Football

The football pitch is regularly used for a good kick about and league matches

The Ruishton Inn football team who won the Sunday League Division 4 this season, having been promoted after winning Division 5 and the Cup last season.

 

 

 

 

 

Village Hall

It was only in the last 30 years that Ruishton has had a village hall, before then, the old school or pub was used for meetings.

The hall was built in 1979, at a cost of £36000, on land leased from the Parish Council. In those days the village had to find 25% of the cost, 75% was from grants from Somerset County Council and Taunton Deane Borough Council. There was no meeting place in the village once the old school had closed, and all entertainment had to be outside of the village. So planning the hall was difficult not knowing how the hall would be used, but things began to take off, and it was soon realised that we lacked space, and in 1985 an extension was built on land towards the playing field, giving us the committee room, changing room and storage upstairs. The car park was surfaced with tarmac in 1991. The most recent improvement was in 1997 when the new toilets and store room were built and the kitchen refurbished.

 

School

The old school opened in 1861, the new school was built in 1975.

Ruishton School (now called the Bell House) is at the crossroads that marks the centre of the old village, having served many generations of village children since its foundation in 1861. Before 1861, children's education in the village, was conducted by two Dames schools in the village, for a fee of fourpence to sixpence a week, which many parents could not afford. Most of the children attended the Baptist church in the next village, as the fees were only a penny a week.n 1873 a school an inspectors report said it was efficient and there was no deficiency in places available. Village life sometimes effected school activities, for example, in 1889 the school log recorded "Haymaking makes attendance irregular" and in 1891, "School closed as Headmistress wishes to accompany the Choir Outing".

In 1890, the inspectors reported that a single teacher was insufficient so an additional infant teacher was appointed in 1892 (the people of Ruishton always took their time). On September 4th. 1891, school fees were dropped.

On December 31st. 1894, an old man died in Utica, New York, U.S.A. leaving a fortune of millions. This was the Honourable John Thorne. By birth he was a native of Ruishton, by trade, originally a candle maker, but later he made his fortune by land speculation, selling it to the railways at a fantastic profit. He never forgot the village where he grew up, giving a generous charity that benefited the Church, school and children of the village.

In 1903 an unfavourable inspectors report was issued, then in 1906 the Board of Education demanded that things be improved, this was complied with, although at a leisurely pace. The school was later ordered to make more changes in 1910 and received a severe slap on the wrist, when things did not happen quick enough. In 1914 the room was removed from general use and the school was removed from the black list.

Cubs and Scouts

The earliest record of scouting in Ruishton dates from 19 December 1920.

The earliest record of scouting in Ruishton dates from 19 December 1920, when Miss M.E. Whish reported the closing of the 28th Taunton (Ruishton and Henlade) troop because she was leaving the area. In 1921 the vicar of Ruishton, Reverend H.S. Pugh, was involved in an attempt to restart the troop with the School Attendance Officer, Mr Alfred Trimby, as the Scout Master. The new troop became known as 29th Taunton (Ruishton), but it folded the following year.

The next attempt to form a local Scout troop was in 1929. District minutes record a letter received from Mr E.J.("Peter") Clarke of Woodlands, Ruishton, on 10 July 1929, requesting permission to form a new troop. Permission was granted, subject to Mr Clarke being able to locate a headquarters and an experienced Assistant Scout Master. The new troop was registered as 28th Taunton (Ruishton and Henlade) and the old school was hired for meetings at a charge of 1 shilling per week.

In 1932, Rover Scouts John Barrington and William Bryant drew up plans to erect a Canadian-style log cabin to provide the troop with its own headquarters. The site was donated by Peter Clarke’s mother and the foundation "stone" was laid on 1 April 1933. The construction itself took several years, with a lot of help from other Rover Scouts in Taunton District. The spruce logs were carted from Staple Fitzpaine to Ruishton, where they were stripped and the half-joints were cut, before being placed on concrete pillars. Each layer of logs was laid on a bed of oakum and 12-15 inch steel spikes were driven into ½ inch holes drilled every 6 feet along the structure. The stone for the fireplace and chimney was brought by trek cart from a derelict building behind Ruishton church.

