Our speaker on April 18 was Dr Ben Dobson talking about
“Crantock between the wars”. The session started with our usual quiz and word
search, this time relating to Crantock and its history.
Ben then gave a fascinating talk about village history. He
explained that, in the 19th century many of the village’s inhabitants were
miners or farm workers. The decline of these industries led to serious local
poverty but soon after the improvements in transport brought about by the railway
and increasing numbers of motor cars led to the development of a tourist trade.
Initially, a small number of wealthy individuals purchased or built holiday
homes in the village. Ben told us stories about local people and some of these
visitors. There was a very sad account of the death by drowning of the son of
the famous artist Augustus John during a visit to Crantock.
Several of our
members were able to provide information and anecdotes to supplement Ben’s
information.
After a lovely tea of home made scones and cakes, we enjoyed
a game of ‘Bug Bingo’. Instead of
numbers, this had illustrated pictures of different insects, most of which you
would not want to find in your home!
Our next Memory Café Extra session will be on May 23rd,
when Dr Richard Greenwood will give a talk on a health related topic.
