Heritage Open Day this year took place on a gloriously warm autumn Saturday, a very welcome change from the cooler, damper days we  all experienced the week before. 

Clever planning meant it coincided with the farmers’ market and the end of the popular Jazz and Blues Festival’s long weekend.  The Norris Museum recorded a record 800+ visitors to their Muddy Hoard Exhibition, with similar numbers visiting the Holt Island nature reserve.  As a result, there were few spare seats in any of the town’s many hostelries and restaurants!

HOD has been a popular event over the years for visitors and resident alike, so to show our appreciation to the venues who agreed to open their doors and the volunteers who made it happen, this year we decided this year to award Thank You Certificates from HOD and the Civic Society jointly.

They were presented by Christine Phillpotts, Civic Chair (far left in the photo) to:
(Left to Right)  Ellen Kemp for The Sacred Heart church, Claire Hardy for the Norris Museum, Martin Collier for All Saints Parish Church, Gordon Cox for the Masonic Lodge, Jill Burt for Holt Island, HOD organiser Jane Amaral, and Mary Gatehouse for the Methodist Church.

St Ives had already had a busy month with residents and visitors attracted to the opening of the elegant, new commemorative queen Elizabeth Bandstand accompanied by the music of the Thorndown School Choir, The Over Community Singers & Drummers, The Lightwaves, and Split Whiskers. More recently, too, the town was energised by all the fun and excitement of the annual fair.

Help us keep HODs going from strength to strength by helping find new venues to visit, and new volunteers to keep it going.  There is so much more to see!

Christine