People

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.

Bideford’s PC’s unusual pastime

Under-water swimming and fishing is the unusual pastime a Bideford policeman plans to pursue this summer.
At least once a week the policeman, 25 years old Guy Thrupp, and a schoolmaster friend, will pack up their equipment – sponge rubber suits, face masks, flippers and harpoon guns – and make the long trip to Cornwall to explore the ocean depths off the coast of Tintagel.
At his home at 5 Chudleigh Avenue, Bideford East, PC Thrupp, who has been stationed at Bideford for nearly three years, talked about his hobby to a Bideford Gazette reporter.
Full Gazette article dated 6 June 1958

Births, engagements and marriages

20 May 1966

Birch – On May 16th 1966 at Cambridge, to Ida Anne (nee Burrow) and Peter, the gift of a son.

Curtis – On May 16th 1966 at the Grenville Nursing Home, to Jill and Bob, a son, Neil Robert, brother for David and Anna.

Ferguson - On May 18th 1966 at the North Devon Infirmary, Barnstaple, to Josephine (nee Hitchcock) and Jeremy, a blessing of a daughter, Elizabeth Josephine Louise, a sister for Paul.

Hopkins - On May 15th 1966 to Prunella (nee Bond) and John, a daughter, Margaret Ann.

Prouse - On May 8th 1966 at the Grenville Nursing Home, to Susan (nee Ayres) and Keith, a son, Andrew Francis.

Stone - On May 6th 1966 at the Grenville Nursing Home, to Angela (nee Mitchell) and Peter, the gift of a daughter, Michelle Lorraine

MacDougall – Churchill-Longman – the engagement is announced between Hugh Donald, son of Mr and Mrs Hugh MacDougall, 14a St Christophers Close, Bath, and Violet, youngest daughter of Lt-Col and Mrs W B Churchill-Longman, Heale House, Bideford.

Rooke-Gilbert – Mr and Mrs H J Gilbert, of Backs Cross, Bideford, have pleasure in announcing the engagement of their younger daughter Ann, to Paul, only son of Mr and Mrs Peter Rooke, of Herstridge, Dorset, and formerly of Mill Street, Bideford

Cade-Halliday – On May14th 1966 at Holy Trinity Church, Exmouth by Rev T Linscott, John Rosewarne, only son of Mr and Mrs R H Cade, Sunny Hayes, Barns Road, Budleigh Salterton and grandson of the late Mr Frederick Lee, JP, of Bideford, and Ann, only daughter of Mr and Mrs David Halliday, Southernhay, 12 Cranford Avenue, Exmouth.

Shortridge-Moon – At St Mary’s Church, Bideford, by the Rev T Derwent Davies, Sydney Shortridge of Appledore to Janette Moon of Bideford.

Mark Arrived While Father Sought Help

Mr and Mrs Wilfred (Pip) Walter’s dearest wish was that their second baby should be a boy – a brother for their three-years-old daughter, Marilyn.

That wish came true.

It was a boy – Mark Anthony. But it was Mark Anthony’s arrival into the world which makes the headlines. Scene was 3 Barton Cottages, Abbotsham. Time was the early hours of the morning. Storyteller is Mr Wilfred Walter, 28-years-old farm worker. In an interview with a Bideford Gazette reporter, he said: ‘My wife Pat told me it was time I got her to the hospital so I dressed and went to fetch the car in the village, leaving her alone. ‘I was only away about twenty minutes but when I got back I received the shock of my life. The baby had arrived and Pat had done everything herself. I telephoned for a doctor and an ambulance because as you can well imagine I was running around in circles. Then Pat and the baby were taken in to a Bideford nursing home. Pat and the boy are doing very well and all being well, I am expecting them home again at the end of this week.’Concluded Wilfred with a smile: ‘We certainly got our wish but we never dreamt that it would happen like it did.’

Of course, the centre of attraction in the nursing home was Pat, aged 28, and her son.

Gazette article dated 2 May 1958