THE Mary Tavy Jubilee Group, a charitable trust which was set up to enhance community spirit and the environment in the parish, is making plans for the future as well as looking back at Mary Tavy's rich history.

The next event of the Jubilee Group, next Thursday, is an open meeting for members of the community to help sort photographs, stories and other items of history which have been donated to the group by Gerry Sargent, a local historian who moved away from the village a few years ago. The Gerry Sargent Collection includes some unique items such as the hand-written War Book which details resources which might be called upon in emergency, such as a list of who has stirrup pumps and who is responsible for food distribution.

Another treasure of the collection is the Buller's Sale catalogue from 1891, when much of the village was sold in 99 lots over two days; the catalogue is bound in marbled paper and has some beautiful fold-out maps.

A spokesperson for the group said: 'More important for the meeting are the photographs of people, places and mining which need to be sorted ready for cataloguing, and we hope someone may be able to put names to faces and places, and possibly some dates.'

Thanks to the Tavistock Local History Society, the group also has copies of the Jim Thorington photographs of Mary Tavy which were taken for the Times between the 1960s and 1990s, and again many of these need names added to them.

The meeting of the Jubilee History Group is on Thursday, November 22 at 7.30pm in the Methodist Chapel Hall.

The Jubilee Group will be creating a virtual museum on their website, allowing everyone to have access to all the history.

The spokesperson said: 'It's all about sharing — there's no point having this wonderful resource unless it can be used to benefit the community.'

The most recent event organised by the jubilee group was the Mary Tavy Bonfire Night — which was such a success that plans are already being made to turn this into an annual event. With around 300 people, activities, food and drink and other stalls, the free event brought the community together. The Guy competition was populated by all sorts of characters from a baby Guy to a Mrs Guy and even a tiger. The community voted a highwayman Guy by Emma Hunter and Jess Parry as the winner, which then led the procession to the bonfire where all were set ablaze. As well as Guys, local children carved pumpkins which helped to light the route to the bonfire. The firework display was a magnificent ending to a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

The Jubilee Group can be contacted on 0845 5193 812, [email protected]">[email protected], or visit the website http://www.mtjubileegroup.co.uk">www.mtjubileegroup.co.uk.