Featured Articles

Christmas Eve at the Front

An interesting letter has just been received by Mrs Packer, of Broadclyst, from her husband, Corpl Packer of A Company, 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment, who is serving with the Expeditionary Force in Northern France. In the course of a letter he describes a remarkable incident which occurred on Christmas Eve between the British and German trenches.

Miss Sheila Hutchinson –

calligrapher, artist, naturalist, political worker and occasional journalist, born in Weare Giffard in 1906 and educated at West Bank School, Bideford – now lives in Tower House, Orchard Hill, using as a studio the turret of the fine old home.

Calligrapher extraordinary Miss Hutchinson inherited artistic gifts from both her parents. Her father was a professional soldier and a talented watercolour painter, but expected her to stay at home and be a domesticated daughter of the house. She was eventually allowed to attend classes at Bideford Art School, under the direction of Mr Percy Heard. She subsequently went to London to study at the Hammersmith College of Art and Central School of Arts and Crafts giving her a thorough grounding in the history of art as well as design and lettering.

As well as her calligraphy, Miss Hutchinson is a skilled watercolour painter with a total understanding of the contour and ambience of North Devon. She has actually walked or bicycled the entire course of the River Torridge from source to estuary stopping to paint as the spirit moved her and thus producing a series of pictures.

Miss Hutchinson’s incredible versatility and appetite for life are reflected in her remarkable record of activities including membership of Bideford and Westward Ho! Art society, Bideford Ladies Rowing Club, Devon Bird Watching and Preservation Society, Exmore Society, and vice-president of North Devon Division Liberal Association and present of Bideford (town) Liberals.

Gazette article 26 April 1974

Train returns to Westleigh straight

Special train chartered

Years ago the sight of a passenger train thundering along the Westleigh straight between Instow and Bideford was such a common one that it hardly rated a second glance. Except for a period of temporary service after Bideford Bridge collapsed, nine years have elapsed since passengers last travelled along a stretch which, when the tide is full, can have few pictorial equals in the Westcountry.

Train returns to Westleigh straight

Last weekend the line between Barnstaple and Torrington again experienced passenger travel as a train specially chartered by the Bristol Railway Correspondents and Travel Society made a nostalgic journey alongside Taw and Torridge. Passengers met friends of the North Devon Preservation Society who are hooping to re-open the branch line between Barnstaple and Ilfracombe, provided sufficient capital can be raised.

Gazette article 26 April 1974