FRIENDS of The Wharf organised a day event on June 15 which included a talk about Dartmoor's moss gatherers and a walk in Wistman's Wood near Two Bridges.

Dr Ann Pulsford led the talk, in which an audience of 60 people learnt about the local Dartmoor moss collectors at Mary Tavy, Princetown, Okehampton and Widecombe during World War One for use in wound dressings.

Later in the day, Simon Dell, secretary of Tavistock Subscription Library and a popular, local speaker and fundraiser, led a walk with 28 participants to Wistman's Wood which is home to a range of different moss species. The wood is one of only three remote, high altitude oak woods on Dartmoor, It lies in the valley of the West Dart River near Two Bridges.

The wood has been the inspiration for numerous artists, poets, photographers and appears in hundreds of nineteenth century accounts. It is described in detail and discussed as a point of great interest in The Tree, a 1978 essay on naturalism by English novelist John Fowles.

A total of £200 was collected from participants who took part in the walk and talk which will be donated to Shelterbox in aid of the Nepal earthquake.