THE ‘Fairy’ behind the formation of Salcombe History Society is to be celebrated with a series of history pamphlets.

Local history enthusiast Ann Inch, known as ‘Fairy’, was a mine of information about the town and its history before she died early last year after a battle with cancer.

She put forward the idea of a local history society after seeing the enthusiasm generated by the formation of Salcombe Old Yokels and Locals. Ann was one of the first members of Salcombe History Society when it was formed five years ago.

The retiring collection at her funeral service in February raised £757, which established the Ann Inch Memorial Fund. At the Salcombe History Society AGM last month it was unanimously decided that the fund will support the production cost of booklets and pamphlets recording Salcombe’s past, both maritime and farming.

Salcombe History Society chairman, Ken Prowse, told the Gazette: ‘If anyone wanted to know anything about Salcombe or Salcombe people, ‘Fairy’ would know.

‘We’re hoping that locals will come up with ideas for subjects we might cover in this series in her memory. This might include parts of the transcripts of some of the oral history interviews we’ve been doing since the society was set up.

‘Roger Barrett from Salcombe Maritime Museum produces some excellent pamphlets of this type and we would like to do something similar.’

SHS has nearly 200 members and a dedicated headquarters at Quay House in Kingsbridge. The website attracts 150 visitors and more than 2,000 hits a day. Volunteers are currently digitising hundreds of photographs and documents to be displayed on the website which will link up with many other community websites in the area.

Ken continued: ‘The people of Salcombe have close links with villages like Beesands and East Portlemouth, so it’s only natural that we should carry links to their sites and documents about them.

‘A quick survey of locals often shows that people’s mothers or fathers came from these villages or even as far away as Kingsbridge and East Allington!’

After the business part of the Annual General Meeting, Richard Weymouth, whose family has farmed Motherhill Farm for three generations, gave a potted history of the farm illustrated with photos from his family album.

Among the sepia prints were pictures of Devon and Cornwall Longwool Sheep now almost extinct, as well as a photo showing trefoil cutting. The plant was cut to feed horses in the days before the tractor ruled the soil.

‘Richard’s talk was a reminder of how quickly the past can be forgotten,’ said Ken. ‘I suspect few people remember the practice of cutting trefoil. It’s memories and photos like these that we are trying to preserve.

‘Salcombe’s farming history is much less known and recorded than its maritime history and this is something we hope to remedy as a society.’

For more information, visit the SHS website: www.salcombehistorysociety.co.uk