Category Archives: People

South Hill Remembers W. N. Stephens


Private William Nicholas Stephens Aged 28 The Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry

Born 1888 son of Stephen and Harriet Stephens, of 1 Pear Tree Row, Callington.

(Pear tree bungalows Well Street.)

Died: Monday 18 September 1916 (aged 28)

ETAPLES MILITARY CEMETERY, PAS DE CALAIS, FRANCE

Enlisted at Dartmouth, Devon

Died of wounds, Flanders, Interred Etaples Military Cemetery, France

Parish War Memorial and Callington War Memorial

Callington – Cornwall War History (cornwallfhs.com)

BROTHER Maurice also fell Born 1892 died 27 May 1919 Aged 27

1st/5th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment,

interred Cologne Southern Cemetery, Germany.

Callington War Book
Callington Book

South Hill Remembers J.G. Doney


Private John Garfield Doney The London Regiment. Son of William & Martha Doney, Wagmuggle. (Enlisted Liskeard Formerly 24375, 9th D.C.L.I.)

Life story: John Garfield Doney | Lives of the First World War (iwm.org.uk)

SIBLING: Emma Doney Born 1888

SIBLING: William E Doney  Born 1893

John Garfield Born  South Hill, Cornwall APRIL 1895

EMPLOYMENT: Waggoner St Ive 2nd APRIL 1901

Living: St Ive, their own address 2nd APRIL 1911

SERVICE: British Army Private

  • Served in both the D.C.L.I. (service number: 24375) and then Private 6390 the London Regiment, 1st/7th (City of London) Battalion.
  • Died whilst serving in the London Regiment on 15/9/1916

Sources: https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/1668383

Killed in Action Flanders, France Source:7337738Source:1668383 15th Sep 1916 aged 21

Head stone inscription Golberdon

In loving memory of William Doney
the beloved husband of Martha
who died at Wagmuggle South Hill

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Queen Elizabeth II 1926 – 2022


1926: Princess Elizabeth was born on April 21, at 17 Bruton St, Mayfair, London, and christened on May 29 that year in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace, her full name being Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor. The first child of The Duke and Duchess of York, who later became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

1933: Her lifelong love of corgis began with “Dookie”, the first corgi owned by her family.

1936: At 10-years-old, Elizabeth became heir apparent when her uncle, Edward VIII, abdicated on Dec. 11, and her father became King George VI. She was 10 years old.

1940: The 14-year-old Elizabeth made her first radio broadcast during the BBC’s Children’s Hour addressing other children who had been evacuated from the cities.

1942: The Princess’s first public engagement. She inspects the soldiers of the Grenadier Guards on her 16th birthday. During the Second World War she served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. At the end of the war in Europe, on Victory in Europe Day, Elizabeth and her sister Margaret mingled incognito with the celebrating crowds in the streets of London. Elizabeth later said in a rare interview, “We asked my parents if we could go out and see for ourselves. I remember we were terrified of being recognised … I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, all of us just swept along on a tide of happiness and relief.”

1947: Elizabeth marries Royal Navy lieutenant, Philip Mountbatten, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, at Westminster Abbey on November 20. They met at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth she was 21 when their engagement was officially announced on 9 July

1948: Prince Charles is born at Buckingham Palace.

1949: Princess Elizabeth visits Callington (photo below)

1950: Princess Anne is born at Clarence House.

1952: Queen Elizabeth II ascends to the throne after the death of her father. She is in Kenya on a royal tour when she receives the news.

1953: Aged 27, she is crowned on June 2 at Westminster Abbey, the first ever coronation to be televised. When she ascended the throne, Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong and Harry Truman were leading the Soviet Union, China and the United States, while Winston Churchill was the British prime minister.

1960: Prince Andrew is born at Buckingham Palace.

1964: Prince Edward is born at Buckingham Palace.

1977: The Queen celebrates her Silver Jubilee, marking 25 years on the throne.

1981: Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

On September 14, shots are fired as the Queen participates in the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony. It turns out they were blanks, fired by a teenager.

1982: Prince William is born and is next in line to the throne following his father the Prince of Wales. On 9 July, In a serious lapse of security, she is woken by an intruder, Michael Fagan, who is in her bedroom at Buckingham Palace.

