THE Winkleigh Society, the organisation behind the 'Celebrating Winkleigh' calendar and several village projects, has decided to dissolve.

The group produced a special calendar earlier this year to commemorate the village fair's 750th anniversary and celebrate the village through the seasons of the year in pictures.

They publish a quarterly village magazine, 'Distinctly Winkleigh', full of village goings-on, and distribute it to Winkleigh residents free of charge.

The group has also been behind the 'Welcome to Winkleigh' leaflets stocked in local tourist information centres, and funds the Winkleigh Online website.

Chairman of the Winkleigh Society, the Rev Graham Warmington, said: 'Since the group was formed around ten years ago it has outgrown itself. The interest that it initially generated has gradually waned.

'The active committee is now just a handful of people, and it'd be too much to carry on.

'We are hoping though that one of the ideas that could come out of this is the possibility of a new body, not to generate new ideas or create initiatives, but to help independently emerging initiatives.

'The Winkleigh Society has provided stability for projects like the Distinctly Winkleigh magazine to start up, and that is where we see our future.

'Helping out projects, rather than starting them ourselves.'

The group made the decision to dissolve at its December meeting.

At its final meeting on Tuesday February 7, members will discuss the fate of its projects at 7.30pm in Winkleigh Community Centre.