Court Goodwill 5077, the East Cornwall branch of the Foresters Friendly Society, held a successful annual general meeting on Sunday, April 6, at Liskeard Town Hall.

Outgoing Chief Ranger (chair), Sister Pat O’Connor, opened the meeting at 2pm and led members in a minute’s silence in memory of a recently departed member.

The meeting then proceeded with the formal agenda, including the review and approval of the branch’s finances, accounts and grants to members.

Members also discussed ongoing welfare support, charitable efforts, and confirmed the programme of social events for the year ahead.

During her time as Chief Ranger, Sister Pat helped raise £309 for her chosen charity, St Petroc’s, which supports people facing homelessness. Her contribution was warmly acknowledged by members.

The meeting concluded with the annual change of officers, with Sister Joan Thomas installed as the new Chief Ranger. A raffle held in aid of Cornwall Hospice Care, Joan’s nominated charity for the year, raised £37.

Court Goodwill 5077 is part of the national Foresters Friendly Society, a mutual organisation with a long tradition of supporting its members and local communities.

New members are always welcome.

Further details from secretary Gary Webber via email at [email protected] or by telephone at 01326 315055.

For more details about the Foresters Friendly Society visit www.forestersfriendlysociety.co.uk

Wednesday, April 16 — 11am, joint Holy Communion.

Thursday, April 18 — 2pm, Knit & Knatter.

Saturday, April 10 — Cream Tea is postponed.

Sunday, April 20 — 9.30am Holy Communion, cluster service.

Mondays - morning prayer at 10am.

April 18 - Good Friday reflections at 10am.

April 20 - Easter Sunday Holy Communion at 6pm.

April 17 - Bring & Share Agape Supper Service at Rilla Mill Village Hall at 6.30pm.

April 19 - Messy Church at the Retreat Centre, Rilla Mill at 9.30am to noon.

April 20- Easter Celebration with Holy Communion at St Paul’s, Upton Cross at 10am.

Sally Gisbourne reminds those interested in entering the Annual Horticultural Society Show this year to plant a few seeds.

The tallest sunflower competition is always popular too.

This year a new competition too - The tallest beansalk!

There is also a new potato competition - The most potatoes (by weight) that you can grow in a standard bucket from one potato seed. You will be provided with the seed potato and bucket for £2 and can be obtained from Sally ([email protected])

Also in the show this year is a Garden Pond class which will be visited and judged by Sarah Doney and Louise Hopes.

Heavy bombing from Russia still continues in Ukraine so food is still needed.

There is a weight limit to the amount of stock the vans can carry, so food in pouches or cardboard rather than tins is appreciated.

Your donations can be left at St Paul’s Church in Upton Cross or direct to the Callington collection point at Unit 2 Tinners Way. Check the Facebook page for times of opening.

There will be a car boot sale at Lanreath village hall on Sunday, April 27, from 12pm to 4pm.

Hot/cold refreshments available. Pre booking required. This is a fundraiser for Lanreath Village Hall.

Contact [email protected] or Dawn on 07949355399 to book.

May Day celebrations will be held in Lanreath on Sunday, May 4, from 11am to late.

Join us for lots of fun. Plenty to do through the day, including: Entertainment from Torpoint Sea Cadet Band, Morris Dancers and Company B, various market stalls, exotic animals, carousel/face painting, welly wanging, tug of war, refreshments and much much more.

Competitions are free to enter: Best Photo; Best Flower Arrangement (Theme wild Lanreath); Best pasty; Dog show.

April 17 (Maundy Thursday) — Service with Rev Janet Park at 7pm.

Arril 18 (Good Friday) — Service with Rev Janet at 3pm.

April 20 (Easter Sunday) — Breakfast at 8am followed by a service at 10am with Rev Robert Saunders (Holy Communion).

April 21 — Knit and Natter from 1.30pm to 3.30pm.

For Easter weekend, there will be a 'Walk of Witness' on Good Friday, April 18. Starting 10am at the parish church.

