Can anyone help me find out a little about the history of Broadhembury
College, Near Honiton, England, and if possible guide me to a source
of images of the college?

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Request for Question Clarification by leli-ga on 01 Oct 2003 01:21 PDT

Hi skinnamarink

Do you have any other clues that might help?
Was it a state school, a boarding school or a private college?
Was it actually in the village of Broadhembury? 
Did it have any connection with the primary school or the church?
Do you know roughly when it "vanished", or when it was definitely still open?

Thanks - Leli

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Clarification of Question by skinnamarink-ga on 01 Oct 2003 17:50 PDT

Broadhembury College was a private boarding school/college for boys. 
It was located in the village of Broadhembury and open in 195? to 1963
or later.  The headmaster/owner(?) was a Mr. E Ashley (possible not an
accurate spelling)  He was reputed to have had something to do with
one of the Secret Services. Pupils tended to range from local
land-owners sons to the sons of Lybian/Liberian and other overseas
politicians.  A local church was attended, some of the pupils being
alter boys.  The school building appeared to have been a minor mannor
house or similar.

Thank's for any help you might be able to give - your reputation here
is awesome!
Skinnamarink

Apparently this person is wondering the same thing:

http://www.knowhere.co.uk/board/kb3336/

Yes you are right Bowler.  The gentleman who's link you drew my
attention to and I have been chatting by eMail.  He was at
Broadhembury about 10 years after I left.

Neither of us have been able to find out what happened, or obtain any
photos other than one I downloaded, when a building I think may have
been it, appeared on a real estate listing two years ago.  That real
estate listing link is no longer valid.

Thank you for drawing my attention to the link though.

Skinnamarink

Hello again

I'm afraid my emails haven't produced answers to your questions.

However, I have been given some tips by a helpful correspondent and
think you might make some progress with this, if you have time to
write letters. As you may know, we're not allowed to give out private
addresses, so I'm going to tell you some of my ideas for further
research and hope you can follow through.

The author of the following book, Mrs. Christine Dunford, knows a lot
about the village:

"BROADHEMBURY : a picture of our parish / compiled and edited by
C.M.Dunford.  Kerswell : The Editor, 2000. - [iv],148p : ill,maps ;
25cm. - No ISBN. Donation. - Class: 924.357."
http://www.devon.gov.uk/library/locstudy/list353.html

(Note the local studies contact information on the library page, too.)

* * * *

You could also ask a local councillor. One recently retired
long-serving parish councillor, Mr. Gordon Persey, is apparently a
great source of Broadhembury knowledge.
The newspaper I mention next has at least two articles on Broadhembury
Parish Council.

* * * *

You could write to the Exeter Express and Echo, which covers
Broadhembury news. I had an email bounced back from the pictures
department of their website, but if you can contact someone who will
look in the archives for you, you might make progress.

The phonebook gives this address:

Express and Echo
Exeter
EX2 7LY

Their website says:

" Any queries regarding the Express & Echo whether it be about news or
sport stories, features, advertising and photographs should be
addressed to the following contacts:

Express & Echo
Heron Road
Exeter
EX2 7NF
Tel: 01392 442211 "

Searching their website leads to articles on Broadhembury parish
councillors and refers to an over-60s club - a good place to ask
recent history questions?
http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/

* * * *

If I were researching this in person, one of my first stops would be
the local    post office - sometimes an important meeting place in a
small village - hoping to find someone with memories of the 1960s, or
make contact with particular people. This is the address:

Broadhembury Post Office
Broadhembury
Honiton
EX14 3ND

The newspaper site says the PO is currently selling a small leaflet on
the history of the village. (Produced by schoolchildren)


* * * *

I hope you can get somewhere with this. Surely it must be possible to
find out more, if you have time, writing paper and stamps? (You can
tell how frustrated I feel, having to give up at this point!)

Good luck - Leli

leli-ga
I was right, your reputation is awesome, and well earned. Yes, I can
imagine the frustration you must feel when "rules and outside
constraints" prevent your taking that one last step.  However your
ground work has given me a foundation to build on.  Thanks to you, and
your source, I have several new starting points instead of the brick
wall I had run into.