Feature

Photo by the late Ivor Hocking - 34066 Spitfire 1115 London Waterloo- Padstow/Bude, 2nd part of the Atlantic Coast Express 29 Aug 1964 (the line closed in 1968)

‘Green Main Line’ for whole South West

In December 2020, new proposals were announced to rebuild the railway through Dartmoor. One of its creators, Andrew Roden, says the benefits for Devon and the wider South West will be transformative.

On January 20, Prime Minister Boris Johnson – prompted by Devon MP Sir Gary Streeter – said that the government’s vaunted ‘levelling up’ agenda also applies to the South West as well as the Midlands and Northern England. Confirmation could not have come soon enough: in large parts of Devon and Cornwall, incomes are low, job opportunities few, access to work and education difficult and local economies dependent on seasonal and part-time jobs. Young people are particularly affected – often unable to afford to buy and run a car, public transport in much of the region is poor, and many journeys for work or education are lengthy if not actually impossible. Better transport is vital, and particularly for an area ranging from Bideford in North Devon down to Launceston, Bude, Wadebridge and Padstow in North Cornwall, and encompassing Okehampton and Tavistock. This is why reinstating the railway from Exeter to Plymouth via Okehampton and Tavistock could be truly transformative for those without cars, for the environment, for tourism, and for freight trains, taking lorries off the roads. It is a topic that has been discussed many times over the years, so far without success, so why is the Tavistock Okehampton Reopening Scheme (TORS) different? Very simply, because it has asked different questions to previous work. Studies have tended to ask whether the route could be justified as a diversion for trains when the coastal main line is closed by bad weather or maintenance – or whether the revenue from a purely local service would justify the costs. The answers to both were, unsurprisingly, negative. Reopening the railway to Okehampton and from Plymouth to Tavistock is also very important, but a through route will amplify the benefits with comparable operating costs. Why can we say that with confidence? Because this time around, a team of experts with experience in consulting and rail operations started with a different question: can the railway be operated in an efficient way likely to generate good revenue? The second question that follows is: how can we maximise the wider benefits? By extending the existing London Waterloo to Exeter service ‘around the top’ to Plymouth, we are confident the answer to the first question is a clear ‘yes’, as journey times will be good and with the ability to get to destinations in London without changing, the revenues will be much higher than a purely local service. The return of a regular service from Okehampton to Exeter has already been confirmed by the government – and an announcement on train times and journey times is expected soon. Under the TORS project, with even faster journey times of around 20 minutes for Exeter-Okehampton and PlymouthTavistock, and about 65 minutes throughout with stops at Okehampton and Tavistock, there is an opportunity to create a truly integrated transport scheme that spreads the benefits over a huge area. How? By express bus links integrated with the railway which can provide faster public transport journey times than ever before, to and from the centre of Exeter to the places mentioned in the first paragraph. Those new links using bus and rail to best effect are true game-changers and the journey time savings, over the best public transport can currently offer, immense. In an extreme case, public transport journeys from Padstow to Exeter will be around three hours faster than at present. The effects for Tavistock and Okehampton will be profound. With extensive development planned in both towns, and

Photo by Andrew Roden - Beautiful but fragile, Meldon Viaduct is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and restoring it for rail use could damage priceless historic material. A sensitively designed new bridge nearby is likely to be needed to protect this important structure and future-proof the reinstated railway. road congestion and car parking getting worse, rail is the only way of getting large numbers of people to and from them sustainably. Connecting bus links into the heart of Dartmoor would also relieve pressure on our vital national park. Then there’s freight. Currently, the viciously steep nature of the coastal main line limits freight train lengths, while the perceived fragility of the main line deters the likes of supermarkets from sending goods by rail. The ‘Northern Route’ is much gentler and less susceptible to bad weather, and the Rail Freight Group is adamant that Devon and Cornwall could see a rail freight renaissance, taking lorries off our main roads to the benefit of everyone. Our region’s only main line would benefit too. As well as increasing the number of trains running between Exeter and Plymouth, this new railway could act as a diversionary route when the main line is closed. That in turn opens the opportunity to speed up the vital coastal resilience programme by allowing longer closures for the work than could possibly be contemplated at the moment. Emissions will be low: this railway should be electrified from the outset, meaning genuinely zero emission transport, given Network Rail’s aim to power all electric trains with renewable or nuclear energy. There are challenges and there will be concerns about the impact of the railway on the environment and on property; about noise and vibration; and about the impact on priceless treasures such as Meldon Viaduct. It is vital that everyone with a view for or against is treated decently, kindly and with respect, so the process would involve detailed studies to define potential routes before presenting the options at a public consultation, followed by a review period to address concerns, and find solutions for areas of difficulty. If the team of experts behind this proposal are right – and we wouldn’t have given months of our time freely for a flight of fancy – this railway will unlock a major regeneration of a huge part of Devon and Cornwall, improving the environment, access to work and education, reducing road congestion and helping our young people to be able to remain in the area they grew up in. For too long, the South West has been the poorest relation in terms of transport investment. For a tiny fraction of the cost of High Speed 2 or Northern Powerhouse Rail, we believe this railway will make more of a difference than any other comparable scheme. If the Prime Minister truly wants to ‘level up’ the South West, we believe this is by far the best transport intervention to achieve that. Increasingly, the region’s MPs are also coming round to that view, led by Geoffrey Cox, and supported by Mel Stride, Scott Mann, Gary Streeter and Johnny Mercer. In our opinion the TORS project simply has to happen.

