Commemorative

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.

World War 1

Devon Sea Fisheries
Bideford & Clovelly Fishermen Voice Grievances
The report of the Fishery Officer, Mr Thos. Brehont, of Dartmouth, of the Devon Sea Fisheries for the quarter ending 2 October 1918, deals with his visits to the principal fishing ports in the district, including the North Devon ports.
At Clovelly the Fishery Officer states he received a serious complaint from the trawlers there, who stated that at various times a considerable amount of steamers anchored in their inshore trawling grounds, and whilst at anchor they deposited a considerable quantity of ashes and clinkers, which they caught in their trawls, and was very detrimental to their fishing.
At Bideford he received a complaint from the fisherman that vessels on patrol work in the Bristol Channel frequently came to the inshore grounds and used trawls of a small mesh and with steam power. At Ilfracombe and Combe Martin the advantages of the motor for trawling purposes were being recognised, and he saw signs of a considerable development in that direction at these places. There had been three prosecutions during the quarter for illegal trawling. One case was dismissed, and in two other cases the defendants were convicted, and fines were imposed in each case, in one case the defendant was fined £2, and in the other £20.
Lobsters during the early part of the quarter had been plentiful, but crabs were scarce.

Gazette article dated 1 October 1918

World War 1

Bideford and Northam Joint Fuel And Lighting Committee

The Fuel Wood Order, 1918

Notice is hereby given that:
All PERSONS retailing or otherwise dealing in FUEL, WOOD must OBTAIN A LICENCE for the purpose from the Local Fuel Overseer, Town Hall, Bideford.
A Licensed Retailer shall not sell more than 2 tons of Fuel Wood to any person for consumption on any premises to which the Household Fuel and Lighting Order, 1918, applies, during any period of 12 calendar months, except with the consent in writing of the Local Fuel Overseer of the District within which such premises are situate.
E J Labbatt, Local Fuel Overseer

Gazette article dated 19 November 1918

World War 1

Parkham

A postcard has been received from Pte T Pearce stating that he is a prisoner of war in Germany. No news had been received of him for some months. This is the third Parkham boy to be taken prisoner by the Germans.
Our Parkham boys appear to be on all the theatres of war. They took part in the Dardanelles, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Salonica, and the Western Front, and also in the North Sea affairs.
Much corn awaits stacking, and no one can remember such a late harvest in general. In 1903, the wet October would not permit the few scattered fields to be collected until November, but up to last week this year the corn could be seen in the fields by the hundreds of acres. Tuesday was a good day, when great progress was made, and the harvest in bulk was practically completed by the end of the week, except on Melbury, where some 50 acres still remain to be cut and nearly the whole acreage has to be stacked.

Gazette article dated 8 October 1918