11 July 1969
who gave £150,000 to enable the National Trust to buy Lundy, visited the island for the first time.
He was given a great welcome by the islanders which rain and grey clouds could not diminish.
Mr and Mrs Jack Hayward, Mr and Mrs Charles Hayward, Mr Jeremy Thorpe, Mr and Mrs Peter Mills, Mr Gerald Whitmarsh, Lord Antrim and Mr John Smith all flew to Lundy by helicopter. Outside the door of the Marisco Tavern Mr Felix Gade presented Mr Hayward with an illuminated scroll. A leather bound volume of Lundy photographs bearing
…June 1965
This series of photographs by Mr John A Jeffery, of Gothic Lodge, Hartland, are among the many he took on a week’s holiday on the island of Lundy.
Mr Jeffery, frequently a prize-winner at Bideford Camera Club competitions, has made something of a speciality of bird photograph. He returned from Lundy with some splendid results but minus one of his cameras which he lost over the cliffs.
The photograph above is of puffins, who have come to be regarded as the emblem of the island. Mr Jeffery reports that there are now about 50 or 60 nesting
…1969
In an article dated 16 May 1969 , 'Suggestion that a prison should be built on Lundy has been rejected by the Home Secretary, Mr James Callaghan. He told Mr Harold Luscombe, prospective Labour Parliamentary candidate for Tavistock, who made the suggestion, that Earl Mountbatten during his 1966 inquiry into prison escapes and security arrangements had examined and rejected the possibility of using an island for a maximum security prison. Mr Callaghan said that such a site would concentrate the most difficult and dangerous prisoners in one prison. This, he considered, would create an excessively custodial atmosphere and would place an intolerable
…April 1969
which might have ‘certain peculiar advantages. But at this stage it would not be true to say we are going to buy it” said Mr David Gaiman, chief spokesman. He was speaking from the headquarters of the Church in this country, Hubbard College, East Grinstead.
Meanwhile a ‘Lundy for the nation’ campaign is gathering momentum. Three Devon M.P.s who believe the National Trust would be ‘the best and most experienced body to own and administer the island’ are issuing a nationwide appeal. Mr Peter Mills was due to meet the Director-General
…22 June 1956
This photograph looks down on the deck of the Lundy Gannet alongside Bideford Quay preparing to make her ‘maiden trip’ to Lundy as the new link between the mainland and the Island. Before she left on Wednesday’s morning tide, the Rev R C Dixon (Vicar of Appledore and Priest-in-charge at Lundy) blessed the vessel on its new mission.
Those in the picture, gathered round the hold are: Mr Dan Crawford; Mr W Pickett, Customs and Excise Officer at Appledore; Mr Peter M Lecky; Mr Trevor Davey, of Bucks, coxswain of the Clovelly lifeboat,
…25 April 1958
The condition of Mrs Kathleen Harman, wife of Mr Albion Harman, owner of Lundy, who injured her leg in a fall on the island and on Monday evening was flown from there by a rescue helicopter of RAF Chivenor to the King George V football field and taken by ambulance to Bideford Hospital, was yesterday stated to be progressing satisfactorily.
The rescue helicopter, piloted by Flight Lieutenant A G Carroll, was called in response to a message from Lundy received by Hartland coastguards over the radio transmitter from the island. It touched down at
…29 December 1961
Thanks to the cooperation of the rescue helicopter section of RAF Chivenor, the handful of residents on the island of Lundy, plus the six light-housemen stationed there, had their Christmas turkeys and mail delivered on Christmas morning.
The turkeys and mail, with a varied selection of other supplies, including a Christmas tree, were to have gone out in the motor vessel the Lundy Gannet, but for a week she had been confined to Bideford quayside because continuing easterly winds up to gale force made it impossible for her to make a landing at Lundy.
When
…9 February 1951
The stamps have been designed and drawn by Mr John C A Dyke of Sudbury Cottage, Fairy Cross, near Bideford.
In order of rising denomination the stamps carry drawings of the following birds: Puffin, Guillemot, Kittiwake, Razorbill, Fulmar Petrel, Oyster Catcher, Black-backed Gull.
The full Gazette article is dated 9 February 1951
2 March 1951
He leans against a tablet at the beach threshold. It reads: ‘This island is entirely private property. There are no public roads, footpaths or rights of ways whatever hereon.’
The tablet was placed there early last century when the ‘pirates’ of Trinity House had the ‘audacity’ to put a ‘landing place’ tablet of their own there.
Gazette article dated 2 March 1951
The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Princes Edward and Andrew enjoyed a day off on Sunday during
The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Princes Edward and Andrew enjoyed a day off on Sunday during their Westcounty tour with rare informality when they visited Lundy Island and walked over it for three hours in perfect weather.