Andrew Roden, Northern Route Working Group

For more details see northernrouteworkinggroup.wordpress. com or Twitter: @NorthernRouteWG

Ivor Hocking’s Spitfire photo appears in the latest book in Bernard Mills’ railway series. See our history section for a glimpse of the Bere Alston to Okehampton line in former times, courtesy of Bernard’s new book.

Helping to change lives

Last year Lynn Roddy was announced as a finalist for a Lifetime Achievement award in the British Ex-forces In Business Awards.

Lynn is the director of the Tavistock and Tamar Valley branch of Home Instead which she launched in July 2018, to provide care at home for elderly people living in the local area. Just 18 months after opening, Lynn’s care franchise was rated ‘outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission – a level it has continued to achieve and which is only awarded to 4% of care providers. The British Ex-forces In Business Awards is the world’s largest celebration of ex-military in second careers and recognises the value veterans add to businesses. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the award ceremony was postponed and is now due to take place on 19 May 2021. Lynn’s father died when she was young, leaving her mother, Enid, to raise her on her own. Enid was a nurse and at times life was far from straightforward as a single parent. When Lynn left home, she trained at Sandhurst for a year before becoming an officer in the British Army for 15 years, during which time she met her husband Mike who was a Royal Marine. As she came to the end of her time in the army, Mike received a posting to Devon, so the whole family relocated

L i v e W e l l Y o u r W a y

Home Care Service

down here. A few years later though, her mother started to become unwell, suffering forgetful moments and distress, eventually leading to a diagnosis of vascular dementia. The family decided it would be sensible for Enid to move to Devon as well, and so began a demanding journey for both mother and daughter, as Enid battled with dementia and Lynn entered the ‘sandwich generation’, trying to balance the needs of her primary-age children and an aging parent. After a career in healthcare her mother understood the pressures this situation created for her daughter, and although Lynn sought advice,

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Home Instead carer Tracey with a client

the right help didn’t seem to be accessible. Eventually her mother moved into a residential care home where she received excellent care, but communal living was always a challenge for a lady who was fiercely independent and used to her privacy. Just over three years ago Enid passed away. Lynn’s children had moved onto secondary education by this point and she found herself at a crossroads, feeling she had to some extent lost touch with her own identity after so many years of caring for someone else, and she was unsure about what lay next. She came across Home Instead which specialises in providing personalised care packages, enabling elderly people to stay in their own homes. Lynn immediately wished the concept had been available for her mother, but it also prompted an idea – what better use for money her mother had left her, than to invest it in setting up a Home Instead franchise in the Tavistock area.

The Tavistock and Tamar Valley Home Instead is proving very successful, with an ever-growing list of clients and it now employs 80 local staff. Lynn has concentrated on creating a culture of enablement, allowing people to continue living their lives as fully as possible in their own home. The staff are a key element in the process and there is much emphasis on training, as well as ensuring carers feel supported in their roles and that they are a valued member of the team. As a result, there seems to be a recurring theme of staff who go above and beyond to brighten their clients’ lives – such as with a 97-year-old gentleman who described his care package as his ‘hotel service’ and developed such a strong bond with his carer that he felt able to open up and talk about the depression he experienced after losing his wife. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, staff have also administered an invaluable role in keeping families connected with their loved ones, by sharing photos, videos and anecdotes, which have been a real lifeline when visiting was impossible. As I talked to Lynn it was obvious that this is so much more than a business to her, and her host of innovative ideas and attention to detail are exceptional. She believes that maintaining a community base is crucial, so Home Instead has an extremely close connection with Tavistock Memory Café and is heavily involved with the charity Silver Stories, partnering with children from Lamerton and Mount Kelly schools who read stories to Home Instead’s clients. Children from Mount Kelly have also been corresponding with the clients which has proved incredibly rewarding for everyone involved. Last summer, the Home Instead singing group even gave pop-up performances in clients’ gardens; while for Christmas Lynn filmed a tongue-in-cheek video of The Twelve Days of Christmas - which involved her dressing as a milkmaid and her husband posing as a swan in an ice-cold river! This year Home Instead has started working with Memory Matters in Plymouth to set up virtual ‘talking therapy’ groups to encourage cognitive stimulation, and as a trustee of Cycling Without Age, Lynn is also looking forward to some of the clients having a chance to experience a ride on the franchise’s new trio bike.

