‘It is Saturday 25th October 1975. Outside Providence House. Elizabeth Braund and Rosemary Bird are waiting. At 7.30am the young people begin to arrive. They start to load the three-ton lorry with all the boxes and items of equipment that were not loaded on Friday evening. Lois, from a local youth project arrives at 8am. She has offered to drive a van. There is no sign of Danny. He has offered to drive the truck, and the van is fully loaded, ready to go. Everyone has arrived except Danny and Junior. Junior is a local lad, about fifteen years old, and full of energy – if he arrives. Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Rosemary leave to pick up the rental van. At 9.30, we are ready to go. Junior has arrived, but no Danny. We leave without him. One lorry, one rental van, one Providence white transit.
‘It is an uneventful drive to Stonehenge for the usual stop. Somehow Lois misses us, and it is not until Honiton that we catch up with her, and rendezvous for a late lunch break.
‘At 4.30pm we arrive at Bag Park Manor, Widecombe. Our local friend Sylvia is there to greet us, eyes streaming, as every fire in the house is smoking and the house is thick with smoke-fog.
‘Unloading is quickly done, and things stowed in their rooms. At this point Danny arrives – by train and taxi. This is very much a new day. Perhaps a new era.’
The words of Elizabeth Braund in 1975.
It is Monday 18th August 2025. It is 9.30am outside Providence House. Almost 50 years later. Tracy and Elias, Maria and Val are waiting, and families begin to arrive. There will be 27 people in all, representing family groups. Two minibuses, both lent by friendly partner organisations. No-one is missing and nobody is late, and we are off before 10.30. There is a quiet excitement. Some have been before. For some it is a new adventure. It is the fourth group from Providence House this year, but who can count the number of times loaded minibuses have drawn out of the car park to make their way westwards since that Saturday morning in 1975.
But we are here. Not of course at Bag Park Manor. That was only the beginning. East Shallowford Farm – home until Thursday morning. May God have granted a blessed, harmonious, learning experience.
‘O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast and our eternal home.’
The story goes on. On Monday 15th September a new team member started at Shallowford, Emily, as Volunteer Coordinator to open up new opportunities for us. On Monday 22nd of September, the first of seven weeks of Plymouth primary schools’ visits arrived to take part in a residential farm experience.
50 years may have almost past, but the story goes on.
Robert Musgrave MBE.