1987: The involvement of younger members of the royal family in the charity game show It’s a Royal Knockout …

1989: The unmasking of Anthony Blunt, former Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures, as a communist spy; AND the assassination of her relative Lord Mountbatten by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.

1992: The Queen’s son Prince Andrew and his wife Sarah separate, her daughter Princess Anne divorces her husband Capt. Mark Philips, her heir Prince Charles formally separates from his wife Diana, and a significant portion of Windsor Castle is destroyed by fire. At the end of the year, Elizabeth sued The Sun newspaper for breach of copyright when it published the text of her annual Christmas message two days before it was broadcast. The newspaper was forced to pay her legal fees and donated £200,000 to charity.

1997: Princess Diana is killed in a car crash in Paris, alongside Dodi Al-Fayed.

1999: The Queen opens the newly-created National Assembly for Wales and the Scottish Parliament.

2002: The Queen marks her Golden Jubilee, with 50 years spent on the throne.

Her sister Margaret, dies in February and the Queen Mother just over a month later, aged 101.

2005: Prince Charles marries Camilla Parker Bowles.

2007: The Queen and Prince Philip celebrate their Diamond wedding anniversary.

2011: Prince William marries Kate Middleton in a widely televised ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

2012: The Queen celebrates her Diamond Jubilee, marking 60 years on the throne. She helps stage a stunt jumping from a helicopter alongside Daniel Craig as James Bond for the opening of the London Olympics.

2013: Prince George, 3rd in line to the throne, is born to William and Kate.

2015: The Queen becomes the longest-reigning monarch, surpassing the 63 years that her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria spent on the throne to become the country’s longest-reigning monarch in a line dating back to Norman King William the Conqueror in 1066.

2020: Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle announce their intention to step back from royal duties. They move to Canada and then to America.

2021: Prince Philip died on 9 April after 73 years of marriage, making Elizabeth the first British monarch to reign as a widow or widower since Queen Victoria. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions she sat alone during the funeral service.

2022: She celebrated her Platinum Jubilee – the 70th anniversary of her accession – on Feb. 6 For the Jubilee concert, she took part in a sketch with Paddington Bear, that opened the event outside Buckingham Palace.

On 6 September 2022, she appointed her 15th British prime minister, Liz Truss, at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, the first and only time she did not receive a new prime minister at Buckingham Palace. No other sovereign has seen so many prime ministers. During her reign, there have been 14 U.S. presidents, all of whom she has met bar Lyndon Johnson.

Sept 8th Elizabeth died aged 96 at Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire. Succeeded by her eldest son, Charles III.

Sept 19th State Funeral at Westminster Abbey and burial at Windsor Castle.

She became the first reigning monarch of Australia and New Zealand to visit those nations and started official royal walkabouts in 1970. Her many historic visits and meetings include state visits to China in 1986, Russia in 1994, India in 1997 and the Republic of Ireland in 2011, and meetings with five popes. She toured the Commonwealth and was the most widely travelled head of state. People will remember her for all sorts of reasons, her sense of duty as our Queen, her sense of humour, her garden parties, her issues with her family members and her love of horses and corgis.

South Hill Parish news


April 2024 South Hill Connection Newsletter.

In this edition:

  • Happy Easter enjoy the Egg Hunt, Trail & donkey
  • New council kerbside collection starts
  • Council Housing in the parish
  • Comedy Evening at The Parish Hall
  • St. Sampson’s Open Afternoon
  • Internet, which is the best provider?
  • Seasonal car parking ticket
  • All our local Advertisers here

As well as the on line newsletter we also offer a print copy which can be delivered to you within the parish. We love your feedback and articles email to editor@south-hill  or call Ali on 07305 044049.

You can follow us on our South Hill Parish FACEBOOK Group  Where you can share posts of interest, lost cats and dogs, for sale or wanted items…

THANK YOU, AND ENJOY READING THE NEWSLETTER.

From The Connection Team

Archived newsletters (all of them!)
can be found in our public Google Drive folder – here…

Business advertisers can be found on our Local Business pageSave

45 years service to our Parish Council


When Tom Brewer started as a Parish Councillor, meetings were held in the Sunday School rooms adjoining the old chapel in Golberdon, now named Batts Chapel, as there was no parish hall. Tom helped with the construction and fund raising of the current parish hall.

More recently Tom had the responsibility of regular safety checks of the play area equipment and instigated the alteration of the safety barrier so children now face oncoming traffic when leaving the park onto the road.

