April 1962

It was reported to the North Devon Hospital Management Committee’s annual meeting that just over 1,000 people are waiting to enter hospitals in the area controlled by the committee. On the North Devon Infirmary’s waiting list there are 747 people and on the Bideford and District Hospital’s list there are 165. The remainder are waiting to enter other hospitals in the area.

A record number of Swiss rolls were entered for the competition at the monthly meeting of Alwington WI. Miss Bird, of the SW Electricity Board was the judge and the prizewinners were: Miss S Hillman, Mrs H Williams, Mrs I Walter. The judge was thanked by Mrs R Daniel.

Appledore’s new lifeboat, which has undergone engine trials, will, it is hoped, be ready to leave the yards of her Isle of Wight builders next month. Provision date for delivery in May 15th. Travelling to fetch her will probably be Coxswain Sydney Cann, the mechanic, Mr Leon Richards and Capt Pat Brennan. Provisional date for the naming ceremony is June 27th.

 

For the next few months the Sunday silence of Appledore will probably be broken only by the tinkling of a single bell instead of being melodiously penetrated by a full peal. Last week the eight bells were taken down for removal to a foundry where they are to be recast. Parishioners will be able to welcome back the peal with light hears for the cost of recasting, something over £1,300, had virtually been met before the bells were removed. In fact only about £50 is outstanding.

 

The photograph shows children from the nearby Church Infants’ School looking with great interest at the bells lowered from the tower.

Five minutes after four local salmon netmen – Messrs Fred Lamey, Ernie Bignell, Dennis Bevan and Paddy Ryan – were rescued by the Appledore lifeboat, after their fishing boat had been swamped and sunk by heavy seas in the Torridge estuary, the rising tide covered the sandbank upon which they had been standing. The gale-like conditions limited the help other fishermen could give but Mr Tommy Cox’s boat retrieved Mr Lamey’s net.

Between 200-300 people, including Army teams with DUKWs, will be on duty and major local scenes of ‘incidents’ will be Appledore and Bideford. The timing is so arranged that the Manor Court parade to service at Bideford in the morning will not be ‘swamped’ by the operations. Emergency meals will be prepared and people rescued from ‘floods’ and the proceedings will last about eight hours from 10am including a break for lunch. Volunteer casualties are asked to write to Mr Moore, C.D. Officer, Bridge Buildings, Bideford.

Cllr A C Hooper, a member of Bideford Town Council for the past eight years, chairman of the Finance Committee, and Mayor in 1958-59, has definitely decided not to seek re-election next month. That means there will be at least two newcomers to the Council.

Hint of a scheme to widen High Street and Mill Street was given at Monday’s meeting of Bideford Town Council. The Highways Committee reported that they had instructed the Borough Surveyor to produce plans showing suggested improvement lines for both streets. The matter has arisen over a plan for the demolition of 62 Mill Street, and the erection on the site of a retail food store.

When a letter bearing a Baltic postmark recently came through a Bideford letterbox a 33 year old local man found himself, for the first time since the war, directly in touch with his father and sister whom he last saw in the hazardous days of war when the Russian armies were advancing on German-occupied Latvia. He is Mr Janis Vikmanis, of 26 Newton Road, a welder with P K Harris and Sons Ltd, Appledore. Born in Riga, where his father was foreman in a small distillery, Mr Vikmanis was forced to leave home in 1944. In 1947 he accepted the opportunity of coming to England and spent three years in agricultural work.

Tonight’s the night for the skittlers of Bideford and district, for the annual dinner of the local league is being held at the Westward Ho! Holiday Centre. Among those to receive trophies will be the Appledore WMC, a team who won the President’s Cup in a closely contested final. The team – Messrs P Reed, G Bignell, W Hutchings, H Morse, D Curtis, H Ranson. Losing finalists were Maltscoop A – E Edworthy, T Gubb, W Harris, I Gifford, J Williams and C H Tanton.

A couple who began their married life on 11s 6d a week and who recall difficult times without regret celebrated their golden wedding anniversary at Bideford. They are Mr and Mrs Fred Squire, of 6 Avon Road, East-the-Water. Mr Squire, who is 70, told the Gazette that before he was married his pay was 5s a week and that he got married with £7. He met his wife when she worked on a farm at Weare Giffard, earning 3s a week, and three years later, in 1912, they were married at Bideford. They had four children, three boys and one girl. One son, Mr A Squire, was killed while serving on HMS Glorious during the war. The others are Mrs D Ford, of Knowle Farm, Holmacott, Mr C Squire of Tawstock, and Mr J Squire, of 10 Chudleigh Terrace. All joined in the celebrations.