Church

 

When, on the eve of the Reformation, the builders left unfinished a fine west Lower for St.George’s Church, the origins of Christian worship in Ruishton were lost already in the distant past. It is likely that the spread of the Gospel to the communities of the vale had begun as early as the 8th century with the foundation in Taunton of a Saxon minster church; likely as well that its missionary priests had come to Ruishton long before the Conquest to establish here a chapel or preaching-place. The site they chose was probably that on which the present church stands, overlooking the rush-grown river lands that had given the village its name.

 

 

There was a Church on this site by the second half of the 13th Century; the font certainly belongs to that period and the first Rector known Simon de Insula, was appointed during November 1265 Most of the datable parts of the present building are the result of extensive alterations from the late 14th Century onwards, but the walls of the nave and the chancel may well contain some of the earlier work.

The alterations of the 14th century onwards include the windows of the nave and chance the latest being those to light the former rood loft over the screen. The window over the pulpit still contains a fragment of its original glass he chancel may well have been rebuilt entirely during this period for the arch is wide and high, well in the fashion when people were wanting to let in more light and to form a suitable background for the rood the figure of Christ on the cross with the accompanying figures of Mary and John which stood on the rood loft.

There may have been a plan, perhaps in the early 16th century, to rebuild the porch in Lie grand style with a room above it. This would account for the presence of the small doorway just west of the south door, originally designed as the entrance to the stairs.

Bowls

 

The club is just starting its fourth year, with around 50 members, it is as strong as ever. We have 2 mats, shared between 15 to 20 members at each session; this allows us to play 20 to 30 ends during each session.

It’s quite a simple game, firstly we toss a coin to decide such things as who starts, which bowls are used (brown or black) and who places the jack (small ball) at the other end. The bowls are weighted differently on each side, so when we roll them, they roll in an arc around (without touching) the wooden block placed half way down the mat. If you get your bowl closest to the jack you get a point, if both your bowls are closer, you get 2 points. After a pre-agreed number of ends, the team with the most points wins.

You can become a member from the age of 10, accompanied by an adult, and membership is not restricted to the parish, it just needs the approval of the committee

 

For further information please phone Tony Shattock on 442579 or Enid Jenkins on 442872.

Ladies Group

 

 

The group was founded on January 10th. 1980 by Mrs Sheila Rexworthy and was open to all ladies in the area. Originally meeting fortnightly, in 1996 it was decided to have one meeting per calendar month, with a program of talks, demonstrations and social evenings.

 

 

 

Guides

 

In 1970 a guide unit under the leadership of Jenny Trood and Jo Reeves, and assisted by Young Leader, Sandra Verrier, was started in the old school. The Guides eventually moved to the new school and now also meet in the village hall.

Twins Claire and Louise Reeves, aged fourteen, have received their Queen’s Guide awards from Kay Black, their District Commissioner. The twins are both members of the Ruishton company of Guides, and of the youth group at the Rowbarton church, Taunton, Somerset. They are members of of a family with a long history of involvement with the Methodist Church, and are the great, great grand daughters of Dr Joseph Wood, a former President of the Primitive Methodist Conference.

Brownies

 

Ruishton Brownies were started in 1963 by Pam Moore and Audrey CaIlen. 1st Ruishton, as the Pack was called, met in the Scout Cabin in Ruishton Lane and later moved to Ruishton Old School. After 4 years, in 1967, there were too many members for one pack and so 2nd Ruishton was formed under the leadership of Audrey Callen and Enid Jenkins. Both Packs met at the Old School on the same night in the 2 classrooms.

In 1977, because of the drop in numbers, it was decided to go back to one Pack again and by then the new Ruishton School had been built and the weekly meeting was moved to the new premises. At the present time the Pack, or Unit, which it is now called, meets in the Village Hall, and the numbers average 24 with a waiting list.

The Unit has had a succession of dedicated leaders over the years and is now served by 2 warranted Guiders and a Unit Helper.