This is not the personal life story of Peter Truscott, it is a brief account of the contribution that he made to ensure that we appreciate, understand and preserve our parochial history and natural heritage.
Peter had taken over his family Hardware shop, situated on the corner of Queen Street and Lansdowne Road. But the comparative sedentary life as a shopkeeper was not conducive to health and waistline and, as he wrote in his little booklet, “A World of Treasure”, his doctor told him to “Get a dog, “join a Golf Club”. Instead, he bought a pair of binoculars and discovered his “World of Treasure” on our local cliffs and estuary. And so started a life somewhat divided between commitment to his shop but with a growing desire to convey his newly discovered love of nature to a wider public.
Peter led numerous walks for local people and groups on discovery walks in the 1970’s and 80’s and eventually set aside an area of his shop as an aquarium and natural history museum. He also gave regular talks throughout the summer season to local people and visitors at the Methodist Hall. This led him to create a massive digital file of newspaper cutting, historical letters and tabulation of major events, such as the closing of our rail service, also numerous photographs. Today, this file is an essential reference for anyone wanting to learn about our recent history.
Peter Truscott (1923 to 13th March, 2007)
Perhaps above all, Peter recognised the value of the local marshes to wildlife and slowly encouraged local Councils to preserve this vital natural habitat. Management of this habitat resulted in areas being cleared to create open water spaces and channels and a controlled reed environment. Finally, in 1981, the then, North Cornwall District Council declared the marshes a Local Nature Reserve, the first in Cornwall.
The marshes offer six hectares of reed bed, wet grassland and wild Carr. The marshland is complimented by wet grassland extending the full length of the estuary towards Helebridge and further supported by the Bude Canal alongside; there are footpaths on either side of the estuary along its full length, with just a short road interconnection.
Photo shows a Shag drying its wings on the canal side, a reward for the early walker.
A short walk down the canal tow-path from the Falcon Bridge is a bird hide from where you can observe some of the wildfowl enjoying the clearings and other birds flittering amongst the reed beds.
To create easy access to the marshes and across the estuary and to commemorate Peter, a bridge, “The Peter Truscott Bridge” was built in 2001.
Early Bude benefactors and local people have historically guarded and fought to preserve our open spaces from over-development and this continues today. As a result, there are few tourism resorts that can boast the natural beauty and open space that can be found in Bude, whether that be along our coastline, within the town marshes or along our estuary; the marshes in no small part due to the enthusiasm and work of Peter Truscott.
