Without doubt, had it not been for the commendable actions of two local men,

a 15 year old girl would have drowned said Police Inspector D T P Cowling.

He had related how Mr A J Pickard of Oldiscleave Farm, Bideford, had been sitting on the beach at Instow with his family when he heard Wendy Harknett of Olive Farm, who was in the water, shouting for help.

Mr Pickard swam 25 yards to the drowning girl and brought her ashore. There he was joined by Mr K W Morey, 4 Beechfield Road, Fremington, a member of St John Ambulance

Car’s skid on icy patch

When his car skidded on a patch of ice while he was driving along the Bideford-Barnstaple road in the vicinity of South Yeo, Instow, on Friday morning, Mr E C Beadle, of Luneray, Windmill Lane, Northam, a rating a valuation officer and leading member of Bideford Camera Club, had a lucky escape from serious injury.

After skidding and colliding with the nearside fencing, Mr Beadle’s car spun right across the road, crashing through a wooden protective barrier and coming to rest with its front wheels hanging over a 10-foot drop.

No other vehicle was involved.

Falling 60ft down a cliff face on to rocks at Hartland Quay,

when out for a midnight walk on Friday with a friend, a geology student had a remarkable escape from serious injury. 

Mr Paul Day, aged 22, who lives at Willenhall, Staffordshire, one of a party of students from Leeds University staying at Hartland Quay Hotel, escaped with a fractured elbow and scalp wounds.

With him on the walk was Mr Graham Wilkinson, aged 24, who ran back to the hotel after the accident to raise the alarm. 

Hartland Coastguards and Hartland Cliff Rescue Team were alerted and made

Helicopter Recovery A Combined Operation - 1st October 1965

Wreckage Returned To Base After Four Days

Not until Saturday did the helicopter that crashed into the River Torridge at Bideford on Tuesday week return to its base at RAF Chivenor - on a REME low-loader. Its recovery, a combined operation, presented a real problem and occupied airmen, soldiers adn divers for many hours after the actual salvage work had begun. It was held up for some time to await the arrival of experts. Around noon on Friday cables were attached by frogmen and work began on the laborius process of winching

Bideford Bridge Collapse - 12th January 1968

Bideford's lifeline, the famous 700-year-old Long Bridge, was cut with dramatic suddenness on Tuesday night, masonry falling into the river from two arches adjoining the western end. No one was injured but the effect on the lives of the many thousands who use the bridge daily was paralysing. Immediately after the alarm was given police closed the bridge to all traffic, and it was later closed to pedestrians.
Army Dukws were brought in to help ferry people across, road traffic faced a long detour (usually a 14-mile trip via Torrington) and the railway line was re-opened for

Helicopter Crash - 29th October 1965

In recognition of help given in the recovery of a crashed helicopter from the River Torridge, the RAF Chivenor air rescue team presented to the Fording Trials Branch, Technical Group REME, of Instow, part of the crashed helicopter with letter 'D' added to the word 'rescue' plus an inscription.
The photograph shows Flight Lieutenant Bob Jones handing over the 'trophy' to Major Donald Dudbridge of REME. Standing by Major Dudbridge is WO11 E Drummond who was one of the shallow water divers at the recovery of the helicopter.

Ship Aground On Westward Ho! Sands - 22nd March 1951

Crowd Watch Efforts To Free Her

In thick fog late on Friday night the 318 ton motor vessel, Goldfaun, registered in London, went ashore on Westward Ho! beach about one mile north-east of Westward Ho! slipway.
Owned by Messrs E J and W Goldsmith Ltd of London, the Goldfaun was bound from Garston to Bideford with a cargo of household coal.
On Saturday, on instructions from Capt J H Hobbs, harbour master of Appledore and agent for the Company, two motor-barges put out from Appledore in an attempt to get

Bideford Bridge Collapse - 2nd February 1968

Bridge Section Demolished At Bideford

Work has started on the demolition of the damaged section of Bideford Bridge, which had yesterday been out of action a month following a partial collapse of arches near the western bank.
A spokeman for the civil engineering contractors, Thomas Fletcher and Co., said yesterday that work was well up to schedule.
Provided there are no snags in the construction of the steel girder platform that will be used to bridge the space where the damaged section once stood light traffic could be flowing across the bridge again next month. In readiness

Family Rescued By Helicopter - 11th August 1972

Rumours, which later turned out to be incorrect, that another yacht was also involved led to Appledore lifeboat searching the Fairway Buoy areas of the Taw and Torridge estuary on Friday after the 22-foot sailing cabin cruiser, Tilikum, was turned head over tail by a stern wave.
The search was abandoned and the lifeboat towed in the capsized cruiser, in which South Molton doctor, Dr R A Nash, his wife and son had been sailing. Damage was restricted to a broken mast and damaged cabin top where the mast had been stripped

Lundy Wall Collapse - 12th December 1969

A section of the retaining wall at the bottom of the beach road on Lundy is reported to be affected by a collapse, about 15 feet being seriously involved and a further 10 feet partially so.
The road leads to the hotel, inn and cottages at the southern end of the island and is the only link over which supplies can be hauled.
Last year, a considerable stretch of the road itself collapsed, making it completely impassable for several weeks.

Explosion aboard Guernsey Collier

Holiday makers and residents helped St John Ambulance men as they carried a seriously injured seaman by stretcher up Clovelly’s cobbled High Street.
The seaman, Patrick Hagan, of Gleneravon, County Antrim, was one of three brought ashore by Clovelly lifeboat following an explosion aboard the 95- tons ss Rocquaine while she was sheltering in Lundy Roads. The two other men were Able Seaman Alexander Oboyle and Able Seaman Patrick Murray, both of Glenariff, County Antrim.
The Rocquaine, owned by Messrs Dorey and Sons, Guernsey, was on her way from Cardiff to Guernsey with a cargo of

Girl Rescued By Appledore Fishermen - 29th May 1959

Prompt action by two Appledore fishermen, Messrs Sidney and George Cann resulted in the rescue of a 14-year-old Barnstaple girl, Octavia Cummings, from the Torridge on Saturday.
They were tarring a boat near Appledore when they heard a cry for help. They went out in a motor boat, picked up the girl who was being swept out by the ebbing tide into the estuary and landed her at Instow.
Octavia had been swimming from the sands there and when she realised her inability to swim back against the current to the

Yatch And Owner Rescued At Appledore - 18th August 1972

Mr Andy Bowden, of Appledore, carried out what he thought was a smart piece of salvage when he towed an apparently abandoned cabin cruiser from the South Tail on Bideford Bar and moored it safely 100 yards off the slipway at West Appledore.
But while he was having a drink in the local pub, the owner of the yacht, Mr R J Parsley, of Barnstaple, recovered it.
Mr Bowden was far from pleased. 'The boat would have been smashed up if I hadn't brought it in,' he said. 'It already