Only a handful of people knew of the projected visit and their lips were sealed until Saturday night when the island's 30 inhabitants plus 70 visitors were called to a meeting in the Church of St Helena, the only building large enough to contain them all.
It was
Between £700 and £1,000 worth of damage was caused to Lundy church following the exceptionally
Between £700 and £1,000 worth of damage was caused to Lundy church following the exceptionally high winds of a fortnight ago.
On Saturday builders went to the island in the Lundy Gannet to carry out emergency repairs to the east end window (which, in fact, faces south), part of which has crumbled away. But the Vicar of Appledore and priese-in-charge of Lundy (Rev Royston Dixon) considers that these repairs which will cost in the region of £200-£300, will be sufficient to last for several years.
The 15cwt tenor bell of St Helena's Church on Lundy has been returned to the island following
The 15cwt tenor bell of St Helena's Church on Lundy has been returned to the island following repair and is to be re-hung to ring out in honour of the Royal silver jubilee in June.
3 March 1961
But it is apparent when reading ‘Lundy Bristol Channel’ that here was no task; only a labour of love – a privately printed edition limited to 250 copies – are crammed facts in profusion, but they have been woven into so interesting a tapestry that even those to whom Lundy is little more than a name, or perhaps a smudge on the horizon,
…12 July 1957
Mr Dixon also comments “There was a time when I almost despaired of being able to put Lundy Church in good repair. Now I am becoming definitely optimistic”.
The full Gazette article is dated 12 July 1957
23 June 1961
Lundy is renowned for its lobsters, but this one, weighing 10lb, was described by Mr Trevor Davey (skipper of the ‘Lundy Gannet’) who brought it to the mainland, as ‘the biggest I ever saw’. It was consigned to the New Inn Hotel, Bideford.
The full Gazette article is dated 23 June 1961
23 August 1963
Announcing this in the current issue of his church magazine, the Vicar of Appledore, Rev R C Dixon, who is priest-in-charge of Lundy, writes that on a recent visit there he had further discussed the proposal with the island’s owner, Mr Albion Harman, with Miss Elsie Heaven, a great-niece of the founder of Lundy’s church, and with an informal meeting of islanders and regular visitors.
Describing the bells as a beautiful peal, the Vicar
17 November 1950
Photographed alongside each other at Bideford Quay are the 'Lerina' which, it is understood, is being withdrawn from the Lundy to the mainland service after being engaged on it for just over thirty years, and the 'Margaret Rose' (formerly the Clovelly lifeboat 'City of Nottingham') which is now undertaking a regular service between the island and the mainland.
Gazette article dated 17 November 1950
19 September 1958
At 7am on Monday morning the Bishop of Exeter, Dr R C Mortimer, boarded the Lundy Gannet at Bideford Quay to go to Lundy where, in the evening, he became the first diocesan Bishop to officiate at a confirmation service there.
It was the first time such a service had been held on the island since 1912.
In the church of St Helena, lit by oil lamps and candles, he confirmed four candidates, all members of one family. They were Mr Stanley Charles Smith, Wayland Pondsbury, Joan Lerina and Judith Cynthia Daniels.
Mrs Audrey Smith was the
5 December 1969
She is Katherine Jane, daughter of Mr and Mrs John Ogilvie, of Barton Cottages, on the island. She was born on the mainland on October 1st.
Baby Kate spent the three hours on the trip in a carry-cot on deck, carefully watched over by her parents who have made their home on the island since their marriage nearly six years ago. They are seen preparing to carry their daughter to her new home. The island church
…17 October 1969
The stamps, depicting the transport of mails to and from the island, have been designed by Mr John Dyke, and printed by Messrs Bradbury, Wilkinson and Co., who printed the stamps of 1929, 1930, 1939, 1950 and 1957.
The price of the first day cover will be five shillings.
Four of the five new stamps are shown above. The 1 puffin depicts Postmaster F Allday. The 2 puffin shows the Lundy Gannet.
…A plaque from the battleship HMS Montagu which was wrecked on Lundy in 1906 was presented to
A plaque from the battleship HMS Montagu which was wrecked on Lundy in 1906 was presented to St Mary's Church, Appledore, for safe keeping. It was presented by Captain Nelson Clover, RN, retired, now 80, who was midshipman on the Montaue when she ran aground. Accompanying him (in the photograph) is Rev Gilber Molesworthy of Berrimans, Northam, to whom he originally gave the plaque and who suggested it should find a home in Appledore Parish Church.
A letter from Lord Montagu of Beaulieu said 'I was terribly interested to hear of
Mr Alfred Blackwell
Mr Alfred Blackwell of Instow, a former London police officer who retired and came to North Devon in 1936 celebrates his golden wedding anniversary. He wrote about Lundy extensively and has broadcast about it on many occasions.