May 1962

Births announced – at 7 Marland Terrace, Bideford, to Bill and Barbara (nee Piper), a daughter, Susan Caroline, sister for Colin; at Gammaton Barton, to Rosemary and Tom, a daughter, a sister for John and Michael; a son, Paul Charles, for Thomas and Hilary (nee Piper) Headon; at Muddix Farm, Northam, a son, Andrew Robert Darrell, for Mary (nee Braund) and Geoffrey, brother for Jayne; to Mary and Eric Mugford, a son, Dennis John; to Kathleen (nee Elliott) and Derek Pimble, a daughter, Kate Samena; at Northam, to Terry and Jean (nee New) Curtis, a son, Andrew George; to Ivor and Jean (nee Dymond) Hughes, a daughter, Amanda Jane; a daughter, Belinda Anne, a sister for Gregory, for Peter and Margaret (nee Copping) Short; to Albert and Mary (nee Hammett) Collings, a daughter, Tina Elizabeth; to Phyliss (nee Prouse) and Aubrey Philps, a daughter, Susan Loraine, a sister for Angela; to Joyce (nee Johns) and David Seaman, a son, Peter Anthony.

At Abbotsham WI, Mrs Courtney welcomed a new member, Mrs Smith. Appreciation was expressed of the good response to the hospital egg and pound collection organised by Mrs Winter and Miss Phillips.

The funeral has taken place at Alverdiscott Parish Church of Mrs Mabel Glass, widow of Mr T Glass, of East Woodlands. The Rev B Tinsley officiated and Mr S Hill was the organist. The bearers were Messrs T Bolt, E Bolt, T Wicketts and N Jeffery.

Home from Canada, Mrs Bessie Digby is spending a month with relatives at Alverdiscott.

Appledore Congregational Church will be reopened after extensive redecoration costing in the region of £350. The scheme is part of celebrations to mark the church’s tercentenary this year. The reopening will be performed by the senior member, Mrs Bertha Goodwin, of 8 One End Street, who has been associated with the church for 50 years. A feature of the ceremony will be the dedication of a 5 foot high cross of olive wood, from Palestine. Dr R Hunt, of Northam, choirmaster at the church, has recently spent some time in a Nazareth hospital and while there arranged for the cross to be made. Dr Hunt’s friend, Dr Tester, was able it to Appledore personally.

Hope for the future smooth running of the Blue Lights Hall at Appledore was expressed by Mr G A Jacob, chairman of Northam Urban Council, att he first annual meeting. The meeting appointed a management committee on which the public are represented by Mr and Mrs O Reveley, Mesdames Ommanney, O Powe, S Eastman and W Fisher, and Council representatives are Messrs A C Saunders and S Eastman, Mr Henry Bennett reported that during the two-and-a-half years that the hall had operated unofficially takings had exceeded £359.

Mr Dick Jenkins, aged 67, of 18 Newton Road, Bideford, will, at the end of this month, meet two of his brothers for the first time. They were born in Bermuda, as were four other brothers and a sister, after Dick’s parents had left this country. Dick was born in Appledore and, soon afterwards, his mother and father moved to Chatham, leaving him with his uncle and aunt, Mr and Mrs R Woodcock. Seven years later Mr and Mrs Jenkins snr decided to emigrate to Bermuda and they travelled to Appledore with the intention of taking Dick with them, together with another son and a daughter, who had been born in Chatham. But Dick was just not interested. He was too happy in Appledore to wish to leave, and for one thing his uncle was coxswain of the Appledore No. 2 lifeboat.

There were cheers from the bystanders and blasts from sirens at Appledore as the beflagged new trawler for Milford Haven took to the water. She had been christened by Mrs Bedford, wife of the managing director of the owners, Hector Trawlers Ltd. The new vessel is the Hector Gannet, the second of two new-type stern trawlers, the first being named the Hector Gull.

Appledore’s new lifeboat is to be named Louisa Anne Hawker, and will replace the Violet Armstrong.

Only the crane driver was injured when one of the tall metal cranes at the Appledore shipyard of P K Harris and Sons Ltd toppled over while moving a load on to a partially constructed trawler. Mr Arthur Evans, of 38 Western Avenue, sustained a broken nose a shock. With him in the cabin, which crashed about 50 feet were Mr Keith Foley of 42 Meddon Street, and Mr Ronald Johnson, of 10 Greysands Crescent.

