I really enjoy my time volunteering for The Exmoor Society Archive. Each visit brings an interesting project to work on; it ranges from scanning drawings and paintings, to writing brief descriptions of material for the online catalogue, which can then be accessed for study or research.
One such project I worked on included family photos, post cards, and notes donated in 2025 by Giles Goodland, who is the son of Molly Goodland. Molly wrote vivid descriptions of life on rural Exmoor in her book ‘Growing Wild on Exmoor’, which was published under her maiden name Molly Richards. She also wrote poetry. A draft copy of Molly’s obituary written by Giles, giving a brief insight to her life and works, along with her books are available to view at The Exmoor Society archive in Dulverton.
Giles’ donation also includes some lovely informal photos of Molly, her family, and the family weddings. There are many images of the family farms, including Yenworthy, where her grandparents lived, and Broomstreet, located between Porlock and Lynmouth, which is where Molly’s parents moved to in 1921 after their wedding. These are in colour and show the farm during various seasons.
With the support of Giles, and some online research myself, I was able to identify the locations of each photograph so that they are correctly recorded in the catalogue.
Janet Beattie, Archive volunteer
