THE proud history of Saltash and its surrounding countryside has been preserved and celebrated for forty years by the active and enthusiastic members of Saltash Heritage.

To mark their fortieth anniversary as well as publicise their exciting plans to move into larger premises in the heart of Fore Street, the Saltash Museum and Local History Centre in Lower Fore Street has mounted an exhibition commemorating some of the multitude of exhibitions and other activities carried out over the past four decades.

Starting with exhibitions in the Guildhall then, in their own museum premises acquired two decades ago, almost every aspect of local history has been on display. Examples commemorated in the current exhibition include ‘Please Sir!’, ‘Are you being served?’ and ‘Time and tidelines’ featuring the history of local education, shops and shipping respectively.

Also on display are memories of various events organised for families and in particular children including corn dolly making, the ‘big draw’, and puppet making. Children’s events have been particularly popular and there are pictures of many of those who have attended such events in costume.

While the heritage team is busy moving items to their new premises last year’s popular exhibition on ‘Codes, secrets and communications’ is being held over in particular to allow more of the school parties eager to visit it. Especially fascinating to children and adults are the ‘enigma’ machine as decoded secret enemy messages, an array of spycraft and secret messages sent by prisoners of war, together with a display of various codes. All of this is alongside the permanent display of local interest.

Heritage chairman and deputy mayor Cllr Brian Stoyel welcomed town councillors and in particular mayor Cllr Rachel Bullock to the 2026 museum opening.

In opening it the mayor declared herself “very passionate about the history of our town and excited at the current move to new premises. I give a big thank you to all who have kept Saltash Heritage going over the past forty years.”

The museum at 17 Lower Fore Street will now be open through to December on Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings. Admission is free though donations are welcome.

THE cluster service in Connon Methodist Church will be held on Sunday, April 19.

It will be held by Dr David Hart at 10 am.

Thursday, April 16, 2pm Knit & Natter.

Saturday, April 18, 2.30pm cream tea £5 per person.

Sunday, April 19, 10am Cluster Service at Connon.

AN 'All in the April evening' concert will be given by Valley Voices, conducted by Elizabeth Saudek.

The event will include a varied selection of sacred and secular music for chamber choir.

The event will be held at St Ive Parish Church on Saturday, April 18, starting at 7pm. Entry by donation. All proceeds to the church. With refreshments in the interval. All welcome.

United Service, will be on Sunday, April 19. Held at St Ive Parish Church. Starting at 11.15am.

All are welcome. Tea/coffee will be served after the service.

THIS month, memberships were due and everyone was busy renewing for the busy year ahead as well as enrolling new members. We also welcomed Jane Edwards - a trustee for CFWI – to the meeting as she is visiting many WIs.

Paul Ford, one of the 318 Volunteers (ground crew) with Cornwall Air Ambulance gave us a fascinating insight into all aspects of this amazing local resource. Being the first in the UK – it will celebrate its 40th birthday next year. From just one leased craft in 1987, there are now two fully owned helicopters housed at the state-of-the-art base at Newquay airport.

The helicopter can fly patients easily to Bristol, Wales or Southampton for specialist care as well as to local hospitals. Film clips were shown of grateful patients who had survived thanks to this service.

There were many questions including some from Ian Varndell who had been observing as a trainee speaker (we wish him well). Many Pensilva WI members knew of someone who had been helped by the Air Ambulance and are proud that we have this in Cornwall.

Birthday posies for those with an April birthday were given to - Trish Thomas, Sue Turpin, Sue Hill, Hilary Clatworthy and Pauline Caffery.

Competition winners: Flower of the month — 1st Ann Houlston; 2nd Jill Pascoe; 3rd Irene Elliott.

A Helicopter in any medium: 1st Mary Yates; 2nd Jenny Rendle; 3rd Rosie Drake.

Next meeting: Wednesday, May 13, 7.15pm. Pensilva WI AGM and speaker Helen Searle (former WI member) on ‘Setting up a School of Nursing in St Helena’.

Contact us with any enquiries at [email protected]

St Melor's Church — Mondays weekly, morning prayer at 10am. Sunday, April 19, Evensong at 6.30pm.

St Paul's, Upton Cross — Sunday, April 19, communion at 10am.

Easter services — On Good Friday a service of Reflections was held at St Melor's at 10am which was arranged and led by Lay Minister, Roy Cooper and members of St Paul's Church also attended. Readings were delivered by members of the congregation.

On Easter Day an all age service was held at St Paul's, Upton Cross at 10am.

There was also an evening Communion Service at St Melor's service at 6.30pm which was conducted by the Rev Steve Payne.

Advanced notice - The Bishop of Truro, the Rt Rev David Williams will be attending St Melor's Church when there will be tea at 3pm followed by a service of Evensong at 4.30pm.

Sterts Arts and Environmental Centre, Upton Cross — The Sturrock Studio and Community Hub have been renovated, also the community hub has refreshed bar facilities, a new workshop space and step free access from the car park to the studio.

There are now two EV charging points and co-created four new willow sculptures that will act as way-markers on the site, with funds from the UK government via the Shared Prosperity Fund, and allocated through Cornwal Council's Community Levelling Up Programme.

New volunteers needed across front of house, gardening and maintenance. If anyone would like to get involved email [email protected]

The next event will be The Dave Hankin Big Band, from Glen Miller to Count Basie and beyond on Friday, April 24, in the Barn Theatre.

NORTH Hill Parish Council held their annual parish meeting (APM) at 7pm, their annual general meeting (AGM) at 7.15pm and finally their monthly meeting on Monday, April 8, at North Hill village Hall.

At the APM the chairman shared a report thanking all councillors including ward councillor Adrian Parsons for their contributions over the past twelve months helping to run a smooth and productive parish council. Also raised in her report was the challenge of reporting pot holes in the parish which the clerk and councillors do on a regular basis. St Torney’s Church forwarded a report which was read to the meeting, detailing several events due to take place in the near future and looking at the potential for a public convenience to be installed. Councillor Adrian Parsons forwarded a report which gave details regarding Cornwall Council election figures, budget figures and how these were to be distributed, also National Highways information and maintenance. Recycling, and new homes were among other topics he gave details about. Members of the public will be able to view the minutes in full on North Hill Parish Council website in the near future. At the AGM it was unanimously agreed that the chairman and vice chairman would remain in role for a further twelve months and the financial end of year accounts were shared and agreed.

The monthly parish meeting then took place, several planning notifications and recommendations were detailed which had been forwarded by Cornwall Council.

Other matters considered included general repairs in the play area at North Hill, also the lack of progress in relation to the two parked vehicles in North Hill Village Hall car park which use valuable space when the village hall is busy, thus preventing less able bodied members of the parish from being able to park in the car park. The clerk was asked to look at alternative methods of attempting to secure the removal of these vehicles following a response from Cornwall Council to state that they are unable to act at this time.

An update of the latest cemetery meeting was given and the successful tender has now been informed, however without securing additional funding North Hill Parish Council are unable to proceed with the road to the cemetery at this time. Finally, the findings of the internal audit report and figures for the Annual Governance Statement were considered and agreed with a date for commencement of the period of exercise of public rights for June 2, 2026.

The next monthly meeting is due to take place on Tuesday, May 5, at North Hill Village Hall. Members of the public are always welcome to attend, your thoughts and comments are always welcome.