The death has occurred at the Torridge Hospital, Bideford, at the age of 94, of Mrs Blackmore, widow of Mr Robert Blackmore, the Bideford auctioneer, and mother of Mr W R Blackmore, of Sunningdale, Abbotsham Road. Mrs Blackmore, had always taken a very active interest in the High Street Methodist Church. She was the daughter of the late Mr W B Reed, a former President of the Bible Christian Conference and a founder governor of Edgehill College. Mrs Blackmore being one of the first five pupils at the College. Longevity runs in the family, for Mrs Blackmore’s father was in his nineties, and of her brother and sister, who survive her, the Rev J Ford Reed, for 14 years bursar of Shebbear College, and a former President of the United Methodist Conference, now living in Croydon, and who preached at Bideford a week or so back, is 92, and Mrs W J Redmore, who lives at Chelmondiston, is 82. Mrs Blackmore’s only daughter, Miss Louie Blackmore, predeceased her.

 

Buy a Trimph Herald 1200 with 2 driving seat positions from Hopkins Garage, Meddon Street, Bideford

Some of the new bus shelters which have just been erected on Bideford Quay by the Town Council, the bus company meeting half the cost.

The Mail goes through at the double! Introducing the ‘Royal Mail’ Bideford, Ladies’ Darts team runners-up to the Fox Hunters, Braunton, in the North Devon Ladies’ darts competition sponsored in aid of the Devon blind. This team beat teams from the Ship and Tradesman’s and Torrington to reach the final. The team – Mrs D Violet, Mrs F Giddy, Mrs B Elson, Mrs R Spry, Mrs F Cook, Mrs M Barnes, Mrs D Cousins, Miss J Vaughan, Mrs P Alford.

Bideford hospital’s egg and pound week annual appeal met with a very generous response. A stall was organised in the market and Messrs W J Blight and Son kindly lent a caravan which stood in Jubilee Square. Donations, collection boxes and the raffle brought in £95 12s. Over 106 dozen eggs, 115lb sugar, 25lb jam about 30lb of sundries were also collected. The winning tickets in the draw, drawn by Mrs Candler, resulted in the following winners – Mrs Harden (Northam), Mrs Dark (Westleigh), Mrs Wheeler, (Weare Giffard), Mrs Wiltshire (International Stores), Miss Reed (Torrington), Mr Hopkins (Meddon Street), Mrs Babb (16 Union Street), Miss Iscar (Elm Grove), Mr R L Cock, Mr Johnson (Umberleigh). The organiser of the Egg and Pound Week was Mrs M E Turner, of Landcross.

Mr Richard Benjamin Bond, of Bradworthy, who celebrated his 100th birthday has many stirring memories. These include working on the Canadian Pacific Railway in the pioneering days, meeting ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody and watching barefist Jim Corbett in action. Mr Bond, who has 2 surviving brothers – Mr Elijah Bond, of Hatherleigh, and Mr Sid Bond, who also lives at Bradworthy – left for Canada when he was 18. For the past 12 years he has lived with his nephew and niece, Mr and Mrs Gerald Bond, of Slashens. A cake has been baked by his niece Mrs Enid Bond and iced by her daughter, Mrs Betty Philp. Sadly, only four days after his 100th birthday, Mr Bond died.

A Buckland Brewer application for a grant to replace a damaged thatched roof, on a property called Thorne, with a more permanent covering came before the meeting of Bideford Rural Council’s Public Health and Housing Committee, who were reluctant to make a firm decision and recommended that the claim should be referred to the Ministry. The Surveyor, Mr L J Dunn, said they had never dealt with similar case. The Council could give a grant if they want to, up to a maximum of £400.

