Find out more about what has been happening recently in the village. If you have a news story that you would like to publish on the site, please contact us. For past stories about Bishopsteignton, see the News Archive.

The First Bishopsteignton Scout Group has been up-and-running for two years. It now runs groups for:-

• Beavers (aged 6 – 8) who meet on Monday evenings from 6.15 pm until 7.15 pm
• Cubs (aged 8 -10) who meet on Tuesday evenings from 6.15pm until 7.45pm
• Scouts (aged 10½ - 14) who meet on Friday evenings from 7.00pm until 8.30pm

Meetings take place at the Scout Hut, Radway Hill, Bishopsteignton during school terms.

The Group is run by an executive committee which supervises the Group’s finances and looks after the Hut.

The Group is successful and well-established with an enthusiastic and growing membership. If your son or daughter is interested in joining or if you can lend a hand with any of the above groups – Beavers, Cubs or Scouts – we would be delighted to hear from you. We have a particular need for a uniformed helper who can assist us in developing the Group further.

If you would like to help or to find out more, please contact any one of the following officers of the First Bishopsteignton Scout Group:

Villagers passing up or down Radway Hill cannot have failed to notice the transformation of the plot at the end of Wallis Grove that was badly in need of a face lift. This has been achieved by a stalwart group of volunteer villagers (I assume they volunteered and were not press ganged!) who wielded spades, forks, pick axes, and the like with great enthusiasm. The use of more heavyweight, serious types of equipment was used by  another volunteer, Dave Taylor, an expert in their use.  It must be said that the team were not in the first flush of youth, so, at the end of each day, the physical effort required must have called for long soaks in hot baths, soothing liniments, anti-inflammatories, pain killers, & even the odd massage. (Alison must have done a roaring trade during that time!) The exception to this description of age and possible after effects, was our own Parish Clerk, Claire Colyer who is considerably younger than the 'labourers', so perhaps didn't have to go home and resort to the hot baths etc. Her task, after helping clear the site was to implement her design for the layout of the plot. She was responsible for the laying down of the membrane and  gravel, and  planting the shrubs, helped at the start  by her teenage daughter, who might possibly have been press ganged!  Claire also bought and transported all the materials and has since made several trips to the village to water the site during the dry weather (she doesn't live in the village).
 
As passers by will see, even more work than described above, was carried out, such as  brickwork, painting, cementing, etc. and the installation of the very welcome seat which has already been well used by young and old alike.  The wooden  'Wallis Grove' sign, made by the much loved and respected villager, the late Les Martin, has always been cared for by Reg Pepperell, and now Les's newly smartened up sign takes its place again as a constant reminder of what can be achieved by willing people, giving their time and effort for the good of us all.  Our thanks to them all for their effort which has resulted in a lasting improvement to our village. 

The completion of this work done in Wallis Grove is just the first part of a project undertaken by our Parish Council. Next in line to receive a new look is the plot at the bottom of Radway Hill, bordering what used to be the village newsagents. Present day fashion seems to be to cover everything in concrete, but here, the concrete will be removed and a cottage garden will take its place.

The ongoing and never ending job of maintenance on these sites and at Lawns End needs volunteers so anybody who is willing to help will be very welcome.

Many thanks to all involved - Article submitted by local residents.

If you enjoy a cup of coffee and a slice of delicious home-made cake in beautiful surroundings then why not visit Huntly in Forder Lane, Bishopsteignton on Saturday 17th July between 10am and 12 noon.

Huntly, the Residential Home of the Officers' Association, is very kindly hosting a fundraising morning for the Bishopsteignton Village Show. This event has been held in previous years and the organisers of the Show very much appreciate the local support.

Roy Halsey, Chairman of the Village Show, says "We charge just £2 per person, which includes a cup of coffee or tea and, of course, some wonderful cake." He adds "This is one of a number of events we hold to help raise funds for our Village Show and we are incredibly grateful to Huntly for letting us use their Dining Room once again."

The Village Show itself, which is held in Bishopsteignton Community Centre, is held on the first weekend of September. For details of the Village Show and other fundraising activities visit www.bishopsvillageshow.co.uk.

