Good work today, the lower deck of the Mayflower is now taking shape.

Drone photos.

On Mayfair day 3 brave women from the Black Horse Inn had their heads shaved for 2 worthy charities. They aimed to raise £5,000 to be shared equally between the Great Torrington Cavaliers and Macmillan Cancer Support.

Before our monthly meeting on Thursday 7th June, Bev, Jane and Payton presented us with a cheque for £5307 being half of the £10,614 raised. What an amazing result and Thank you so much for the donation, we are all very proud of you.

Photos courtesy of Dave Sanders - davespix.co.uk

Openreach visited site this week and drilled the 3 holes that will take the 80ft masts of the Mayflower. Thank you to the operators, Danny Stewart and Rob Puig and their manager Dave Brown for arranging this.

It was necessary to drill these rather than use a digger because the ground around them will be more solid to support the masts. we can now begin to work on the structure of the ship.

Some photos of Saturday 14th April 2018 (courtesy of Davespix and Andy Davey Photography)  including 3 aerial photographs.

Thanks to our supporters so far!

This has been posted on the Mayflower 400 website (News & Blog) today.

Torrington Cavaliers Get Going

By Tom Cox

Apr 13, 2018

The Great Torrington Cavaliers, holders of the “Queens Award for Voluntary Service” have started the build of their bonfire spectacular to be burnt on Saturday 29th August 2020 as part of the Mayflower 400 commemoration; this also marks the 50th anniversary of the Cavaliers.

It was due to an invite from the Lord Mayor of Plymouth to attend the 350th anniversary of the Mayflower's journey in 1970 that lead to the Great Torrington Cavaliers formation with the motto “Let’s put on events the like of which Torrington has never seen before!”. The 2020 event will be the most spectacular event that they have embarked on to commemorate both dates in history.

Their build couldn't go ahead without the support of businesses and partners from across the region. The Cavaliers would therefore like to highlight the contribution of the organisations and individuals who have helped them to date:

This days working party was not scheduled, but called at the last minute. It was again wet and cold but the boys did good again.

Some trees were cut to the required lengths, moved to their required location and holes dug for them. Next week we will have a digger on site to dig the bigger holes and install some of the trees moved today. 

View a video taken by Kevin Marchant

Today was day 1 of the build, it was cold and pouring down but the lads still turned out!

1 party went to pick up the trees donated by RHS Rosemoor and shifted by RJ Williams Transport. The second party setup the security fencing of th site.

Here are some photos courtesy of Davespix and Andy Davey Photography:

We held our Authorities presentation meeting Friday 16th March 2018. This heralds the process to leading to the build start. It was a very successful meeting when we advise those concerned of what we are planning and what we consider is required to move things forward.

It was attended by members from the following organisations:

Fire Service
Police
Torridge District Council
Great Torrington Town Council
Great Torrington Commons Conservators

We have to thank all the above for they input and:

The Green Lantern for providing the drink FOC and the cakes / biscuits.
The Mayor, Sue Mills, for agreeing to pay the cakes / biscuits.
Great Torrington Town and Lands Charity for the use of the meeting room and projector.

Onwards now for the official build start, date TBC.

This is our President Roger Davies sign writing the Mayflower 2020 bonfire sign board to be onsite soon.... keep your eye out he is a very clever man!

We would like to thank Andrew for his kind donation which will help us make the site secure during the build process.

Thank you!