Torrington

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.

BGS Old Boy’s big part in Blue Streak project

12.6.1964 Blue Streak3

When Blue Streak, Britain’s first space rocket, successfully soared from its launching pad at Woomera, South Australia, on Friday, no one was more thrilled than a Torrington farmer’s son.
Mr C H Martin, who is 35 and an Old Boy of Bideford Grammar School, had, as a space vehicle design engineer, worked on the project for six years. Recently he was appointed chief project design engineer on Blue Streak at the Stevenage factory of Hawker Siddeley, of which group De Havillands, with whom he trained, are now part.
Elder son of Mr C Martin of Locks Beam Farm, he was born at the farm and first attended Torrington Board School. On leaving the Grammar School in 1945 he became an engineering apprentice as a member of the De Havilland Aeronautical Technical School at Hatfield. This gave him wide experience of the manufacture and design of the then current De Havilland aircraft such as the Mosquito, Vampire, Hornet, Chipmunk, Dove and Comet. In 1950 he graduated as an Associate Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and became a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society. During 1951-52 Mr Martin was on National Service with the RAF – as a boy he had been a member of the Torrington Squadron of the ATC and of the Royal Observer Corps at Torrington.
On the 200 acre farm which he farms in partnership with his other son, Arthur John, Mr Martin senior admitted some relief that Blue Streak had been successfully launched. He said that as a boy Henry would have nothing to do with farming, ‘He was aircraft mazed and his bedroom was always full of model airplanes’. The third child, now Mrs Vera Williams, has also had an eventful life. After training at Bideford she joined Queen Alexandra’s Nursing Service and served in many parts of the world, including Cyprus.
The full Gazette article is dated 12 June 1964

https://spacecentre.co.uk/blog-post/blue-streak-success-failure-extraterrestrials/

Torrington Sells Its Gas Lamps

Fifty gas lamps which were fixed to the tops of the standards in the former Torrington street lighting system have been sold by the Torrington Borough Surveyor, Mr Peter Symons.

They have been bought by another local authority for street lighting purposes.
On Saturday Mr Symons said the total cost of disconnecting and removing the old gas lights and standards would be at least £200. My Symons sold the lamps to help meet this cost, and also intends selling as many of the old standards as possible. “We may be able to sell some of the clock equipment used in the old systems as well” he added.
Gazette article dated 16 May 1958

Torrington’s May Queen And Court Chosen

A Torrington radio and TV dealer, Mr Thomas Squire, of Castle Street, is proud of his family’s May Fair ‘tradition’.

His 10 year old daughter Josephine, who has been elected by popular vote of the children of Barley Grove School to be this year’s Torrington May Queen, will be the third member of his family chosen to be Queen and centre of attraction of the town’s colourful annual event.
His eldest daughter, 17 years old Marion, was elected May Queen when she was a pupil of Barley Grove School, and another daughter, Rachel, who is now 13, was also chosen to be Queen while she was at the school.
The Barley Grove children have elected 10 years old Caroline Bastin, daughter of Mr J W Bastin, headmaster of the Torrington Secondary Modern School, to the this year’s crowner. The heralds and attendants were chosen by the school’s headmaster, Mr J W Hicks, according to their heights.
Heralds this year will be 10 years old Raymond Drayton and 11 years old Kenneth Cobbledick who were picked from a group of boys who volunteered.
Chosen as attendants their ages ranging from five to seven are: Angela Vanstone, Lesley Folland, Sally Darch, Lynn Jury, Susan Copp, Jennifer Lock, Sandra Davis and Trudy Hobson.
The full article is dated 7 March 1958