Mrs Vivian Patt, former Mayor of Bideford and now a member of Northam Council, has been elected the first woman president of the North Devon branch of the Master Bakers’ Association, and is among the very few women in the country to have held such office in the association.

Devon, in fact, now has two women branch presidents, Mrs Matthews at Torquay and Mrs Patt in North Devon.
At the annual general meeting of the North Devon branch Mrs Patt was unanimously voted to succeed Mr Colin Dudley, of Combe Martin, in the office.
For 22 years in the bakery trade, Mrs Patt told the Gazette she was thrilled by what she considers is the greatest honour to be paid to the business. But she emphasised it was one she shared with her husband, Mr Fred Patt, who had himself been unable to accept an invitation because of the demands of business, but had readily agreed that she should do so and made it possible for her to accept.
The office involved a fair amount of travelling and attention to wider aspects of the trade.

Gazette article April 1972