South Devon Drama Federation held it’s annual Festival last Sunday evening (June 20th) at the Carlton Theatre in Teignmouth. The awards ceremony isn’t quite ‘The Oscars’ but certainly means a lot to drama groups across South Devon who take part. It was an enjoyable evening as seven of the nine entrants performed a short excerpt from their chosen play. This year the standard was very high so judging must have been difficult for the adjudicator, Jill Coran. The Bishopsteignton Players scooped many of the awards. Winners included Pippa West, Best Supporting Actress and Tom Chudley Evans for Best Young Performer (look out for this one!).

Liz McNamara, Grace Bouchard and Nigel Everett were also nominated in their respective categories and the group were nominated for Best Overall Presentation too. Pippa West was also nominated for the Leveridge Cup for Costume. And on top of all that the Bishopsteignton Players won Best Production for their performance of ‘The Happiest Days of your Life’ which was directed by John Patton. The photograph shows some of the cast of ‘The Happiest Days of your Life’.

Bishopsteignton Players are an enjoyable group who are always on the lookout for new members, so if you’d like to join please call Pat Yesin on 01626 773283. Find out more about the group on the Clubs page.

That’s exactly what the French twinners from La Roche Maurice experienced when they visited Bishopsteignton from 21st to 24th May. They had timed this year’s visit to perfection, coinciding as it did with the Devon County Show, with all the fine local produce this event has to offer, and the hottest and sunniest weekend of the year (so far!)

The first official twinning visit between Bishopsteignton and La Roche Maurice in Brittany took place some 20 years ago when just 10 people travelled to France by car. This year no fewer than 57 French of all ages made the trip in the opposite direction, and a superb time was had by all!

The programme was relaxed, with just the right mix of organised events and time to relax “en famille”, which for most people meant a long leisurely lunch on the Sunday "à la française", either at home or in a local restaurant.

Saturday was the busiest day, with an all day visit to the county show followed by a dinner dance at Teignmouth Golf Club in the evening. The Sunday evening picnic in Bishopsteignton Community Centre was less formal, with local band, "Lock, Stock and Barrel" leading a traditional English singsong. It soon became apparent that the French had also been practising their singing on the way over in the coach and were not to be put off giving a robust rendition of Breton sea shanties! It all added to the relaxed, fun atmosphere of the entire weekend.

Throughout the three days, genuine warmth and affection shone through on both sides. In his welcoming speech, Bishopsteignton Twinning Chairman, Graham Rowe spoke of the great fondness and friendship, which exists between the two communities and pointed out: "You are not visitors to the village; with us you are the village, and Bishopsteignton is richer as a result."

After the French left Bishopsteignton on Monday morning, they managed to squeeze in a trip to Tintagel and Port Isaac, as well as cocktails on The Hoe before catching the overnight ferry back to Roscoff from Plymouth.

Next year villagers from Bishopsteignton will visit Brittany at the end of May. Further information on any aspect of Bishopsteignton Twinning Association can be obtained from Graham Rowe (Tel: 01626 778514 or Email: graham.rowe1@virgin.net)

The Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales has announced that due to a higher level of income they have increased the level of funding for 2010 and will sustain it for 2011, 2012 and 2013. The aim of the Lloyds TSB Foundation’s Community programme is to provide financial support for work that helps disadvantaged people to play a fuller role in the community. The Foundation is particularly interested in work that achieves this through; improved social and community involvement; improved life chances; helping people to be heard. The Foundation are particularly keen to support small and medium sized community-based charities where small amounts of money can make a significant difference to local people's lives. The types of work funded include; running costs, including salaries to ensure that charities can maintain and develop their core work/services; and funding for projects that build on charities’ core work.

Funding is available for one to three years and more details can be found on the Lloyds TSB Foundations website

Thanks to Teignbridge councillor David Cox for this information.

The classifieds page on the website has now been updated, to link up with Preloved, the leading online classifieds website. You can now see items for sale locally, and any ads you post will also be placed on the Preloved website, and other local sites, free of charge.

