Tavistock’s parish church is at the centre of the town, its position symbolising its historic role at the heart of the community. Dedicated to St Eustachius, it is a beautiful building, perpendicular in character but incorporating fragments of earlier churches on the site. In itself, however, it tells us little about the people who worshipped there through the centuries. Some two years ago the PCC commissioned Gerry Woodcock, our well-known historian, to write a book about the history of the building, its happenings, and its people. The story takes us from the beginnings, when the parish grew up alongside the great abbey, through periods of calm and unity alternating with spells of turmoil and division. St Eustachius’ was never an insular or inward-looking institution, and one theme that is followed is the way in which it responded, on the one hand to pressures from such as kings, popes, and bishops, and on the other to the wider needs of the community that it served. And through it all emerge the people: the 57 vicars, 36 patrons, numerous curates, readers, wardens, musicians, choristers, ringers and other officers and servants of the church, as well as the innumerable generations who occupied the pews, and to whom the book is dedicated.

                The book is scheduled for publication at Easter 2012. It will have 125,000 words (probably 240 pages) with 95 illustrations. Included are a final chapter that takes the form of a walk round the present-day church, and an extensive index.

                Orders for the book at this pre-publication stage can now be taken at the discounted price of £15 that will apply until 31 January 2012. After this date the price will be £25. If you would like to avail yourself of this opportunity, please complete the coupon below, and send it, with your remittance, to the address shown. A separate receipt will be issued for each book ordered, and these can be exchanged subsequently when the book is published. Perhaps you would not mind me suggesting that a receipt might make an acceptable Christmas present?