was good to see them there on the opening evening with tremendous affection for the place.’ Both the men’s and ladies’ sections of the association have members all over the UK and abroad including America, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, France and Spain and both keep in touch with Christmas cards. The men also send newsletters with news of Dartmouth. Both groups also have dedicated almoners who visit sick members and widows of former members, often bearing gifts of flowers and chocolates. Each section holds an an- nual reunion during Regatta Friday, which attracts members from across the globe. The men hold a president’s dinner every February and the ladies enjoy an annual Christmas get-together.
Debbie Morris, secretary of the ladies section and also a
former town mayor, said: ‘One of our members who now lives in America comes to our regatta reunion nearly every year. We have up to 100 members attending at times and we enjoy a supper and a sing-along.’ The ladies section is not as affluent as the men’s, with just £2,000 in the bank but still manages to support local causes including a small donation to local young Olympic Torchbearer, Georgia Lock, to enable her to buy the torch she carried through Dartmouth’s streets. Debbie, of Stoke Fleming, said: ‘We are not a wildly active group, our primary aim is to keep Dartmouth people in contact with each other. ‘
Residents only need to have lived in the town for five years to join the ladies section, said Debbie. ‘We recently knocked it down to five years to attract new members. We have quite a few members who are not Dartmouth born and they are all very welcome.’ Although not a political group, Richard said members do have strong views about events in the town. ‘We keep in touch with our members all over the world and sometimes we get strong views back from them about what they think ought to be done in the town. There is huge affection for Dartmouth from people who were born here or who have spent time here.
‘At our meetings there are usually split views about things but they are all aired in a friendly way.
If we can
agree an action consensus we do write letters about things we think need to be done.’ Twice a year the men’s and ladies’ section enjoy a social evening together. Both Richard and Debbie hope the two groups will permanently unite at some stage. Richard said: ‘My vision is I hope one day the ladies and gents will join together although I’m not quite sure they ever will. It just seems we could join the strengths of the two groups when we have all got the same affection for the town. But there is mixed feelings about it and some prefer to leave it as it is.’ Debbie said: ‘We have suggested merging with the men, but a lot of the single ladies and widows feel they would be left out. I think we do need to modernise the group a little bit, without losing what it’s all about, to attract younger people. ‘•
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mark@bythedart.co.uk Interviews by Ginny Ware
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