Fitz in the community - Ep. 13 - Torbay and Tavistock

Join Fitz as he travels to Torbay to talk to the RNLI about their 200th anniversary, to Tavistock to to learn about to demenia care and to Exeter to understand the world of humanist celebrants.

Listen here, or on Spotify, Amazon or Apple Podcasts.

Fitz in the Community is a podcast attached to this paper and basically does what it ‘says on the tin’. I wander around the county talking to anyone about anything which encapsulates the community in which we live. I usually get wet, as well. Launched every Monday on the website of this paper, we have already taken in celebrities and sausages, birdwatching, and beer. You can listen back to all the podcasts at your leisure and thank you for listening as we know so many of you do.

This week we travel to Brixham where the Torbay Lifeboat is based. This year will see the 200^th anniversary of the RNLI and big celebrations are planned at the beginning of March with a flotilla of lifeboats and a special service. I caught up with Coxswain Richard Fowler and Ian Barnaby, two members of the crew. They showed me around the boathouse, the equipment used and the two boats that are based there. Formed in 1824 it has been estimated that 144,000 lives have been saved by the crews down the centuries. I also spoke to Helen Lovell Smith from the Fisherman’s Mission who does so much for the crew and families of this tight knit community. Keep an eye out for the celebrations in your area for The Royal National Lifeboat Institution. By the way, Ian Barnaby used to be a part of the RNLI crew who patrolled, not the sea, but the Thames. We will ask him how different river patrol is to the choppy waters off Devon.

The dementia conference in The Tower of London featured last week on the podcast but so many Devon based interested parties attended the ‘Enliven’ meeting, that I had to include another dementia care society this week. Lynn Roddy from Home Instead in Tavistock explains what she is doing on three wheels … on Dartmoor? She also gives us an insight into just how hard it is to keep families together and press forward with exceptional care.

Alan Connett is a regional councillor; someone I have known since the age of about 14. We went to school together and in fact sat beside each other in maths … neither of us did very well at that subject! Today he has turned his hand to being a humanist and celebrant and he joined me to explain why he has become the centre of a celebration of so many people’s lives and events. Having lost his father at a very young age, he clearly remembers the service and how very different it is today.

‘I have been asked to read poetry, make people laugh, truly celebrate the life of a loved one,’ said Alan. ‘I now run Devon Celebrants. More and more people are choosing to use an independent Celebrant to conduct life’s important occasions, getting married, naming ceremonies and of course funerals. It is a real pleasure to serve my community.’

Fitz in the Community, a podcast coming to your community … why not get in touch?