The boats have now been craned in at Polly Steps as the new boating season starts. This event can attract the criminal element in our society who will attempt to steal complete boats and/or equipment from them. Thieves are also visiting home addresses storing boats so your security measures should extend to home ground.

For tips on reducing the threat of boat crime, see the Policing section.

The staff at Moors Park would like to thank everyone who voted for the community art project at the home to receive funding from the Department of Health under the Bright Ideas Grant. On this occasion they were not successful, but will continue to apply for funding.

As well as trying to create the willow structure at Moors Park, staff are also trying to establish a vegetable garden for the residents. They have identified an area of the grounds which is begging to be converted into an allotment, and they are willing to consider an allotment share with anyone who is willing to help establish the plot.

Finally, as a real sign of spring, 8 cute and fluffy chicks have been hatched, and anyone from the village who would like to pop along to Moors Park to see them is welcome to do so, until Friday April 9th. This leads to a further appeal for help - anyone who has experience of looking after chickens, and would be willing to advise and provide support, please get in touch.

If you can help with either the chickens, or vegetable plot, please call Debi or Tanya on 01626 775465.

Myself and Tom attended a meeting at Bitton House re the above cycle route on March 16th, apart from councillors there were a few members of the public, including us. Although one or two of the councillors did express concern over the possible costs, the overall vibe of the meeting was very positive.

Phase One is Newton Abbot railway station to The Passage House Inn, Kingsteignton. Phase Two is the Passage House Inn to Bishopsteignton, and Phase Three is Bishopsteignton to Teignmouth railway station. Phase One is looking fairly positive, so for now Phase Two is the stage everyone is focusing on, and the problem here of course is the route will either be on farmland or on the side of the estuary. Maybe vocal locals are what is needed to push this through. Definitely a local pressure group should be set up - not sure how to do this, but the important thing is to keep the pressure on.

Steve - Fore Street, Bishopsteignton

The Bishopsteignton Spring Flower Show is just around the corner so now is the time to get out into the garden to see if you have any potential prize-winning blooms on their way.

If you have some great looking flowers this spring, or have never entered a flower show before and fancy “having a go”, this could be the Show for you. There are 20 classes for showing daffodils, tulips, camellias and other spring flowering shrubs and there's prize money for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each class. To enter the show you need a Schedule which lists all the classes and the rules. These are available now free of charge from local Bishopsteignton shops and from Jack's Patch Garden Centre. Alternatively, telephone organisers Roy or Jackie Halsey on 01626 774049 for more information.

The Bishopsteignton Spring Flower Show is on Saturday 10 April. Held in Bishopsteignton Community Centre, judging will take place in the morning and then the doors will open to the public at 2.30pm. Cream teas will be served, there will be a great raffle and what promises to be a fabulous display of spring flowers. The event is being held to raise funds for the Community Centre and has been generously sponsored by Jack's Patch Garden Centre who will also have displays at the Show itself. Entry is free for children, 50p for adults.

Bishopsteignton Outdoor Art Group need your help!
Don’t throw away any CDs or DVDs, give them to us instead.
We will be making our next sculpture out of them.

Drop them round to Cockhaven House, 6 Cockhaven Road, minus all the packaging please!
or phone 779628 for collection if a large quantity

In March 1912 Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his team gave their lives trying to walk back to the coast of Antarctica from the South Pole on the ill-fated Terra Nova expedition. Since then nobody has ever completed the journey.

In November 2010 Justin Miles, originally from Bishopsteignton, along with expedition partner John Wilton-Davies are aiming to complete the mission that Scott started. Once completed, the epic 2,200km trek will also be the longest unsupported polar journey in history.

With family roots running deep through the veins of Bishopsteignton history, Justin spent the early years of his life in the village and became a well know ‘fair haired boy’ in the local community.

Justin went on to develop a good career in the fitness industry working as a fitness trainer, writing in magazines and journals and running training courses for other instructors and trainers. On March 2nd 1999 Justin had a solid career and a promising future in the industry, but by the end of the day on 3rd March 1999 his career, in fact his whole life, lay in tatters.

