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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.

Proclamation read at various points in the town

Next Thursday at 12 noon The Square at Torrington will be a blaze of colour, and visitors from other towns will mingle with the local inhabitants under the flags and banners as the Town Clerk of Torrington (Mr S.J. Parkes) reads the traditional proclamation that sets in motion for yet another year the annual May Fair, standing just outside the Town Hall.

The proclamation is read at various points in the town, and then there comes the highlight of the fair – the crowning of the May Queen.

Each year the two primary schools at Torrington – the Halsdon Road and the Barley Grove school – take it in turn to provide the queen, her attendants, and two heralds. This year it is the turn of the Halsdon Road School and the girl chosen by the popular vote is 10-year-old Elizabeth Somerfield, the only daughter of Torrington’s station-master, Mr .R. Somerfield, and Mrs Somerfield.

Her crowner will be Pauline Burridge, 10-year-old daughter of Mr and Mrs Peter Burridge of Well Street, Torrington.

It was 405 years ago that Torrington received the first of its three charters, and it was this one, which was granted by Philip and Mary, that decreed that the borough should have one market on every Saturday in each week and to hold and keep two fairs – one on the Feast of St Michael the Arcangel and “the eve and morrow after,” and the other on the Feast of St George the Martyr and the two days following.”

Under the Fairs Act of 1873 the dates for holding these two fairs were altered to May and October and eventually, after the October Fair had become defunct, the first Thursday in May was fixed as the date on which all future May Fairs should be held.

The date of the very first Torrington fair has been lost. The date 1226 has been mentioned but the historian Lyson published 100 years ago, gave the original date as six years earlier. Many people think that the fair does date back much further, perhaps as far as the days of the Saxons.

At one time Torrington was in very real danger of losing the fair, but since 1924 when the local Chamber of Commerce organised the event’s revival after a lapse of many years, the fair has taken on a new lease of life. Even the war years could not upset the traditional reading of the proclamation which kept the fair in existence: each May the proclamation was read to a deserted Square.

Gazette article 1 May 1959

Westward Ho! club to close after 80 years

The Union Club, Westward Ho!

which was first built beyond Westbourne Terrace and was subsequently rebuilt in its present site, is to close after 80 years of existence.

As projected in 1875, the Club was originally intended to be the “Westward Ho” Gold Club House”, finished early in 1876 near the end of Westbourne Terrace as it then existed when the Pebble Ridge was much further West than it now is. The Club was probably flooded by a high tide in 1878 and was rebuilt in 1879 on its present site, much of the old Club building being salvaged and used again.

Today the Hon. Denys Scott is the “Father of the Club” having been a member since 1893 and Capt. H.J. Fletcher M.C. can remember being made a temporary member as long ago as 1894.

Gazette article 13 July 1956

The Majorettes provide an eye-catching spectacle at Torrington

Batons twirling, knees bending,

the sound of military music, and 16 little girls with a look of intense concentration on their faces. It all adds up to the Torridge Valley Majorettes on parade.

Some of the manoeuvres appeared quite complicated enough without having to twirl a baton in an equally complicated manner at the same time. But these little girls – the youngest is seven and the eldest 11 – performed it all without a hitch, with the only order from their trainer Mrs Joan Stacey being “Keep those batons up.”

The Torridge Valley Majorettes were formed a year ago and first appeared in public at Torrington Carnival last January. They have been renamed once already. They started life as the Torrington Minorettes to distinguish them from the 1st Company of Torrington Majorettes, but the names were too similar.

Mrs Stacey, whose daughter Sharon is a former leading majorette of the 1st Company explained why the second company had been formed. “The 1st Company seems to be mainly for older girls and we found there were a lot of smaller ones wanting to become majorettes. We started with 12 but now there are 30, with two boys as drum majors.”

The 1st Company of Torrington Majorettes are also just over a year old. Originally they were part of the Corps of Drums but then decided to go it alone. Last year there were 19 girls in the Company but 27 will be marching next year with ages ranging from 9 to 16. Three mothers, all with daughters in the company, undertake the training. Mrs Grayson makes the uniforms, Mrs Keen and Mrs Mary Taylor make it a combined effort.

The Torrington Majorettes are planning something new for next year’s May Fair – they hope to parade with their own corps of drums. Whilst the 12 boys in the troop are busy practising their marching, the parents are fund-raising to buy the instruments they will need.

Gazette article 1.12.78