Industry

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 current pound may well be sinking

but any Torridgeside resident who has a 19^th century £5 note like this in his possession would be sure to get much more than its face value when it was issued by the Hartland Quay Bank.

No longer is it legal tender, of course, but its worth as a collector’s item in prime condition would be considerable. Established by Edmund Hockin and Sons, merchants, the bank occupied part of the present hotel at Hartland Quay, which at that time was a busy little commercial port. Its notes continued in local circulation for some years.

On the left-hand side near the margin, the notes had a view within an oval showing the Quay itself with a ship inside and the limekiln and two rows of houses n the background.

After the Hockin’s enterprise had stopped issuing notes the engraved plates from which they were printed were lost. But one – for £5 – turned up at a sale near Bude about 1930 and the late Mr Pearse Chope, a distinguished son of Hartland, acquired it and his family gave it to Hartland Church. Reproductions of the note were made and sold to help the church funds.

Gazette article dated 17 September 1976

New President Of Chamber Of Trade

The new president of Bideford and District Chamber of Trade,

Mr Ronald A Rowed, has been in business with his father, Mr A E Rowed, as sports outfitters, radio and electrical dealers and contractors in Bridgeland Street, since 1926. His father commenced business there two years earlier and Mr R A Rowed was a wireless operator in the Merchant Navy during the interval.

Mr Rowed, who has been a member of the Chamber for twenty years, is 42. He is married and has two children and his home is at West Yelland. In sport he is particularly keen on hockey and is vice-captain of Bideford Hockey Club. In younger days he was a member of Mr Norman Chope’s concert party which was well known and popular in the town and district.

During the war Mr Rowed served in the RAF for four and a half years, being an instructor in wireless mechanics at Cranwell No. 1 Signal School, and London.

He is a member of Bideford Regatta Committee and recently he was sworn in as a member of Devon Special Constabulary.

Gazette article dated 3 March 1950

Spilt Milk

Mr Mitchell able to complete his round

On Sunday morning a Bideford Dairies milk lorry, driven by Mr Geoffrey Mitchell, of Bideford, left the Bideford-Barnstaple road near Westleigh, smashed through concrete posts and wire and finished up on its side on the railway embankment.

The lorry was carrying a load of full and empty milk bottles, most of which were broken.

Mr Mitchell escaped with very slight injuries and was able to return to the dairy to collect another lorry and load to complete his round.
Gazette article dated 12 June 1964