The walk will then take a route through part of the village, towards St Ive Village Hall. Where a service will take place at 10.30am.

This will be led by Keith Mutton. All are welcome.

Easter Day, Sunday, April 20, the morning service will be held at St Ive Parish Church, starting at 10.30am. All are welcome to come and share.

Shipbuilding on the Fowey river, the literary establishment in Plymouth and early industry around Forder and Burraton Combe were the subjects of talks given by members of Saltash Old Cornwall Society during the ‘members talks’ that always follow the annual general meeting.

There was a large turnout of members joined by Federation of Old Cornwall Societies president Nev Meek to see Mrs Sue Hooper MBE re-elected as president. Martin Lister and Yvonne Hope were re elected as secretary and treasurer.

Instead of having a guest speaker as at other meetings, members are traditionally invited to give short talks of local interest. Steve and Jean Hunkin firstly spoke on their family’s building up of a busy shipbuilding business at Fowey in the days of wooden ships and sail. The family also became friendly with writer Daphne du Maurier and Jean outlined how they became involved in her romance with ‘Boy’ Browning and acted as witnesses at their wedding.

The history of Plymouth Proprietary Library was related by Roger Howe. It was founded in 1810 in a gracious Grecian style building sadly lost in the Plymouth blitz together with thirty thousand books. It is now based in Stoke and welcomes new members. Mr Howe also mentioned the associated Plymouth Athenaeum , also originally a Greek style building now replaced by a replica of London’s Royal Festival Hall.

Forder and Burraton Combe are now rural oases but over a century ago were busy hives of industry. Martin Lister told of the history of the two tanneries in Burraton Combe, the building of one now being apartments. He told too of the many quarries which smothered the village in dust and of the tramway from Burraton Combe to Forder Creek and the barges that awaited the gravity driven trains (later locomotive hauled.) There were also busy concrete works, mills and lime kilns with even more down towards Antony Passage – though they were a tale for another day.

Mrs Hooper thanked all of the speakers and looked forward to another successful year for the society.

CleerWay Community Church is celebrating Easter with an Easter egg hunt; food; drama; craft activities; song; the Easter message and worship. All are welcome at St Cleer Memorial Hall, Well Lane PL14 5EA from 10 am to noon on Easter Sunday.

For more information visit www.cleerway.org.uk

Following the business meeting including future events taking place over the next couple of months, Craig Lang from the Devon and Cornwall Cyber Crime Unit came to give us some extremely helpful information to keep us safe from cyber crime.

We were told that there were five major mistakes people make when online, these were:

Having a weak password: He advised that you use a form of three random words together, then add numbers, symbols and uppercase letters, for example 19fisHboaTtuliP95!!

Not having antivirus: It seems most systems have anti-malware already built in, but also consider installing extra antivirus.

Not updating software: Always update your software as soon as you’re prompted to ensure it remains safe and secure

Not backing up data: Make copies of things that are important to you to keep them safe.

Clicking on links and attachments: You wouldn’t let a stranger into your home. Why let them onto your computer? Emails you receive may contain attachments or links to click on, don’t click on links unless you can verify where they came from. If in doubt call the sender to check it’s genuine.

Victims of cyber crime or fraud Action Fraud is the UK’s national reporting centre, or report online at www.actionfraud.police.uk or telephone on 0300 123 2040.

April competition winners were:

Flower of the month 1st Jean Hoare, 2nd Sue Turpin, 3rd Verna Dawe.

A hand-made lavender bag: 1st Alison Willis, 2nd Verna Dawe.

Next meeting Wednesday, May 14, 7.15pm in Millennium House, which will be the AGM and birthday social evening with a bring and share supper. Competitions: Flower of the month and ‘my most treasured possession’.

Self-styled ‘Bionic Boxing Barber’ Clint Osborne is championing the cause of men’s mental health in Cornwall.

To raise awareness of the Man Down charity, Clint had his head shaved outside his salon in St Austell.

The head shave took place in advance of his scheduled boxing bout in Plymouth with American Derek ‘Del Boy’ Diablo.