Dawlish News

Bryan Weston has interviewed people who lived in the village of Holcombe between 1900 and 1960. His new book, called Captured In Time - Memories Of A Devon Village, recounts the rural ways before 1965 when large-scale housing development trebled Holcombe's size and population.

Mr Weston, 67, who has lived in Holcombe for the last 23 years, penned a book on the early history of the village called 1,000 Years Of Holcombe, and was then planning to retire from writing.

But he received three telephone calls from old villagers, telling him how much they enjoyed reading his book and this encouraged him to return to his word processor.

He said: "The calls sparked off the idea that these elderly people would have interesting stories to tell. Each year, some familiar faces shuffle off this mortal coil, taking with them their memories of how life was lived. There was no record of the old village of Holcombe village life before this book.

"The book has a theme which is the story of change. I don't think anywhere was able to stand still in the last century.

"The book relates to Holcombe, but it could be about almost any Devon village."