A near fatal car accident left Justin with head injuries and in a position where he had to re-learn simple functions like walking and talking properly. As he battled back to recovery there were long periods where he could do nothing but sit, or lie down and do nothing at all. To distract him from his own frustrating reality he had little but his own memory and imagination to rely on; he thought back through his childhood years in the village and stumbled across the memory of the boyhood dream that he had whilst running around the village of becoming an adventurer and following in the footsteps of such heroes as Scott, Shackleton, and Edmund Hilary.

With plenty of time on his hands Justin worked out a way of turning his dream into a tangible objective with a defined timescale, set goals to achieve along the away, then set about turning his dream into a reality.

Now, a little more than ten years on, right on schedule and with more than a few achievements under his belt Justin is about to undertake one of the toughest polar expeditions in the last one hundred years.

The expedition, named the Last Great Challenge, is also the vehicle for some philanthropic projects. As well as helping to promote the work of the Torquay based Living Coasts project, the expedition has also spawned an activity based education project with an increasing nation-wide audience.

The largest project of the Last Great Challenge and what is intended to be the on-going legacy of the expedition is the Great Heart Challenge. The Great heart Challenge is an adventure themed health and fitness initiative and fundraising project targeted at schools all across the UK. A unique alliance of the Last Great Challenge, the British Heart Foundation, and media, private and public sector partners will see the initiative promoted to around 38,000 schools across the UK in the second half of 2010.

An adult version of the Great Heart Challenge is being run as an event through the national chain of Spirit Health Clubs.

Diet and activity related disease is the biggest killer in the developed world today. In the UK alone 275,000 people a year suffer heart attacks and of those around 120,000 people die. The disappointing part is that in 95% of those cases, cardiac illness could have been avoided. The apportioned cost of inactivity related illness to the NHS is somewhere in the region of £1.6bn per year.

Current government guidelines suggest that just thirty minutes of moderate activity five times a week is enough to have a positive effect on health and longevity – but a recent survey has suggested that less than a third of men and a quarter of women actually achieve the target.

Through the Last Great Challenge Justin and John hope to encourage people of all ages, but particularly school children, to adopt a long term exercise habit and reduce the likelihood of developing cardiac disease.

To find out more about the Last Great Challenge, or to get involved, visit their website at www.lastgreatchallenge.com

The village of Bishopsteignton will be holding a special Spring Flower Show this April to raise funds for its Community Centre.

Open to everyone there are 20 classes for showing daffodils, tulips, camellias and other spring flowering shrubs.

The Bishopsteignton Spring Flower Show has been generously sponsored by Jack's Patch Garden Centre who will also have displays at the Show itself.

To enter the show you need a Schedule which lists all the classes and the rules. These are available now free of charge from local Bishopsteignton shops and from Jack's Patch Garden Centre. Alternatively, telephone Roy or Jackie Halsey on 01626 774049 for more information.

So, keep an eye on those spring bulbs beginning to push through the soil – you might just have a winning bloom on your hands. With prize money available for First, Second and Third place in each class, why not enter the Show and let the judge decide?

The Spring Show is on Saturday 10th April 2010 at Bishopsteignton Community Centre. Open from 2.30pm until 5.00pm there will be a fabulous array of flowers, cream teas and a great raffle.

As you may be aware, an application has been made to designate the grassy area opposite Bishopsteignton Primary School as a village green. This application has involved a considerable amount of effort from a group of residents, supported by the Parish Council. To support the application, evidence was collected from local residents regarding their use of the area as a community space.

Teignbridge District Council have submitted an objection to the proposal, based on the evidence provided in support of the application. Their argument is that only a small proportion of the local community completed questionnaires, and provided input about use of the space, that the "community" use has not been ongoing for the past 20 years, and that the area has not been used for activities such as team sports.

It seems a great shame that a campaign to protect one of the only remaining open green spaces in our village does not have the support of the local authority, and we will now wait the outcome of the application with baited breath.

Bishopsteignton has made the local press on more than one occasion in the past week or so. You may have noticed the damage to the bus stop on the main road, close to the junction with Cockhaven Road. This was caused by a road traffic collision, and has again raised fears about speeding through the village. More details can be read in the report by the Mid Devon Advertiser.

