Railway Coaches For Sale - R Blackmore & Sons is advertising a clearance sale of the Bideford, Westward Ho! and Appledore Railway on the 20th April by auction. Four Coaches built by the Bristol Carriage Company, each 48ft long and 8ft wide on modern bogie wheels: two coaches 66ft long and 8ft wide also with wheels, and all are in excellent condition. Want to know a bit more about the Railway? Here is a link
Steam Roller runs amok - A serious accident was averted at Ilfracombe this week by the presence of mind and courage of the driver of the Urban District Council’s steam roller, Mr J Wilson. The steam roller was being used to repair Fore Street, the top portion of which is very steep, and when near the top of the road the gearing pin flew out. This caused the roller to run backwards and the friction brake had little effect in checking the momentum. Many children from Fore Street School were coming up the road at the time and with great presence of mind the driver succeeded in steering the roller clear of them. About 50 yards further down the road the roller struck the front of Mr Usher’s grocers shop, carrying away the whole front. The engine then ran up against the Crescent Hotel where it was brought to a standstill. Several children had a miraculous escape.
Property for Sale
Valuable corner shop and stores known as 83 High Street, Bideford, currently in the occupation of The Star Tea Company. Comprising, on the ground floor the shop, a store and a small yard. 1st Floor, a front room with balcony, storeroom, 2 wide landings and a w.c. 2nd Floor – 3 bedrooms and a box room, now used as a storeroom. In the basement there is a kitchen, scullery and Bakehouse, also used as a storeroom. These premises occupy a very prominent corner position having a frontage onto the High Street of about 18ft and a return frontage to Mill Street of about 37ft. It is interesting to note that part of the premises is held for the residue of a term of one thousand years and another part for the residue of a term of two thousand years, subject to an annuity or rent charge of 20/-. More information on The Star Tea Company can be found here
Nuttaberry Wharf, East-the-Water comprising stables, stores and sheds now in the occupation of Devon Motor Transport. The area is about 70ft x 23ft and is offered with vacant possession.
A dwelling house, 23 Milton Place, containing 2 sitting rooms, large kitchen and 3 bedrooms on 1st floor with a large attic over. Glass covered yard, Garden and Workshop. Vacant Possession
Littleham - Double fronted house known as Calver House, 2 sittings rooms, 4 bedrooms and box room, kitchen, back kitchen, yard, garden, pig and poultry houses. Vacant Possession. Also adjoining this is Calver Cottage a house with garden , at present in occupation but offered with Vacant Possession upon completion.
Instow - To be Let by Tender a desirable and compact Farm, Middle and Lower Huish. 110 acres farm dwelling and outbuildings. Also a smallholding consisting of a cottage with kitchen, back kitchen, parlour, 3 bedrooms and 7 acres of pasture land.
Bradworthy - Farm Lands sold. South Warden - 48 acres purchased by Mr Cann at £800. North Meadow 2½ acres, also to Mr Cann at £180. Six acres grass land sold for an undisclosed sum to Mr T Blight. West Fields - seven acres to Mr L Blight at £230. South West Fields - 10 acres to Mr Bray at £230 and Kinworthy Fields - 14 acres to Mr Cann £200.
The following article relates to Mr J L Richards, of Appledore:
Torrington in Darkness - Owing to the Torrington Gas Company demanding an increased charge for public lights, the Town Council, after an exchange of numerous letters has taken a firm step and declined the Company’s charge. Consequently whole streets were on Friday evening in darkness, and candle lamps and electric flash lamps were prominent during the night. A requisition by 21 ratepayers was forwarded to the Council demanding to be acquainted with the full facts and a meeting, chaired by the Mayor, Mr Luxton, and various councillors, was held. It heard that the Council had considered that they should enter into a new agreement with the Gas Company as to a fair price for street lighting. The company was asked to state terms and they did as follows. Providing all 66 lamps are lighted the charge would be £2: 18s: 6d per lamp per quarter (£11: 14s: 0d Per Annum). A clause to this added that if only part of the lamps were lit the charge would be extra. The Council declined and offered £4: 1s :9d per year.The Company had refused the councils offer and consequently the lights went out. Had the Council accepted the Gas Company’s terms it would have necessitated a 1s 1½d rate.
