Each year, a person of standing and importance in the county is invited to be honorary president of The Devonshire Association. A president’s year of office commences in June at the Annual General Meeting (held as part of the annual conference) when a formal induction ceremony takes place. Outgoing presidents chair the AGM and invest the new president with the silver-and-enamel "President’s Jewel". Given to the Association in 1935, the splendid President’s Jewel is over 70 years old and symbolises the long tradition and heritage of The DA.

Nicholas Orme was born in Bristol and read History at Oxford, where his teachers included W. G. Hoskins. He came to Exeter University in 1964 on a one-year appointment, but did not manage to leave until he retired as a Professor of History (a year late) in 2007, after 43 years in service, which must be almost a record. He now lives in Oxford but continues to visit Devon and Cornwall frequently, and still works on projects in the two counties.

He chose medieval schools for his postgraduate research topic, and has continued to study them ever since, in books such as Education in the West of England (1976) and Medieval Schools (2007). Schools duly led to an interest in childhood and to his pioneering book Medieval Children (2001) which has been widely read. Life in Exeter made him aware of local history, especially the rich cathedral archives, resulting in thirteen articles in the Transactions of the Devonshire Association and books such as Death and Memory in Medieval Exeter (2003) and Exeter Cathedral: the first thousand years (2009), the latter of which was chosen as the Devon History Society Book of the Year. His work has also extended to Cornwall, including two studies of Cornish saints, an edition of Cornish Wills 1342-1540, and the substantial Victoria County History of Cornwall, volume 2, which covers the religious history of that county up to 1560.

Nicholas Orme has never liked being tied down to particular periods or topics, and his publications also include Early British Swimming (1984), Table Manners for Children (1989), The English Hospital 1070-1570 (1995), and a book of historical stories for children: White Bird Flying (1995). He has lectured throughout the South West, as well as being involved in Continuing Education courses in local history and in religion. He is a reader in the Church of England, with a speciality in leading informal family services, and in 2006 he was appointed an honorary lay canon of Truro Cathedral on account of his work in Cornwall.

Born in Barnstaple at the beginning of the Second World War, Roger Thorne’s ancestry lies mostly within fifteen miles of the town. He was educated at Grammar Schools in Barnstaple and Taunton and then trained as a railway engineer in the former offices of the Great Western Railway at Paddington. After a year at Plymouth, the uncertainties of the railway led him to a career with Plymouth City and then Devon County. Early retirement was an opportunity for voluntary pastoral work for the Methodist Church in Exeter. In the 1960s, he developed an interest in the chapels in and around Plymouth where he preached as a Local Preacher. This interest continued and enlarged after moving to Exeter and he has written and lectured widely about the place of churches and chapels in the local landscape. For nine years, he broadcast regularly on Radio Devon, following a series he entitled ‘Buildings and Belief’. In 1991, he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He is currently a committee member of the Wesley Historical Society and the Chapels Society and is a member of the Listed Buildings Advisory Committee of the United Reformed Church. In retrospect, he can look back over more than forty years actively investigating and advocating the architecture, history, demography, bibliography, worship and archives of the places of worship of Methodism and Nonconformity in the Southwest and beyond. He and Roslyn live in Exeter and have three grandsons.

President’s Symposium: Devon’s Seaside, Saturday, 16 April 2011, The Mint Methodist Church Centre, Exeter, EX4 3AT details

Rachel Thomas is a Devonian by adoption after her marriage to Hugh in 1967 when she moved to North Devon. As a former lecturer in Geography at the North Devon College, her professional background led to her first ministerial appointment to the Exmoor National Park in 1981. Her many appointments since include being a Countryside Commissioner for ten years and chairman of a range of bodies such as England’s Forestry Advisory Committee, the Devon Rural Development Commission, the School of Rural Economy, Cirencester and, more recently, the Chairman of the Exmoor Society. She has served as a trustee of the Woodland Trust and as a member of the National Trust’s National Land Use & Access Panel. Other significant public appointments have included membership of the Geography Working Party for the National curriculum, membership of the final selection board for fast-stream entrance to the Civil Service, and service as an independent advisor for appointments to public bodies. This long experience, both nationally and locally, has led to her giving many speeches and talks, and writing papers, on countryside matters and rural affairs. Her passion for Exmoor, its people and landscape, remains strong. Recognition of her work includes her appointment as CBE, an honorary doctorate, and appointment as a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Devon.

