Elmdale acknowledges work of 81 year old resident

Built one ended, Elmdale Terrace opens on to the old Northam road. A stream bars the direct route to the Kingsley Road and bus stops. For those on the other side of the stream a visit to the sub-post office at Stanhope Terrace on the old Northam road meant a roundabout journey.

But through the persistence of residents and the work of 81 year old Mr Harry Verren of 15 Elmdale Terrace, the obstacle of the stream was removed when the Mayor of Bideford (Cllr. W.H. Short) opened and christened the ‘Verren footbridge’ which gives direct access from Elmdale Terrace to Kingsley Road.

Mr Verren’s work in building the bridge was praised and as a cabinet maker he had been using woodwork tools since he was 14 and was happy to be able to use them still today. At last, after some years of pressing for it, they had got the bridge but he had never thought he would be the one to build it.

Gazette article 2 June 1950