How can you tell if anyone has visited the village website? You couldn’t – until now.

The secret is to examine your friends and neighbours carefully. If their heads are a bit wobbly and they have an awful crick in their necks, then you can be sure they have been looking at our website pictures.

All will be revealed if you have a look at this month’s albums. I say no more - except to admit that it is my fault not Rob’s!

Perhaps this peculiar trait will become a secret recognition signal a la Freemasons.

Enough of that! Pete, our retiring (in one sense only) website editor, some years ago not only had the initiative and drive to set up the village website but also the tenacity to maintain and develop it to its current sophisticated state. It was somewhat poignant therefore to see in the final entry of the ‘Latest News’ section of the October edition of the village website, the words: ‘..The End’.

It is an end. Though it could be a beginning. But then why does it have to be one or the other? Perhaps it is a three quarters of a beginning, or even a one third of an end.

Whatever it is, Pete has set high standards and it may take us a while to regain them but in the meantime we all wish Pete and Carol and their family and their four legged friends great happiness in France. Au revoir!

The immediate aim is to keep the website up and running and to get used to the whole idea. Please keep your contributions coming in. One of the strengths of a website is that we can publish your reports, announcements and any other information without having to remove anything to make room for it. There is space for it all, and visitors to the site can easily pick and choose those entries that interest them.

This month is something of a photographic month and includes pictures of events that took place a few months ago but missed the website, such as the Flower Festival at South Tawton; the Kings Brawlers visit to Fingle Bridge; various Morris engagements; and the South Zeal Players pub tour. More recent events are the Harvest Lunch at the Victory Hall; the Pram Race; the Apple Picking and Pressing and the South Zeal Carnival.

There are an awful lot of pictures I fear!

Perhaps I may urge you in terms with which you will be very familiar: if you have any photos or reports or anything else, please send them to us and we will do our best to get them on to the site. You can contact us at rob@herridge.co.uk and robintilley@tiscali.co.uk

Cricked neck remedies will be posted next month.

Robin.