise over £200 through effort and determination showed both the commitment of the Guides and the generosity of their supporters. Danielle’s gesture of stepping in for her sister became the symbol of the day’s success.
Source Evening Herald, 25 November 1992
Danielle and her family used to live across the road from us in SeaView Drive. Theyt later moved away.
Entries are summaries and interpretations of historical newspaper reports.