Last year was one without a wedding at Clovelly Parish Church. But there were eight baptisms, 11 people confirmed, and there were 11 funerals. Most Parochial Church Councils in this vicinity have much to occupy their attention in maintaining the fabric of their churches and Clovelly is no exception. The March issue of the Hartland Deanery Magazine reported that a considerable amount of time, money and effort had gone into the maintenance of church and churchyard, but though both are now in good order there was cause to expect further expensive repairs with the year. Hartland is devising means of meeting a bill of over £1,000 for re-pointing St Nectan’s Church tower, but perhaps the plight of near neighbour Woolsery is even more desperate.

A headmaster, Mr J E Lees, of West Huntspill, Somerset, has been appointed to Clovelly Primary School. He will take the place of Miss A N Blackmore, who relinquished those duties at the end of the spring term.

The Clovelly Estate Company is not to be allowed to establish a caravan site at Clovelly Cross, the Minister of Housing and Local Government has ruled.

Mr T B Slee, of Messrs T N Slee and Sons, Highford Farm, Higher Clovelly, receives from Col H J Wilson, vice-president of the NFU, the Seemeel Silver Challenge Bowl for area No. 14 (Devon) for quality bacon pigs sent most regularly to factories. The presentation was made at a luncheon at the May Fair Hotel, London.

Complaining that paper from the refuse collection vehicle was being blown about Hartland, Mr M H Prust told the Parish Council that in the contract it had been specified that a covered wagon should be used. Wastepaper should not be put with refuse, but should be burnt, said the chairman, Mr A J George. A covered wagon would not prevent it being blown from the dump. “It blows off on the way to the dump” retorted Mr Prust. It was agreed to refer his complaint to the Rural Council.

Saying it with flowers at Hartland.

A week ago the children of Hartland School were having their end-of-term examinations. For most of them these were over by Friday, but not for a number of children who attended the Methodist Sunday School. They were away from school on Friday afternoon to take their annual Sunday School examination, the results of which will be published later.

High tide driven by a north-westerly gale battered the local coasts. Worst hit was Instow where damage was sustained by the Marine Hotel. With the thumping mountainous seas the wall dividing the hotel garden and beach was knocked down allowing the water to sweep into the building, flooding a small dining room. It invaded the kitchens and the cellars, but the staff was equal to the occasion. Breakfast was served right on time. Another casualty was the flagstaff. Tons of seaweed were swept up off Instow front. Westward Ho! was also affected.

Instow worried by removal of sand and gravel taken from the rivers Taw and Torridge.

Members of Langtree Women’s Institute celebrated its 13th birthday with a dinner, an appetising meal comprising ham salad, fruit and cream, and cheese and biscuits being enjoyed. A birthday cake, given by Mrs Scott, was cut by the President, Mrs S Ley.

Mr Alan Richard Atkin, of Rectory Villas, Langtree, is involved in a car blaze at Monkleigh.

About the middle of next week a brighter light than ever before will flash across Bideford Bay from Lundy. The existing equipment at one of the island’s two lighthouses, which have been there since 1897, is now being modernised. It is anticipated that about next Tuesday a new permanent light of considerably greater intensity than the old will begin to operate. It is being installed at Lundy South lighthouse, which since March 23rd has been equipped with a temporary light. That was revealed by a Trinity House official after local watchers from the shore had wondered what had happened. They had been puzzled by a change in the flash periods of the light. Lundy ‘Old light’ was built in 1819. The existing lighthouses which superseded it stand at the north-west and south-east of the island respectively.

Questioned in the Commons about the recent “infringement of fishing rights” (at Lundy) when the fishing vessel Quiet Waters was fired on from Lundy, Mr W M Vane (Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries) said that the irregular use of firearms was a matter for the police.

Durrant House opening at Easter as a private hotel.

Northam Coat of Arms criticism.

Criticism was levelled at Devon County Council by Mr Twose for what he described as ‘the complete and utter waste of money’ in its proposal to build a dual carriageway between Northam and Bideford, but it was decided to defer the matter until next month and invite Mr V F Bowyer, a Devon county councillor, who is a member of the Chamber, to give information about the proposed development.

Mr G Weaver, of Parkham, told member of the local WI at their April meeting about a winter sports holiday enjoyed by himself and his family, the talk being illustrated by photographs. Competition – the prettiest cup and saucer – resulted: 1. Mrs L Dunn; 2 Miss P Stoneman; 3. Mrs J Piper; 4, Mrs C Rowe. Mrs S Tucker presided and hostesses were Mrs D Pickard and Miss P Stoneman. Earlier, members had enjoyed a conducted tour of Buckleigh Laundry where they were entertained to tea. Management and staff were thanked by Mrs Tucker.

