In late 2020 the South West Heritage Trust was approached by Exeter University with an offer of funding to assist with the creation of a piece of digital work to engage young people with Devon’s heritage. In consultation with the university we developed the idea of working with two primary schools in Torquay – Ellacombe Church of England Academy and Warberry Church of England Academy – to develop a website and mobile app which would enable pupils to discover more about notable people with links to Torbay.
Famous People with Links to Torbay
Andy Chapman of 1010 Media was appointed to work on the technical development of the project, while Trust staff sourced content for the digital platforms. Claire Marston and Sandy Thomas, experienced former teachers who are now Learning Officers with the Trust, compiled a list of famous people with links to Torbay. Brian Carpenter, an archivist, and Community Learning Officer for the Devon archive service, used the Devon archive and local studies collections to locate documents and books that related to the people we had selected. In addition to sources held at the Devon Heritage Centre, both Brian and Claire made use of other online resources, chiefly historic newspaper articles, but also aerial photographs and maps from Know Your Place.
Tennis Stars Sue Barker and Andy Murray 
Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie
Crime Writer Agatha Christie 
Engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel
The Trail
The concept behind the app and website is that of a trail – the Torbay Discovery Trail – which children can follow around Torquay by answering questions relating to the people and the places they were associated with. Claire and Sandy used their experience as teachers (and of walking the route themselves) to develop questions and prompts which will encourage the children to learn about the people in a fun and engaging way.
The Torbay Discovery Trail
Do you know about the famous people who lived in Torquay?
Visit the Torbay Trail Website