Weare Giffard

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.

Wear Gifford

During the past six years it has been the practice among some public bodies, including the Devon County Council, to sanction the alteration of the way in which the name of this Parish has been spelt "Weare Giffard" and in many quarters this has now become the general way of spelling it. As the alteration has, however, never been allowed by the Local Government Board, the District Auditor informed the Hon. Clerk to the Parish Council (Mr J M Tucker) on Wednesday last, the alteration in spelling the name was entirely illegal. A meeting of the Parish Council will shortly be called in order to rectify the error, and to revert to the old way of spelling the name until it has been legally altered.

Gazette articled dated 6 November 1906

He Beat The Floods

Weare Giffard postman’s memories

As he recalled days when he had had to wade through floods to deliver the mail, Mr Albert Curtis, of 1 Downings Terrace, Weare Giffard, who retired on Friday as postman there, was able to look at a river Torridge reduced almost to a stream by the long dry spell and giving little indication of how rapidly it can rise, flooding meadows, roads and sometimes houses.

On Friday morning at 7 o’clock Mr Curtis, who will be 65 on August 7th, began his round at usual, astride his bicycle (known to him as his iron horse). After delivering through the village, he took the road to Gammaton, completed a circle and returned to Weare Gifford post office just after 12.30.

Mr Curtis, born at Torrington, moved to Weare Giffard in 1921 after marriage and has lived there ever since. In 1925 he went to live in his present home and from 1930-1944 took up duties as relief postman, being called upon to work when the official postman was sick or on holiday. Since 1944 he has been on regular post office duties, and he has served under no less than six different sub-postmasters, the present one being Mr Waterhouse.

Never used to being idle for long, Mr Curtis has had a wide range of interests. He was once a supporter of Torrington AFC. Like his son, Mr Howard Curtis, who has won many trophies at local horticultural shows, he always takes interest in gardening and spends much time cultivating his vegetables.

In the first world war Mr Curtis served in the 1/6th Devons in India and Iraq. Mr and Mrs Curtis’ son, and daughter, Mrs Violet Smart, both live at Weare Giffard. Their niece and nephew, Mr and Mrs Fred Marshall, formerly of Clovelly Road, Bideford, emigrated to New Zealand with their five children in April.

In our photograph Mrs Curtis greets her husband at the end of his last round.

Gazette article dated 4 August 1961

Weare Giffard’s Christmas Present To Itself

£3,000 Village Hall

Weare Giffard, one of Devon’s longest villages, straggling for three miles alongside the River Torridge, is giving itself a £3,000 present this Christmas.

The present will not be wrapped or tied with pink ribbon but there will be all the excitement attendant on the unwrapping of Christmas parcels when the new Village Hall is opened.

While the last war was still going on Lord Fortescue generously gave to the village the now disused school for use as a hall and it has fulfilled that function ever since but only with difficulty because of the small size of the room.

Mr Bruce Lake, of Huxhill Farm, who is Chairman of the Parish Hall Committee, told a reporter how several times the volunteers had returned the next day to find that miniature landslides had occurred to undo all the work they had done the previous evening. But, rolling up shirtsleeves, the men went to work again until the site was cleared and work could begin.

The new hall, well on the way to completion, will have a wood floor area of 24ft by 40ft, with a small entrance hall at the north end opening off which will be cloakrooms, explained the architect, Mr J H D Wickham.

‘We are not too unhappy about the financial position’ said the Rector, the Rev J M Lucas, who is secretary of the Parish Hall Committee.

For Weare Giffard’s villagers the end of the journey that started fourteen years ago is in sight as the day for the opening of the hall that is to be the centre of village activities draws nearer.