Thanks to Mr Verren2 June 1950
Elmdale acknowledges work of 81 year old resident
Persistence usually brings its reward… as residents of Elmdale Terrace, Bideford, and its immediate neighbourhood can testify.
Built one-ended, the terrace opens on to the old Northam road. A stream bars the direct route to the Kingsley Road and bus stops. For those on the other side of the stream a visit to the sub-post office at Stanhope Terrace on the old Northam road meant a round-about journey.
But, through the persistence of residents and the work of 81 years old Mr Harry Verren, of 15 Elmdale Terrace, the obstacle of the stream was removed when, just before Whitsun, the Mayor of Bideford, Cllr W H Short) opened and christened the Verren footbridge which gives direct access from Elmdale Terrace to the Kingsley Road.
Introducing the Mayor, Cllr R L Cock (Chairman of the Council’s Highways Committee) said it might be thought the Council moved very, very slowly, but if the general public realised the difficulties that body was up...
Another house needs building7 July 1950
In cities and towns which received attention from the Luftwaffe such scenes as that pictured above were a commonplace sight during the recent war.
But no bomb ‘winkled out’ this house – it has not yet been built.
Off the Northam Road, Bideford, Mr Arthur Beer has a site for four houses, but only three people with licences for houses to be built. Two of those three wanted end houses, hence the gap in the middle, a commentary on present day building regulations. The slats from the two houses bordering on the gap seem to be stretching out their hands in an endeavour to join up and fill in the gap.
Gazette article dated 7 July 1950
Tan yard13 February 1959
A Torrington landmark
which has stood for many years is vanishing. It is the old stone chimney which towers over the now disused area in New Road, known locally as the ‘tan-yard’.
Most of the yard, once a prominent centre of industry in the town, was owned by the Clinton Estate Company until their recent sale when it came into the possession of two local firms – the Reg Sussex motor-cycle business, and Messrs Sing and Gist, plumbers and dealers.
A spokesman told a Gazette reported that the two firms had not yet finally decided what should be done with the site. “But we are pulling down the old buildings there and the chimney, too, will come down” he added.
Employees of Messrs Sing and Gist are carrying out the demolition work.
The last time the ‘tan-yard’ was in use was during the second world war when camouflage nets were stored there. In earlier years, it had housed a leather works industry which was well known throughout this part of the country and which exported a fair
...
Tone down the design25 November 1960
House too modern for Monkleigh?
After the Surveyor (Mr L J Dunn) had confessed: “I am a bit of a square when it comes to architecture”, Bideford Rural Council on Tuesday refused planning permission for a house which a nurse wishes to build in the Monkleigh locality.
The Surveyor told members that it was a two-storey building with a mono-pitch roof covered with aluminium. The external walls would be painted white with black plinths. The design was the first of this modern type in the district, he said. Although internally the house was very functional, it would be out of keeping with the neighbourhood.
He recommended that the plan be refused on the grounds that the house would be an intrusion in the rural landscape.
That would not prevent the erection of a reasonable house, pointed out the Chairman (Sir Dennis Stucley). A design of this nature would be out of harmony in the countryside.
Mr J Wickett, who said that the site was very suitable, pointed out that this was the second...
An old toll bridge23 June 1950
Ha’penny (Halfpenny) Bridge, the gateway from Bideford to Weare Giffard, gets its name, one automatically supposes, from the old toll days.
The remains of the old toll cottage are on the other side of the bridge, which has a deceptive ‘hump’ as those motorists who have gone over it at a crisp speed have found out. The meadow scene looks peaceful in our picture but on occasions during the winter the arches are flecked with foam and the road flooded by a turbulent river Torridge.
Gazette article dated 23 June 1950
A shoe shine?30 June 1950
Surrounded by scaffolding, Bideford's statue of Charles Kingsley undergoes a periodical 'wash and brush up'.
A glance at the top and bottom of the photograph illustrates the 'before and after' effect. It appears that just at that moment a shoe-shine was being given.
Gazette article dated 30 June 1950