At the annual meeting of Shebbear Playing Field and Village Hall Committee, presided over by Mr Peter Hearn, Mr W J Larkworthy (Secretary) reported that the hall had been used on more than 80 occasions during the year. He also gave details of a proposed extension to the north side of the hall, to include additional cloakroom space, stores, and possibly a skittle alley. Mr A J Bale (Treasurer) reported cash in hand as £376, and expenses for the past year £256. Nominations of eight members to serve on the committee were: Mrs J Griffin, Miss U Vanstone, Mrs K Sluggett, Mr A Buse, Mr A J Bale, Mr P J Hearn, Mr G Metter and Mr S G Pett.

In the presence of a large congregation the Bishop of Exeter, Dr R C Mortimer, confirmed 35 candidates at Torrington Parish Church. They were drawn from Torrington, Little Torrington, Langtree, Beaford and Westward Ho! Other clergy present were the Revs P G Harrison, P K Challen, H L Neville, R Howlett with lay reader Mr V N ffolliot Powell. Miss M Wright was organist.

A neck-and-neck race from Torrington to Instow ended happily for three people. But this was no ordinary race, for it involved the 10.30am train from Torrington and a car driven by 20 year old university student Mr Roger Blackmore, of Broomhill Farm, Petersmarland.

Torrington Town Council decided to give £100 towards the £1,900 swimming pool now being built at Torrington County Secondary School. A letter was read from the headmaster, Mr J W Bastin, inviting the Council’s assistance.

The name of the new flats built for old people in Calf Street will be Marwood Court, after Mr Marwood John Balsdon, owner of the site, Torrington Town Council have decided.

Two senior musicians resigned at the annual meeting of Torrington Voluntary Silver Band, and the retiring president and founder member, Mr John White, did not seek re-election. Terry Hutchings was elected deputy bandmaster, the youngest ever to hold that post. Others elected include Mr Denis Placknett, Mr Victor Perrior and Mr Tony Edwards.

Cllr J H Long has decided not to seek re-election to Torrington Town Council when his present term of office expires next month. He has been an active member since 1946, was Mayor in 1953-54 and 1954-55 and has served as an alderman. A native of High Bickington, he was in business in Wimbledon, retiring to Torrington in 1939.

Mrs D M Joy, of Westleigh, carried off three of the six major awards at Instow Spring Show, including her own for the best exhibit and that for most points. And this she achieved in the face of strong competition for the show has made tremendous strides since it was instituted by the Instow Flower Arrangement Club four years ago.

Do you remember the Cutty Sark Coffee Bar at Westward Ho!

Northam Urban Council, who want to acquire land near the slipway at Westward Ho! for coast protection purposes were told that it had been learned from the owner that the present tenant has an option to buy, which does not expire until later this year. It was agreed that he be asked to waive the option to permit the Council to negotiate with the owner.

A 10-year old boy on holiday with a school party at Westward Ho! Holiday Centre was rescued by coastguards after he had become trapped two thirds of the way up a 60-foot cliff. The boy, Stephen Crossway, of Audenshaw, became stranded while attempting to climb the cliff from the beach. It was nearly an hour before his plight was noticed. Mr John Forgan, coastguard in charge at Westward Ho! went to the spot with another coastguard, Mr John Miller, and a member of the local Lifesaving Apparatus crew, Mr Roger Wise, also of Westward Ho! Mr Forgan was lowered from the cliff-top to the stranded boy who, after a rope had been secured to him, was pulled up none the worse for his experience.

War Dept proposals indicate that they do not intend to use the beach at Westward Ho! to the south of Sandymere and that the whole area will be used as little as possible during July and August and at weekends. This was reported to Northam Urban Council when it was agreed that the War Dept be asked not to use the estuary during the period two hours before and two hours after low water because of the danger of fouling nets.

Pots of daffodils grown by members for competition brought a welcome breath of spring to the April meeting of Woolsery WI at which Mrs A Dennis presided. Winners were Miss E Perkins, Mrs P Chapple. Another competition – a summer jumper – resulted 1. Miss R Hooper; 2. Mrs Hillyer.