The proposed scheme to enhance the junction of Fore Street and Bishops Avenue also made the front page of the Herald Express, as the main financial sponsor, Devon County Council, has been forced to withdraw its funding of the scheme, due to budget constraints, and the increasing cost of the recent spell of cold weather. Obviously this is a great disappointment to the members of the Bishopsteignton Enhancement Group, and the numerous members of the community who had expressed their support for the scheme. However, this turn of events also reflects concerns that over 160 villagers expressed in signing a petition against funding the scheme through the parish precept and council tax. Read the full story on This Is South Devon.

Finally, traffic problems, were caused on Forder Lane on January 22nd, when the cob wall of a residential property adjoining the road collapsed. Fortunately no injuries were reported, and we hope that the owners of the property are able to repair their home swiftly.

Devon County Council have agreed to set up a Community Group to work with them on the development of the proposed cycle track from Teignmouth to Newton Abbot. It's called the Newton Abbot Connect 2 Community User Group - perhaps they can change the name to something catchier! The meeting to set up the group will be at 3.30pm on the 3rd February at Forde House,Newton Abbot.

If anyone, preferably a cyclist who will be wanting to use the path, would like to be on the group, please they let me know ahead of the 3rd February meeting, so I can put their names forward. Thanks.

Anyone interested, please let Roger Hunt know, or drop us an email at the website and we will pass your details on: contact@bishopsteignton.org.uk.

An exciting new group has formed in the village to start tackling some environmental issues which maybe, as individuals, we find a bit beyond us. Not only will there be a series of speakers to clarify issues such as energy and efficiency, ethical investments and rainwater harvesting but there will be direct action taken to make life a little easier for us, cheaper and greener. Initiatives such as a community car/sharing scheme, tools and machinery pool and local food production are all on the agenda.

The essence of the group is to improve community spirit and involvement and to help residents of Bishopsteignton move to a more sustainable lifestyle. We will be working with Teign Estuary Transition to keep in touch with our neighbouring towns.

We hope to have to have our first public speaker in March which will open to all. Find out more about the group as it develops on the Clubs page, and also check the Events listing for details of talks etc. If you would like to be more involved please contact Kate Yeo 772843.

There have been plans for a number of years for a cycle route between Teignmouth and Newton Abbot along the Teign Estuary. There's not been much to show for it though as the main concentration of effort has been between Passage House and Newton Abbot and progress has been bogged down by the large number of land owners and cost. There has been some work on the Teignmouth Station to Shaldon Bridge end but again not much real progress yet. Up until now very little effort has been done on the Bishopsteignton stretch between Shaldon Bridge and Passage House.

Many Bishop residents have supported the proposals - at the moment it's highly dangerous cycling along the main road especially between Bishop and Newton Abbot- and so have the Parish Council. The cycle route would also benefit tourism and local business.

A meeting was held just before Christmas led by Devon County Council and with representatives from all the interested councils along the route. As a result it's been agreed to start looking at the stretch between Passage House and Bishop to see whether anything can be done separate from progress elsewhere. A Community Group will be set up to ensure views from potential local users are taken into account.

I hope there'll be more news on this fairly soon.
Roger Hunt
Parish Councillor

The Bishopsteignton Players departed from their usual dramatic production to offer a light-hearted evening of entertainment at the Village Hall on Saturday, 21st November.

The variety of performances and relaxed setting promoted a convivial atmosphere, greatly assisted by the availability of the bar and the tasty nibbles! The acts included ghostly tales, songs, tributes and sketches. High spots were the pointed toes and twinkly tiaras of the 'men in tights', Yorkshire earthiness with Albert and the Lion, Flanders and Swann and Joyce Grenfell reincarnate. A constant chuckle, interspersed with even greater guffaws of laughter, sounded throughout the village hall. Even Santa made an appearance!

The evening had its serious side, however, for one aim was to raise money for the Royal British Legion, Poppy Appeal. The Players were able to make a donation of £228.70 to this worthy cause.

Those of you who missed this evening can take heart: it was so successful and such fun that the Players plan to put on another evening of entertainment at the same time next year.