A FASCINATING glimpse of village life in times gone by was staged by Exbourne Local History Group at a special exhibition last weekend.

Held in the village hall the event was part of the nationwide English Heritage open weekend and proved interesting to residents, former residents and visitors alike.

Dave Weeks, a member of the history group and organiser of the event, said interest in the village's history was sparked last October when his wife Margaret and her friend Rose Williams put together a collection of 200 plus photographs of the village in times past.

Since then, the Exbourne Local History Group was formed under the chairmanship of Steve Gazzard, with Rose as secretary and Nick Kinealy as treasurer. There are now a healthy 25 members, researching their village history.

Mr Weeks said: 'The oldest building we know of is a 15th century cottage a mile out of Exbourne but most of the village was originally built in the 16th/17th century. We now have a research building group finding out this sort of information, while other members are busy recording interviews with the elderly people in the village to find out more.

'We plan to edit these recordings and play back a finished recording for everyone to hear sometime early next year.'

'What is good about this exhibition and the local history group is that it shows the people of Exbourne now what the village used to be.

'In those days, especially before everyone had a car and became more mobile, people tended to stay in the village and made their own entertainment.

'It was not a sleepy little village, it was full of life. The exhibition last year was a real eye opener for people and since then the local heritage group has done a very good and important job in showing the heritage we have here in Exbourne.'

At the exhibition there were displays on village housing and buildings and other exhibits including one from the Exbourne, Jacobstowe and Sampford Courtenay Women's Institute — who celebrate their 75th year and brought along a minute book from their original meeting.

Some of the recent discoveries from research have uncovered three huge bread ovens in a shut-off extension behind a house in the village, documents from the local Bible Christians from 1850 and much more.

There was a display of Exbourne School photographs including a group shot of staff and children in the 1880s; there were photos of the many village carnivals which took place, until the last one in 1967; another display showed new structures being built such as the roadbridge at Holebrook in the 1960s.

Members Geoff Hogkinson and Nick Kinealy have uncovered much about Sir Roper Lethbridge and his family, who lived at Exbourne Manor in the early 1900s. In fact David Weeks was fascinated himself, as being a third generation resident, his grandfather was a coachman and gardener to Sir Roper.

The next meeting of the Exbourne Local History Group is on Tuesday, September 21 in the village hall at 7.30pm. New members are always welcome. For more information contact the group's secretary Rose Williams on 851426.