President’s Symposium: Contested Devon Landscapes, Saturday, 24 April 2010, County Hall Topsham Road, Exeter details

Tony Beard is a true Westcountry man known universally as ‘The Wag from Widecombe’. Born and bred in Widecombe-in-the-Moor, made famous by the song Widecombe Fair, when he isn’t entertaining he can be found tending the cattle on his moorland farm. A genuine ‘son of the soil’, with a true Devonshire voice, a lover of the Devonshire dialect and an ambassador for all that is Westcountry based, Tony Beard is the presenter on BBC Radio Devon of ‘The Tony Beard Sunday Request Show’ and also the weekly ‘My Dartmoor Diary’, in which he talks about the many interesting facets of Dartmoor’s natural history, archaeology and history, which makes it such a special place.

Tony Beard is a founder member of The Widecombe & District Local History Group and is always much in demand as a speaker on Dartmoor, its history and legends; his collection of locally discovered prehistoric flint implements always creates an interest.

The Dartmoor Society Award for 2004 was presented to Tony Beard for sharing his Dartmoor wisdom, empathy and wit. A unique ceramic plate was awarded to him in recognition of his special contribution to Dartmoor.

President’s Symposium: Telling the Dartmoor Story, Saturday 25 April 2009, County Hall Topsham Road, Exeter details

Justin Leigh was born in Truro in 1970. He was educated in the city and started his working life there. After a short stint gaining experience at Truro Hospital Radio, he started helping out at BBC Radio Cornwall. This soon became paid employment starting with a one hour a week local music programme.

Justin spent ten years at Radio Cornwall covering a wide range of subjects. He presented the Arts programme, sport, music and news. His final position with the station was presenting the breakfast programme Coast to Coast. During his time at the station he interviewed leading national political figures putting Cornish issues to Government Ministers.

He moved to BBC Plymouth in 1997 to work on the regional television news programme Spotlight as a reporter and became a regular presenter of the programme in 2001. In his time on Spotlight has covered two Tall Ships races, reported from Norway and South Africa, and spent a week in Boscastle covering the flooding.

Since 2000 Justin has also presented the BBC Radio Devon lunchtime phone-in programme which gives people in Devon a platform to air their views and opinions. It proved to be a very useful programme during the Foot and Mouth Crisis when listeners stranded on their farms were able to link up with each other. The programme also linked up with BBC Radio Cumbria to share experiences of Foot and Mouth.

Justin lives on the Devon-Cornwall border and enjoys walking on Dartmoor, canoeing and relaxing on the beaches of Devon and Cornwall.

President’s Symposium: The Media details

Presidential Address: ‘The impact of the 2001 outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in Devon’

Anthony Gibson was born in Totnes and has lived in Devon for most of his life. He has worked for the NFU since 1972 and was appointed South West Regional Director, based in Exeter, in 1992. In the last ten years, he has led the farming community in the region through two of the biggest crises in modern times: BSE and the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak.

As the original moving spirit for Taste of the West, he has played a key role in the renaissance of local food; as a passionate believer in combining efficient farming with care for the countryside he negotiated environmentally sensitive area agreements covering tens of thousands of acres on the Dartmoor commons; and as a leading advocate for the role of farming and the land-based sector in the regional economy, he was instrumental in setting up both the South West Chamber of Rural Enterprise and the Rural Enterprise Gateway.

In his Presidential Address: ‘An ill wind . . . The impact of the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in Devon’, Rep. Trans. Devon Ass. Advmt Sci., 138, 1-24, he reflected on the Foot and Mouth experience, five years on, and on the extent to which it has had a lasting impact, not only on farming and the rural economy, but also on attitudes, relationships and culture across the county. He also presented the results of his original research on what had happened since the outbreak on the farms that lost their livestock.

President’s Symposium: What Farming means to Devon details

Presidential Address: ‘Conversation with the Earth: A Personal View’, Rep. Trans. Devon Ass. Advmt Sci., 137, 1-35

President’s Symposium: The Coast of Devon details