Rummaging around at Torrington, schoolboy Bryn Williams and his friends came across a bottle that intrigued them

although it was broken at the neck. Not only was the glass extremely thick, but embossed on the bottle was ‘Rogers, Excelsior Works, Appledore.’

Bryn was the more interested because his father, Emlyn, is headmaster of Appledore County Primary School. Mr Williams could tell his son that the bottle was of a type used for ‘pop’ – in the days when it was a fizzy drink and nothing to do with music – and that the pressure of the gas sealed in the contents by pressing a glass marble against a rubber ring.

But he knew nothing of the makers and inquiries, even from someone who has lived in the township for over 70 years, produced no real information. All that seems to be known is that a man called Rogers once had a chemist’s shop in Bude Street – and I am told chemists were known to manufacture mineral water many years ago.

Gazette article dated 13 May 1977