IT IS often said by people of a 'certain age', that community life — the interaction, bonhomie and mutual respect of folk in a town or village — is no more.

This could be true of some larger places, but many villages still retain strong bonds between the residents, people aware of what is happening around them and who fully realise that 'man is not an island', but part of a broad fellowship of humanity.

The parish of Calstock needs no lessons in the fostering of community spirit, a factor which comes forth most clearly in 'Voices of Calstock Parish — High Days and Holy Days.'

For in this fascinating publication there are over 70 'voices' — memories and places — of men and women from this large parish, past and present, talking about the working, family and social lives of four or five generations of local people from the early 1900s through to quite recent times; the constant thread is the sense of fraternity which has prevailed across this quite populous local community, the bulk of whom live in the villages of Calstock and Gunnislake.

The book begins with pen pictures of the folk who provide the voices, then moves on into sections dealing with a wide range of activities in which people of the parish would have engaged.

There is a very relevant part devoted to church and chapel, the heading of which points out that most social events, as well as the 'spiritual sustenance' of folk from Victorian times until the second half of the 20th century was provided through places of worship — in the non-comformist Tamar Valley, chapels being more numerous and important than Anglican churches.

There are some wonderful reminiscences regarding Sunday Schools, choirs and 'compulsory' church attendance with numerous photos of groups of villagers who attended, of some of the chapels which accommodated them — and a particularly evocative one of the Calstock 'Band of Hope', taken in the 1930s.

Most Sunday schools and often church congregations would have gone on an annual summer 'outing' — as would many other village organisations — which has a chapter, most illuminating, of its own; the pictures here are a delight with people often upstaged by sturdy coaches and the magnificent open topped, solid-tyred charabancs of the 1920s (which, one imagines, were better to look at than ride in).

Music, also, played a major role in the villages, especially before the war, with several brass bands in the parish, generally of high quality and rarely struggling to recruit talented performers. Choirs were many — male, female, and children's — the chapel and church influence once more coming to the fore.

Possibly the largest chapter is devoted to sport — something which has long been important to the life of the parish, but which probably had even greater relevance during the first 50 or 60 years of the last century than it does now.

For, with transport being more restricted then — along with the means to pay for it — the football and cricket teams which took to the pitches in East Cornwall were made up virtually of local men and lads. This created an even tighter bond within villages and meant that local derbies (and there were many, in both sports, with St Anns Chapel, Harrowbarrow, Latchley, Chilsworthy, even Dimson, fielding teams) were very often fiercely contested and, in football assuredly not for the faint hearted.

There are so many elements which make this a publication to treasure.

It has a most satisfying, attractive look to it, with in excess of a hundred photographs of a diverse range of folk who lived in Calstock parish during the 20th century. Its major allure though, lies with the voices, local men and women of vastly varying experiences, lifestyles and interests, recounting simply, and usually briefly, the lives they lived, and the ways of the world in which they lived.

Those dedicated, hard working people of Calstock Parish Archive Trust merit congratulations and thanks for creating a record so vivid, it will captivate contemporary readers and provide rich historical material for future generations.

'Voices of Calstock Parish — High Days and Holy Days', compiled and published by Calstock Parish Archive Trust, priced £10.

It is available at Bookstop, Tavistock, Tamar Valley Butchers, Gunnislake and at the Parish Archive at the Drakewells Centre, Drakewells, Gunnislake — or contact Lynda Harman on 01579 351413 or visit http://www.calstockhistory.org.uk">www.calstockhistory.org.uk

Ted Sherrell