Bideford in the Light. On March 8th, the Gazette reports that Bideford Council will have received a report from the Electric Light Committee that, as they were empowered to deal with this matter, they have an agreement with Messrs Crompton & Co of Chelmsford for the undertaking of an Electric Light Company of Bideford on an appropriate site and that the council will not object to the overhead wiring of certain streets to be hereinafter agreed upon. The agreement also provides what maximum prices may be charged for supplying power, heat, lights and lighting, both to public and private customers. The proposal of the promoters is to generate the current on a site at East–the–Water by means of producer gas plant, wood waste and sawdust being used as a fuel being supplied at 6d per ton from Messrs Bayley and Bartlett. Two schemes envisaged 4000 lamps at a cost of £10,000 and another costing £20,000 would be large enough to provide private and public lighting and power for any industry requiring it across the entire town.
Lundy Emergency - The Lerina, the Lundy mail boat, owned by Mr A.L. Christie of Tapeley Park had to make a special trip early this month. A Mr Jilks, who lives in Bristol but was working on the island, was taken seriously ill and a doctor was sent for. Jilks, who served in France during the war and in total had five gunshot wounds and the pain had become unbearable. Dr Littlewood from Bideford arrived on the Lerina and proceeded to the top of the island where the men are in the cottages. Jilks needed medical attention and was conveyed to Bideford hospital. Most of the men on the island have seen active service during the war.
Lundy also fielded its football team, the 'Pirates of Lundy':
Summer Time - The Government announce that Summer Time will commence from midnight on Saturday 2nd – Sunday 3rd April until midnight on Sunday October 2nd. The Summer Time Act 1916 had specified the exact dates and the need for some variation had been noticed. Why was British Summer Time implemented? More information here
The number of visitors and home-comings to Bideford this Easter has been about normal and there has been considerable amount of railway travelling. Yesterday saw the first railway excursion from Bideford since the early days of the war and upwards of 100 availed themselves of it to go to Exeter. Bookings to Barnstaple numbered about 70 and to Ilfracombe 40, while 300 journey by train to Torrington where the special Easter attraction was a football match in which the Hansen Recreation Club was engaged with Barnstaple Town. A similar attraction to Bideford brought 400 visitors by train from Barnstaple and a goodly number from Torrington.
Modest Lifeboatmen - The Clovelly crew have refused rewards to which they were entitled saying that they did not wish to be paid for going to the help of a brother fisherman in distress. The Clovelly herring fleet had been caught in a gale and the lifeboat put to sea in search of a boat that had not returned. The crew were some hours searching before they were recalled, the missing boat having reached harbour with only a few inches of freeboard.
Bideford Maintenance Case. Appearing before Bideford magistrates was a local seaman who had been arrested on a warrant for £43 due on a maintenance order in favour of his wife. The defendant complained that as soon as he landed from the ship the police were waiting for him with a warrant, and he was locked up until he could get the money from his employers to pay, and this was hampering him getting work. It transpired that a fortnight before his arrest the wife had received £14 arrears from the defendant by warrant at Grimsby and that she issued a further warrant for further arrears. The defendant was sentenced to imprisonment for one day.
Russian Jewels - This story appeared in the National and World news page of the Gazette. Mr Francis Meynell, a former director of “The Daily Herald”, was abroad paper buying when a large quantity of pearls and diamonds came into his possession for conveyance to England as part of a subsidy by the Soviet Government to the newspaper. “I received a warning” he said “that I was to be searched on my return to England “I went out to a local sweet shop and bought a box of chocolate creams and took it back to my room and pressed a jewel into every chocolate in the lower layers. I took the box to the Post Office and sent it to England. The box, worth perhaps some £10,000 (approx. £300,000 in today’s values), arrived in London and my wife and I had to suck large quantities of chocolates to free the jewels.
The Gazette had several adverts for Motor cars during this month. After the War there was a pent up demand for vehicles and the town garages are trying to encourage locals to spend some cash! With the benefit of hindsight we know that this boom will not last.
