with Gordon Waterhouse & Bryan Ashby
Tuesdays:
13 November - 11 December 2012
2 - 4pm
Cost: 25 (max 30 places)
This course is now full
Who is it for?
Anyone interested in natural history or the Isles of Scilly.
No skills needed - any level of expertise or none is welcome.
By the end of the course you should have:
*enjoyed the experience
*know more about the plants and animals of the islands
*know something of the remarkable human story of their history
*have the information to book and plan your own holiday to Scilly.
The course
The course is centred around a selection of Bryan’s beautiful slides
with Gordon giving a commentary and encouraging discussion as we expore the islands.
Each week we will explore a different island
and hear of some of the people who have influenced the islands’ story.
There will be hand-outs giving information and books to borrow.
Week 1: How to get there?
We travel by sea and air and explore St Mary’s, the main island. Mary Wilson’s poems.
Week 2: The Western Rocks, Bishop Rock Lighthouse and a day on St Agnes.
Adventures of “A Scilly Birdman” - David Hunt.
Week 3:Maen a Vaur, Round Island and a day on St Martins.
Tales of Hilda Quick, Will Wagstaff and Rosemary Parslow.
Week 4: Walls and fields and a day on Tresco.
The story of the ‘Emperor of Scilly’ and his dynasty.
Week 5: A day on Bryer - to Hell Bay and back. Michael Morpurgo’s love of Scilly.
Return to St Mary’s for archaeology and to see the sun that never sets.
Your Tutors
Bryan Ashby trained as a photographer in London,
part of his apprenticeship involved
being hoisted in a crane to get aerial views of the 1951 Festival of Britain.
He came down and worked as a mate on ‘Hoshi and Provident’
for the Island Cruising Club where he met Jane.
His first visit to the Isles of Scilly was at the wheel of Hoshi,
sailing down the narrow channel between Bryer and Tresco.
Together Bryan and Jane have raised a faimly of three boys;
the youngest born by lamplight in their cottage near Slapton.
They ran a photographic business in Dartmouth and then Kingsbridge until their retirement.
Bryan has been a natural history photographer for many years and has a wonderful collection of slides.
He and Gordon enjoy giving talks to all types of groups.
For over ten years they ran a family naturalists course, for children and adults at Slapton Field Centre.
Gordon Waterhouse was a primary school teacher in the South Hams.
He and Barbara came to Kingsbridge with their young family in 1971.
He has always had a passion for natural history
and does a monthly bird count
on the Kingsbridge Estuary and clearance work at Andrew’s Wood.
Gordon wrote the Nature Diary column for the Kingsbridge Gazette for 10 years,
he now shares this with a team of writers.
He has written books on the Wildlife of the Kingsbridge Estuary,
The Birds and Natural History of the South Hams, Wildlife Walks, A South Hams Nature Diary
and Seashore Life, usually with Bryan supplying the photography.
Since retirement. he has led evening classes on Natural History
with Bryan showing the slides and keeping him in order! |
