A social event where visitors and guests are welcome and refreshment will be available. George Brendon will talk to us about his new book about 'West Country Wrestling', describing the rise and fall of a regional obsession in the 1820s. In the centre are two legendary regional figures from Cornwall and Devon, with Abraham Cann living for much of his life in Exeter. The talk provides glimpses of the raw, atmospheric world of C19 sports - a time of crowded taverns, smugglers, shipwrecks and fierce country pride.

Rose Swift offered to lead a walk through Upper Pennsylvania. It will start on Stoke Valley Road, walk behind this road along a path to admire the surrounding countryside, follow the Northbrook at the bottom, enter the Mincinglake Valley Park to view the recent wildfire devastation and end on the local community cafe on Collins Road. The K bus service can bring you to the starting point and back on your return to the city. There is also free parking along Stoke Valley Road.

Please note that this replaces our usual monthly meeting at the Mint Methodist church. It is being held in Positive Light Projects, the spacious Exeter Phoenix gallery opposite John Lewis, as this is at the heart of the area covered by the booklet, a revision to the previous Discovering Exeter no. 5.

Do you wonder how our city centre around the former bus station will look like in a few years' time? Do you have views, want to discuss them and feed them into a public debate about the redevelopment of this central area in the city? The Civic Society's wants to start a conversation about how to develop what the emerging Exeter Plan calls 'East Gate', seen as a new vibrant quarter of the city. The area extends from Sidwell Street to Denmark Road and Cheeke Street to Dixs Field, with several sites allocated for changes - see the plan in the text below. We want to collect and discuss views from local businesses and residents, to councillors, organisations and users of the area. It there is appetite from locals and the public to engage, this event will be the start of a joint journey to promote a grassroots' vision alongside the City Council's strategy expected in October 2026. So come and join the project on 17 October!

A social event where visitors and guests are welcome and refreshment will be available. Prof Clark, University of Exeter, will talk about recent developments which meant that the Priory was facing increased costs to preserve the structure of the building and maintain its function in Exeter's cultural landscape. This all happened in a major change in government funding for historic places like this. As chair of the charity behind St. Nicholas James Clark can provide first-hand expertise which will be of interest behind the case confines of this important building.

Laurie Fentiman and Angela Goddard who wrote our recently published 'Discovering Exeter' booklet on this area will lead aur walk. So we have a chance to ask questions and get expert answers on what will be more than doing the walk in the booklet on your own. Even if you done the walks there, doing it in company will add a new dimension. You might know that Countess Wear has a fascinating social and industrial history from the medieval period right up to today.

Alex Adams from the University of Exeter Grounds Team will lead a walk through the University grounds, highlighting the amazing collection of trees they hold. As you may know there have been changes due to new buildings having been erected. Alex will talk about how nature diversity and green spaces have been maintained on campus and are looked after. The grounds and gardens of the University of Exeter’s Streatham Campus have been awarded the title of Accredited Botanic Garden by Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) in July 2025. We will look at the original plantings around Reed Hall that are now champion trees first and then meander our way through the campus to Taddiford valley. Sturdy footwear is recommended, though we will try and keep to the paths, but the campus can be quite a uphill workout at times. Alex will try and keep us heading down hill for the majority of the walk.

Kitty Vega will talk about the ISCA Collection, the work of Henry Wykes, and efforts to preserve this collection by Peter Thomas and now the South West Heritage Trust. Join Kitty, a project manager specialising in heritage collections and a current PhD student at the University of Exeter, to uncover Exeter’s past through the remarkable ISCA Photographic Collection - one of the city’s most significant visual archives.

Diana Taylor will guide our walk in Junew. We will start outside Waitrose where the Heavitree workhouse used to be. We will then proceed up to Polsloe Road mainly down the main street, veering off to the Heavitree Church area. There are a lot of historic places in Heavitree and the walk will be focusing on these.

Naome Glanville, the Arts and Culture Co-ordinator at the University of Exeter, will speak to us about the University's Art Collection, including some Exeter/Devon artworks in her talk.

Following our meetings with businesses, local residents and local Councillors, Exeter Civic Society together with InExeter and Citizen Architects (trading name of Fabrica Architecture Ltd) will present the latest suggestions for the improvement of this important street in Exeter. For the Open Day we were invited to use the Devon Ukranian Association premises, which opened earlier this year in North Street. The Open Day follows a Charette meeting with experts to be held on 10 June and will present the results from that workshop. We hope the Open Day will attract your attention, whether you are local to the area, have your business there or are just generally interested to see one of the oldest streets in Exeter which, we feel, has been a bit neglected for decades being improved. Bring your ideas, discuss them with us - and hopefully this will set some decision taking wheels spinning.

Our Saturday meeting in May will be an afternoon social event at St Thomas church from 14.00 which will include a talk and tour of the church. We will have a buffet tea for which there will be a small charge. We did hope to use the church hall but that is now not available. Access to the church is via Cowick Street where you can get many busses stopping either at St Thomas station or opposite the Sawyers Pub near Vicarage Road. There may be some on-street car parking and it is possible to park in the Cowick Street shopping centre for a fee. If you wish to attend can you confirm to Keith Lewis by email to help us plan the catering (keithatecs@gmail.com) .