Hartland

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.

The pirate walked the plank!

The swimming pool built during the winter months at Hartland Quay was opened on Saturday – with the customary ‘duckings’.

First to go under was Mr Philip Johns, manager of the Hartland Quay Hotel, whose owner, Sir Dennis Stucley, of Hartland Abbey, had the pool built. Mr Johns, dressed as a pirate, was persuaded to walk the plank with cutlasses brandished by local garage worker Brian Meeker and Bill Pillman. A reluctant bathing belle brought local teenager Charlie Jeffery an unexpected soaking.

The pool was officially opened by the High Sheriff of Devon, Col J E Palmer, of Torrington. The High Sheriff was thanked by the Chairman of Bideford Rural Council, Mr Stan Brimacombe.

Had it not been for some volunteers from the RAF station at Hartland the pool would probably not have been full for the opening ceremony.

The bathing beauty contest was won by Linda Parker, with Sally Loader second and Rosemary Boyne and Sally Peto equal third.

A junior competition was won by Susan Heard, with Caroline Hamilton-Russell second and Virginia Rous third. Music was provided by Hartland Town Band.

Gazette article dated 5 June 1964

Rookery Nook At Hartland

With a silver spoon in his mouth

Latest addition to the Westlake household at 77 The Square, Hartland – ‘Jackie’, the rook – was not born with a silver spoon in its mouth but it certainly gets fed with one.
It was Mr and Mrs R H Westlake’s 14 year old son, Norman, a pupil of Hartland All-age School, who found the rook two months ago.
He was out for a walk near the Bottoms when he saw the rook lying helplessly on the ground with its leg broken.
‘Jackie’ is a good ‘mixer’. He has to be because there are two other family pets – ‘Tiger’ the cat, and ‘Jock’ the dog. Said Mr Westlake: “Believe it or not they all get on like a house on fire”.
One good thing which gives ‘Jackie’ at good deal of amusement is to peck the tobacco out of a cigarette but that proves rather expensive!
The full Gazette article is dated 18 July 1958

Going West – By Five Feet

A compromise has been reached concerning the future of Church Cottage, Stoke, Hartland, about which there has been some controversy.

17.7.1964 Hartland Church Cottage2

The cottage, which is part of the small, picturesque Square fronting the path to the parish church, is owned by the Parochial Church Council.
At a meeting of Bideford Rural Council a month ago there was criticism that the re-building of the cottage in its original position would mean continuation of the traffic bottleneck on the narrow bend at this point.
The photograph above shows the cottage in its half-demolished condition.
The Rural Council, who are making a £400 grant towards its re-building, have now reported that, following a meeting at Stoke with representatives of the Church and the County highways department, it has been agreed that the cottage should be moved five feet to the west to enable the road to be widened. This is subject to agreement being reached regarding help towards the additional cost from the county highway department.
Gazette article dated 17 July 1964