There seems to be no end to Lynn’s energy – she has run the school PA, Yelverton Cricket Club, Tavistock hockey teams and last year she took on the role of chair of Tavistock Dementia Action Alliance. However, in her current role at Home Instead she has found an incredibly rewarding career in a sector which is only going to increase. Even after 16 years in the army, she feels that now more than ever, she has the opportunity to truly change people’s lives.

Rosemary Best

For more information on Home Instead see homeinstead.co.uk/ tavistock-tamar-valley

Retired policeman, Dave Anning has recently started writing for the Links Food & Drink section, sharing some of his passion for the world of wine.

Dave grew up in Zimbabwe, or Rhodesia as it was then. He thrived on the outdoor life made possible by the year-round, temperate climate, becoming a keen sportsman and often spending his summers helping out with herding cattle. When he was 15 though, his parents saw signs of the difficult times that lay ahead for the country and decided to return to the UK, where Dave’s father had grown up in Exeter. The family had to leave everything behind, including the contents of their bank account. Once they had access to BBC news reports Dave recalls a dawning realisation about the limitations of the Rhodesian news coverage. Rhodesia had provided him with a good education though, and he went on to study art, while maintaining his interest in sport, running the college hockey team, as well as taking up karate when a broken arm prevented him from playing other sports. Sport has continued to play an important part in his life, both as a member of local teams and also as a karate instructor in Tavistock. Dave has also kept up his artistic skills and has a particular talent for creating entertaining cartoons! The Rhodesian police or army had always presented a good career opportunity when he was growing up, so on leaving university, he decided to join the police where he discovered an environment he both enjoyed and gave him scope to use his abilities. He worked his probationary period in Plymouth, before moving to East Cornwall and later Tavistock. Attracted by the architecture of Tavistock and its active community, Dave and his wife Angela settled there over 20 years ago, although they have worked their way through a number of house renovations in the process. Dave followed an interesting and varied career in Devon & Cornwall Police, which included working as custody sergeant in one

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On board the Union Castle emigrating to England 1975 self portrait 1981

of the busiest custody suites in the country, at Charles Cross Police Station; a couple of years in the police press office at Middlemoor Exeter, where he met influential journalists and the Crimewatch team; and 14 years as a sergeant in Tavistock. The Crime and Disorder Act of 1998 brought in a more cohesive way of dealing with disorderly neighbourhoods, involving the police and local authorities, social services, housing associations and mental health teams etc. working closely together to deal with the root cause of problems. Dave took on the role of crime reduction sergeant at Tavistock, which was much more about preventing crime rather than investigating it. By building up contacts and forging good relationships he felt it was possible to make a real difference in a town the size of Tavistock. It wasn’t an easy role though as the crime reduction department had an extremely broad remit, including everything that wasn’t covered by CID and the response teams. For a number of years, he was also the neighbourhood team leader overseeing PCSOs and other neighbourhood officers in Tavistock and Okehampton. After 30 years of service with Devon & Cornwall Police, Dave retired in 2017, providing the opportunity for him to follow new avenues. He has always been fascinated by wine and on a visit to Steevenson Wines following his retirement, Dave discovered that two members of its delivery team were out of action so he volunteered to help out – the chance encounter resulted in a permanent job. Steevenson Wines became Sovereign Wines when Mike McGarry, the former operations manager, purchased the business and there is now a new shop in the warehouse, SW Bottle Shop, which Dave manages. In addition, Dave is studying with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, and has already taken a number of wine exams. He is finding the hands-on role complemented by his increasing knowledge of the subject, totally engrossing. He thoroughly enjoys the chance to guide customers in their wine choices, assisting with food and wine pairings, as well as helping them explore some of the lesser-known wines which are often equal in quality to premium and much more expensive labels.

Rosemary Best

Dave manages SW Bottle Shop, the retail arm of Sovereign Wines www.swbottleshop.co.uk and can be found in the shop most days, surrounded by bottles of his favourite hobby. You are welcome to browse, and he is always happy to talk about anything wine-related. The shop is at the top of the Plymouth Road Industrial Estate in Tavistock (behind Tesco) and is open Monday to Saturday even through lockdown. Trade customers are welcome at Sovereign Wines, the wholesale arm www.sovereignwines.co.uk, and both can be contacted on 01822 616272.

You can read Dave’s wine article in Food & Drink

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