The Railway Inn - where our dreams came to fruition
At 6:30 pm, after showers and some spiffing up, we headed out for the Railway Inn. Little did the group know what lie ahead.
We stop on our way to the Railway Inn to show Louise & Chris a quick letterbox
Many months before our departure, I had arranged with Sylvia and Tony Moore, who edit and publish The Dartmoor Catalogue of Clues, to meet with us and present us our Dartmoor 100 Club patches and membership cards. While I was unsure of our chances in reaching that number, they were going to give us honorary memberships.
In a more recent email just before our departure, Sylvia suggested that we meet at the Railway Inn, located in Princetown, which was a popular pub for letterboxers and which had a large back room for private functions as well as many letterboxes. It was then, in that email, that Sylvia asked if we would mind if they included Godfrey Swinscow in the festivites. Godfrey is known in UK letterboxing circles as God [I think as a both shortened version of his full name and also for the important contributions and status at which he is held in UK letterboxing.] When I emailed Sylvia back, asking if Godfrey was THE God of whom I had heard, she delighted in letting me know that he was one in the same! Godfrey is president of the Dartmoor 100 Club and would be handing our our honorary patches and cards! This was too good to be true and Sue and I delighted over the few weeks before our trip just imagining our groups reaction once they discovered this awesome surprise that had been arranged for them.
It was comical to both Sue and I, since we were in the know, to see how dedicated everyone was in getting the registration numbers for each box we found in Dartmoor. Normally, to be included in the Dartmoor 100 Club, you must present proof of the stamps, along with the registration numbers for each of the 100 boxes found before you receive your Dartmoor 100 patch. [The Dartmoor Catalogue of Clues registers boxes for a period of 5 years, at which time, the placers must re-register or the clues will be dropped from the catalogue. While the boxes may exist on the moor, if re-registration is not affected, they drop off of the clue book.] Many of Baker's Dozen had spoken to me during the week, asking what process was involved and would I consider sending 1 letter in for the complete group with our membership fee.
Christopher/CSCM spent a portion of an evening catching everyone up on the correct registration numbers for each of our finds. Sue and I just stole knowing glances at each other; thinking that this was unnecessary but not knowing of a method in which to save them this work without giving away the secret of Tuesday night.
We arrive in the back room of the Railway Inn
When we arrived at the Railway Inn, we checked into the pub and were told that we could use the back room, [Sylvia and Tony Moore had pre-arranged this but our group just looked upon it as a combination of luck and fate.] We then proceeded, with the waitress's permission, to move the tables in a large "U" shaped configuration, so that we could all see one another. When ordering meals in a pub in the UK, the waitress does not come to your table - you must go up to the bar, order your dinner and the waitress then delivers it to your table. As the ordering process began, Judy came into our room and told me that the Moore's were seated at the bar and were looking for me. This was done somewhat clandestine and I don't think many noticed or heard.
Judy, Chris and Louise Donovan, Dave discuss letterboxing theory
I then went into the bar, we introduced each other and they said they would join us after dinner. Tony said that Godfrey was running a little late and would be by shortly. They then told me that Godfrey's wife, Anne Swinscow, would also be joining us. Anne wrote 3 books on UK letterboxing in the early 1980's that are still read today and I had months before included a brief history of Dartmoor letterboxing from one of her books on our website. Expecting that she might not be there, I had brought my 2 Swinscow books for Godfrey to sign - but now I would have the real author's signature.
Butterfly toasts this magical evening
After Sue joined us at the bar, I introduced her to the Moore's, who presented us with an anniversary card and we ordered our meals and headed back to our room.
Mark explains the "surprise"
Once back in the back room, I told the group our reason for being here and that everyone would receive their Dartmoor 100 membership cards and patches that night and they would be presented by Godfrey and his wife, Anne. Early in the week, I found several occassions to praise the accomplishments of Godfrey, so our group knew of him by then. The group was extremely surprised and excited. I also explained that we were to have received honorary membership but since we had reached and well exceeded our 100 finds, we would be receiving the traditional lifetime membership. Sue and I were also excited to learn that Louise and Chris Donovan, like the Baker's Dozen, had also surpassed the magical 100 mark that afternoon!
We enjoy the pub fare and the letterboxing talk
During dinner, I passed around an event stamp that I had carved of Winston Churchill. My reasoning for Churchill, I explained to the group, was that he was a great British statesman and tonight we would be meeting the 2 top UK letterboxing statesmen, as well as Sylvia and Anne.
Anne and Godfrey Swinscow
Godfrey and Anne Swinscow arrived shortly thereafter, introduced by Sylvia Moore. We had just gotten our meals and they asked if they could join us for a meal! That was like Legerdemaine asking me if I would mind receiving another letterboxing clue to place on our website!! They ordered from the bar while we hurriedly changed our "U" shaped table configuration to a square, placing them at the forefront and adding another table for Tony and Sylvia next to our table.
Isn't that 5000 patch a beauty?
Beginning with a brief history of the Dartmoor 100 Club and the origination of its patches, Godfrey entertained and entranced us for a long while - regaling us with his personal letterboxing story, the history of Cranmere Pool and tales from the moor. Many of us asked questions which he was all to happy to answer.
