Westward Ho!

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.

Westward Ho! pool owner’s discovery

Two 5.5 shells were dug up at Westward Ho! on Wednesday.

About two feet long, they were found by the owner of the Patio Swimming Pool, Mr Dennis Price, while digging up part of the concrete surround at the shallow end of the pool for new piping to be laid to a filter.

‘I saw what I thought was a piece of rusty piping sticking out’ said Mr Price. ‘Before I knew what the objects were I gave one of them a tremendous bang with a shovel’.

Police contacted an Army bomb disposal unit at Salisbury who came and blew up the shells on the beach yesterday.

Gazette article dated 29 January 1965

Free Holidays at Westward Ho!

A good trip

To mark centenary year Northam Chamber of Commerce are paying for a grant of arms of the township, and to help raise funds they organised a draw, prizes given by members included free holidays in various types of accommodation at Westward Ho! in 1963 – centenary year.

Mr Martin, caravan site proprietor, was among those who offered a holiday, as was his personal friend and secretary of the Chamber, Mr W Latter, who owns a guest house.

More than 1,000 tickets were sold and the week’s holiday to be given by Mr Latter was won by - Mr Martin. And so it is that Mr Martin is now on the look out for a deserving couple, possibly old-age pensioners and preferably from an industrial area, who would appreciate a week’s free accommodation at ‘glorious Westward Ho!’ and who would otherwise, not have a holiday.

Incidentally Mr Martin also sold another winning ticket in the draw – to someone in Torrington.

Full Gazette article dated 2 November 1962

Fish delivered by boat to Westward Ho! First time in living memory

Delivering fish by boat to a waiting customer on Westward Ho! sands last Friday afternoon,

Capt J R Pile, ‘Commodore’ of Bideford’s fishing fleet, accomplished a feat that has probably not been performed within living memory, and certainly not in the month of October.

Mr Claude Wise of Westward Ho! had ordered some soles from Capt Pile and, having seen what conditions were the previous day, Capt Pile promised to deliver the fish personally at Westward Ho! When the Deera finished some way off Westward Ho! Capt Pile brought her in until she almost grounded in some six feet of water. He and Mr Vernon Boyle then transferred to a 14ft boat brought for the purpose – the Deera does not now carry a boat of her own on normal trips – and rowed ashore with the fish.

Although during that week of quiet weather, there had been little or no ground sea, the handling of an open boat in the surf is no sinecure but the trip was accomplished without difficulty. So often Westward Ho! is a lee shore which means that even if a boat gets ashore it is impossible to get off again.

Gazette article dated 16 October 1953