Vital role that Civil Defence can play in peacetime was proved when more than 200 local volunteers took part in an exercise based in Westward Ho! and Bideford. They were called upon to cope with the situation after an imaginary breakthrough of the Pebble Ridge by the sea, with the consequential flooding of parts of Northam and Bideford. Willing hands assist in unloading one of the many ‘casualties’ brought by DUKW upriver from Westward Ho! to Bideford during Sunday’s Civil Defence exercise. From the quay, the children were driven to the local grammar school for a hot meal.

Number of evacuees to be housed in the Bideford rural district in the event of an emergency will be 6,500, the Rural Council’s Finance and General Purposes Committee were told. In a letter from the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, it was stated that the rural district was regarded as a reception area for evacuees. A total of 12,000 would be housed in the borough of Bideford and 8,000 in the area covered by Northam Urban Council.

Did you visit Bideford’s newest shoe shop, Blakey’s?

Bill and Fred are two common names but at the home of Mrs Bessie Williams, 4 Capern Road, they are the names of two very uncommon pets – three-week-old fox cubs, which were brought home by 16-year-old Terry Williams. When they first arrived their eyes were not open, but with great care and attention the cubs are growing up normally. One of the cubs’ greatest pleasures is riding in the family car. But Bill and Fred will not be able to stay at Mrs Williams’ home for much longer because of the ruling of keeping pets in council houses.

Resignation of Bideford bandmaster, Mr A R Bryant, was received with regret by the Town Council General Purposes Committee. His services were praised by several members.

Total of 1,200 signatures have been obtained by Colin West and Roger Green, Bideford Grammar School boys, to the petition they have organised to the Minister of Education. They are protesting against the decision of the Minister that a new county secondary school shall be built in the grounds of the grammar school.

After 30 years with the Devon Constabulary, Police Constable Arthur J Seldon has retired but is to continue to live at Bideford. North Devonian Mr Seldon has served at various stations including Lynton, Sidmouth, Westward Ho!, and Exmouth. He is married with a son in Devon Constabulary stationed at police headquarters and another serving in the army at Penang.

Bideford firemen had a busy time. They were called to the home of Mr J A Bridgeland at Nutaberry Cottages, East-the-Water, a house in Myrtle Grove, a chimney fire in Stucley Road.

Furniture and effects from No. 2 Greenlands, Buckland Brewer are for sale.

Second prize of £20 in the worldwide “British Seamen’s competition” has been won by Skipper Trevor Davey, of Churchpark, Bucks Cross, master of the Lundy Gannet. He is also second coxswain of the Clovelly lifeboat.

Contribution of £100 with a limit of a 1d rate may be offered by Bideford Rural Council for repairs to the sea wall and slipway at Bucks Mills. It is considered imperative that access to the beach should be taken over as a public right of way and this was agreed by Mr B Clark, owner of the slipway. It was also decided to ask local residents to contribute £50 towards the cost.

Mr Nigel Tritton, of White Cottage, Bucks Mills, has complained to the Council about the state of the dump which was still covered with refuse. A dustbin scheme should be introduced he wrote. The dump was bound to be an eyesore, remarked the Surveyor. It was not really a dump at all, contended Mr Irwin. It was a slide. “Stuff is thrown down and hits people on the beach. ”Now it is securely wired off” added Mr Dunn, “I think we have done all we can and nature will deal with the rest. It will soon be covered by undergrowth.”

Clovelly has had a present from ‘down under’ – from the town of Randwick, New South Wales.

Frithelstock Village Hall Committee are now ‘sitting comfortably’ as far as finance is concerned. Thanks to a highly successful fete to mark the hall’s first anniversary, the committee have been able to pay off all the outstanding amounts and now have a credit balance of nearly £150. The anniversary was opened by Mrs M C Sanders, of Orleigh Mills, and she was presented with a bouquet by Sarah Woolf. Among items of interest were skittling for prizes, pony rides and an auction. Skittles were: 1. Mr Bernard Heal (Langtree); 2. Mr A Adams (Frithelstock); 3. Mr A Hearn (Frithelstock). The local WI served 150 teas. A dance later in the hall raised £31.

Live and dead farm stock from East Yagland Farm, Hartland.