Godfrey told us that his first visit to Cranmere Pool was in 1934 at the age of 10 when, after school, he decided to visit Cranmere Pool. After traveling 12 miles each way and finding the letterbox, he stamped the impression of this historical box onto his hand and shirt sleeve as proof of his visit. When he got home, his mother washed his shirt and made him wash his hands - thus leaving him with no permanent impression of the stamp! The next year, he went back and this time, he told me, he had a proper logbook and recorded it in the more traditional method.
Someone asked if the impression we had made of the Cranmere Pool letterbox that morning was the original stamp. Godfrey told us that the current one in its protective concrete and steel enclosure is third generation. He also went on to explain the tradition of leaving a postcard in the Cranmere Pool letterbox. It seems that there is a tradition that if you leave a postcard, with the image of Cranmere Pool stamped on it, insert your name and address on the postcard and leave postage, that the next visitor is required to mail that postcard at the nearest post office after getting back from Cranmere. God said that postcards had been sent to addresses all around the world, including Russia, Thailand and Australia. Alexis, knowing of this tradition, had left a postcard at Cranmere that morning with enough money to cover postage. After we returned home, she emailed our group with a scanned image of the postcard that they had received at their home in New York on September 27 - a mere 6 days after leaving it.
Anne Swinscow autographs Mark's books
Godfrey went on to tell us that there are 3500 registered letterboxes located on Dartmoor at any given time, spread out at any of the 120 total tors located on the moor. He said originally many of the stamps were hand-carved, but the trend had reversed itself and now the majority of those found are commercially made. While designs may be hand drawn or designed by a letterboxer, they were manufactured by 1 of the several commercial stamp houses that cater to this type of trade. Anne told us that while she was not a letterboxer, she personally designed all of the stamps that Godfrey placed. When I asked how she decided to write a book on letterboxing when she wasn't a boxer, she told us that she did it mostly out of boredom - Godfrey was always out letterboxing and she was home. She decided to take advantage of that time and write a book.
Anne, his wife, also entered the discussion with a humorous aside or comment during the night. This regal lady sat with a smile on her face as she observed all that was occurring. It was such an unexpected surprise to have Anne with us along with Godfrey. Godfrey, who is presently 80 years old, is one if not the oldest living letterboxers in the UK.
The group in the back room at the Railway Inn
Godfrey told us that letterboxing with animals on the moor was a very common thing as it provided exercise for both master and pet. The most unusual letterboxing animal that he had heard of was a woman who letterboxed with her chicken! It was known all over the moor and this chicken was accepted at all of the moor pubs while it's master ate and had a pint. She would visit a pub after a day out letterboxing and remove a large tupperware container, containing food and an egg cup. She would then proceed to fill the egg cup with grain for the chicken, while she proceeded to have her meal. Godfrey said it was the most unusual thing he ever saw. On the moor, if the chicken fell behind, it's mistress would yell out it's name and it would flap it's wings and catch up! God said that after this chicken died, she tried to train other chickens to letterbox with her but to no avail. Seems like a letterboxing chicken only comes around once in a lifetime!
The last story Godfrey told us about was that 25 years ago, as letterboxing blossomed and more and more boxers became aware of the hobby, the Dartmoor National Park Service contacted him and said that they wanted all of the letterboxes removed except 2: Cranmere Pool and Ducks Pool, both preserved and contained in permanent cement structures. The reason for this was due to similar concerns as with our National Park Service - pollution, spoiling or disrupting the ecology, etc. After almost a year of lobbying and explaining, the UK letterboxers pacified and convinced the authorities that letterboxing could continue as a safe pursuit and together developed the
Code of Conduct for letterboxers. Since this code, letterboxing has peacefully coexisted with nature and the Dartmoor National Park Service, thanks to the dedicated efforts of Godfrey, Sylvia and Tony Moore and others.
Sylvia and Tony Moore
Tony and Sylvia sat next to Sue and I and filled us in on many of the other questions we had. This wonderful night was a result of the Moore's commitment to letterboxing and their interest in meeting us. Tony told me that he had some 35,000 letterboxing finds.
Anne and Godfrey present Mark with his 100 patch
After we filled out our membership cards, Godfrey called our names individually and Anne handed us our patch and membership card. Each of us posed for a picture that Bonnie took that night. Unfortunately, she was having trouble with indoor shots and the only picture of that event was one of me [How fortuitous!]
Then it was my turn to make a presentation. Before we left home, I had made arrangements with Randy Hall/Mapsurfer to sign and stamp his personal traveler on 3 of his books that I purchased for the group. I had already presented 1 to Andy Wilkes earlier in the week. I then presented the remaining two - one to Godfrey and Anne Swinscow and the other to Tony and Sylvia Moore's, with the Baker's Dozen's appreciation for creating a magical night that many of us would never forget. [Anne, with a twinkle in her eyes, turned to me later in the evening and said Randy's book was a much nicer looking book than hers. Not to be outdone, I explained that her book dated back to the early 80's and that printing had come a long way since then. She seemed pleased with the answer but still was fascinated in turning the pages and examining the book the rest of the evening.]
Can you think of a better way to spend your 30th wedding anniversary?
It was truly a day and night none of us will ever forget and the culmination of a magical, exciting and wonderful 4 days in Dartmoor - visiting Cranmere Pool and being presented our Dartmoor 100 patches by Anne and Godfrey Swinscow, with Sylvia and Tony Moore looking on like beaming parents. We left the moor the following day as we headed towards London for the second phase of our trip but something told me the moor would never be far from our hearts as we were all infected with the beauty of the land and it's people.