He requested a bench be put at the top of the recreation field so people could enjoy the fabulous views and proposed that wildflowers be planted alongside the far edge of the football field.  He also campaigned to improve parking and reduce speeding through our parish villages and was always asking for updates on the state of our drains and road surfaces.

At the Parish Council meeting on December 22nd, a special Thank You was given to retired Cllr. TOM BREWER for his service to the community over the 45 years he served as a parish councillor.   Tom was accompanied by his daughter Elaine, as our P.C. Chair Dennis Hicks unveiled an inscribed plaque displayed in the Parish Hall meeting room.  Tom joked and gave a few words of wisdom and advice to the new councillors present, instilling a sense of commitment and to have fun. He smiled as he said he wasn’t always in favour of decisions that have been made. 

Tom Brewer


Tom was married to his beloved wife Ann for 58 years. Ann was the niece of boxer Len Harvey, a national sporting idol. Their son Andrew lives in Tavistock and daughter Elaine still lives locally in Golberdon.

Tom is pictured below assisting Ley Daniel (South Hill Parish Chairman), Fern Friend and Les Hambley, Tom Brewer and one other, with the construction of The South Hill Parish Hall, which was established by an Order of the Secretary of State in 1965.

Fund raising from people of modest means via Whist and Beetle Drives meant that construction took a long time, as shown by the ivy growing on the structure.  Prior to and during this time Parish matters were discussed in the Sunday School of The Chapel in Golberdon. Tom’s unbroken service on The South Hill Parish Council exceeds 50 years and whilst he remembers Golberdon being a very tidy and clean place, with well-kept gardens, hedges and verges in his youth, he accepts that growth and infill of property amongst the original properties was a necessity.

Tom’s unwavering commitment to others is demonstrable in many ways. He gave up smoking his beloved pipe on the spot 16 years ago, when his son asked him not to blow smoke in his grandsons’ face. Years earlier he was part of the fund-raising efforts for the bereaved families of the Aberfan disaster and remembers The White Aces band came all the way from St. Austell to play. In recent years Tom has served by checking the Parish Hall children’s play area every day since its installation. He championed the alteration of the parks metal safety barrier onto the road, so that children leaving the park faced the oncoming traffic rather than away from it. The wildflower area, soon to be installed by The Parish Council was Toms’ idea, as was the bench within it that will benefit from a magnificent view of Caradon Hill.

Renowned and respected for his patience and compassion for both the animals he dispatched and for their often distraught owners, Tom travelled over 1000 miles a week working as a slaughterman. He recalls his first horse to dispatch was a large dray at Courage brewery, so tall in fact that Tom had to climb onto a beer barrel. He served the local hunts and attended the point to points of Spooners, Lamerton, Bolventor, East Cornwall and Tedcott hunts. Tom recalls the BSE (1980 – 1990) and Foot and Mouth (2001) outbreaks as being hugely traumatic for all involved, with millions of animals slaughtered.

Tom prefers to focus instead on the many animals he has saved over the years, one a horse, which survived for a further 6 years, and another, a heifer, for 18 months, following his advice to treat instead.

Tom’s eyes dance with merriment as he recalls the numerous bottles of whiskey bestowed upon him over the 55 years he served the Cornish and Devonian communities. Tom drinks whiskey, and always accepted it graciously. He remembers teaching young ladies, who were studying to become vets at Duchy College, about horse anatomy. Their gratitude was such that they bought him a fabulous statue for his retirement. Toms recalls that his leaving party at Duchy College was attended by over 50 guests, who of course brought him more whiskey. Nowadays Tom enjoys relaxing in his bright, sunny lounge reading the daily paper from PaperPhil. He loves to travel and is an avid fan of coach tours to Scotland. His warm personality draws others to him and his many friends clamour to meet up with him again on a trip at Christmas and next July, and of course Tom has readily agreed.

Halloween Pumpkin Competition


A pumpkin competition was organised for Halloween by Jemma Hames (Jem’s Book Shop). There was a wonderful response all around the parish, and prizes were donated by Meaders Cabinet Works, Helen at the Chutney Shed, Astrid Fischer, Eversfield Organics, Callington Tesco and Jem Books.

Photos were submitted to Facebook and in the end they were all so good that everybody had a prize!