Twenty-four years as a coastguard and 13 of these as district officer has taken Mr William Charles Russell Walker, of Hartland, to practically every corner of the British Isles. He is being succeeded at Hartland by District Officer George Read, at present based in the Shetlands.

The 1st Hartland Brownies held a sale with a difference in the Church Hall under the direction of their leaders, Mrs Doreen Rowe; Mrs Doris Cook and Barbara Conibear.

Efforts of a former clerk to Hartland Parish Council to obtain an additional street light in School Lane have failed. Mr W D Burrow offered to raise the money for the installation of the lamp and to pay the first year’s running charge. But the Council, having learnt that to instal the light would cost £11 10s, plus £4 8s 8d a year to light it, have declined the offer. Mr H M O’Donnell, contending that Hartland was already well served in the matter of street lighting, said the Council were already spending £100 a year on the amenity.

Lundy waters are quiet again – owner, Mr Albion Harman, gives up rights to fishing ‘war’. He stressed that he did not intend to take the matter of the fishing rights to court and added “I should like my many friends in the Westcountry and, of course, the people who love Lundy, to understand why I have taken this step. It seems to me to be a logical one and will, I hope, be of ultimate benefit to the island. But, it must be understood that it is without prejudice to all the other rights and privileges associated with Lundy, which we shall guard most carefully.”

One of North Devon’s most popular soccer players, who has been with the same club for the past 25 years, has announced his retirement. He is David Weeks, whose brothers, Reg and Harold, played for Torrington continually from school leaving age, until retirement in their thirties. Perhaps the Weeks tradition will be carried on by his young son Paul – but at the moment he is a rugger enthusiast.

Young runners from Appledore and Bideford took the first three places in a gruelling cross-country race revived at Torrington May Fair. Starting and finishing at the Town Hall, the 14 runners had to go down the steep slope of the Commons, ford the river, across fields and around a distant tree stump and back. First home and winner of the section for runners aged 16 or over was John ‘Bobbo’ Hocking of Appledore. Second was Ken Taylor, a fellow member of Appledore Boys’ Club. The under-16 section was won by Graham Mountjoy, of Bideford, and second was John Gilbert.

In his last annual report as Regional Librarian at Torrington – he is shortly leaving for Cornwall – Mr Patrick Drake tells a story of continuing success. Mr Drake has obtained an appointment at Newquay where a new library is nearing completion.

At her first election attempt, Mrs Margaret E Pitts, wife of the licensee of the Royal Exchange Inn, New Street, topped the poll at Torrington municipal election, and was over 200 votes ahead of her nearest rival. Mrs Pitts will be the only woman member of the Council and only the second in its history. She was formerly in the Civil Service for 23 years and served as a welfare officer for war orphaned children under the Ministry of Pensions.

There was no doubt that with the added backing of both players and the public Weare Giffard Football Club would continue to function, assured Mr Walter Hedden, a club committee member, at the club’s annual dinner. He pointed out that financially the club was not well off but as long as players were keen there would be no danger to the club’s future. He thanked the trainer, Mr Jack Mitchell for his efforts. Club chairman, the Rev Michael Lucas, proposed a toast and Mr F Wilkey responded. About 45 people attended the dinner and a profit of £10 was made from the dance which followed in the village hall.

Stuck midway up an 80-fott cliff at Westward Ho! on Sunday, Mr E P Bizzell, of the Shrubbery, Westward Ho! was rescued by Mr David Lang and his son, Gregory, of Bideford. Mr Bizzell had been salvaging timber on the beach and was climbing up to the top of the cliff when he got into difficulties. Mr Lang and his son used ropes that were on the spot to lower Mr Bizzell to the beach.

Possibility of redeveloping the Westbourne Terrace area of Westward Ho! is to be investigated by Northam Urban Council. Car parking was not the main concern. The slipway locality was the focal point Westward Ho! and something should be done to draw people there.

Regrettably, no non-committee parishioners attended the annual meeting of Woolsery Parish Hall when a successful year was reported. The treasurer, Mr G Bailey, said that although during the year expenditure had been heavy because interior decoration had been carried out and electric heaters installed, there remained a good credit balance.

Woolsery Methodist Church held Sunday School anniversary services. Preacher was Mr A Luxton. Miss Hillary Johns and Master Adrian Johns sang a duet and Adrian contributed a solo. There was also special singing by the choir.