Torrington News

Queen crowned by Mayoress

6 May 1955

Not required for TA purposes

5 January 1968

Imperial Service Medal

30 May 1965

Brilliant sunshine

25 June 1965

Torrington Carnival

May 1966

Its namesake

26 January 1973

Would look different today

August 1961

Demolished

19 December 1958

The sun sets on the Setting Sun

13 February 1959

Unusual

16 December 1977

A lecture from the police

20 October 1961

Devon's Tenth Health Centre

Devon’s tenth health centre opened in March 1968

Brown Owl of Torrington Brownies, Resigns

After 9 years service, Mrs N Edgecombe, Brown Owl

Mr and Mrs Newcombe celebrate their Golden Wedding anniversary

Married in 1908

Torrington Badminton - 1954

In the winter season just concluding Torrington Badminton Club have played 28 matches and won 20

MacDonald MBE - 1959

Photographed with his wife and daughter, outside Buckingham Palace last week, when he received from the hands

Golden Wedding, Stapleton - 1957

Next Sunday will be a day of memories for Mr and Mrs Arthur Stapleton, of 70a Calf Street, Torrington

Torrington Blue Coat School - Hiawatha

First Schools performance at The Plough

Lieut-Col Joseph Eric Palmer chosen by Queen to be Sheriff of Devon

Lives at Rosemoor, Torrington

Member of Torrington Town Council and served on the Town Trustees

Formerly employed at a local glove factory

Queen crowned by Mayoress
6 May 1955

May Fair at Torrington concludes with the Carnival

At a dance last week the Carnival Queen and her attendants were chosen as seen above with the Queen - Miss Margaret Parish of Torrington - being crowned by the Mayoress, Mrs J H Long.

From left to right: Miss Jane Sanders (High Bickington), Miss Agnes Vanstone (Shebbear), the Mayoress, the Carnival Queen, Miss Phyllis Sanders (Langtree), the Mayor and Miss Roslyn Mitchell (Little Torrington).

Gazette article dated 6 May 1955

Torrington Town Council are to purchase

the town's Drill Hall which is not now required for Territorial Army purposes.

Following a letter from the District Valuer, the Council have agreed to pay £3,600 for the unexpired term of the 99-year lease expiring December 25th, 2010. It is proposed to use the building, which is centrally situated in Fore Street, for recreational and social purposes.

Application is being made to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government for consent to the raising of a loan for the purchase.

Gazette dated January 5, 1968

Mr Reginald T Jones,

seen in the centre of the picture wearing the Imperial Service Medal, could conceivably be the last of Torrington Post Office staff to receive the decoration.

No one seems to know whether the award, from the Queen, made for meritorious service, will be discontinued under the forthcoming changes in administration.

Mr Jones has just retired after completing 45 years in the Post Office service, beginning as a messenger and finishing as postman higher grade.

The medal was presented by the head postmaster of Barnstaple, Mr J Eddleston. Mr W S Hutchings, the then Mayor, and also on the Torrington Post Office staff, on their behalf presented an electric clock. Miss Avril M Beer, postal and telegraph officer, handed Mr Jones a barometer, the gift of Torrington and Bideford Sports and Social Club.

In the photograph with Mr Jones are Mr H R F Young, Mr B E J Quick, Mr D A Gould, Mr P Ellis, Miss M L Bissett, Miss E Hoyle, Mr W J Page and Mr L Steer.

Gazette article dated

...

Opened on Torrington Vicarage lawns by Mrs R A Wallington,

the wife of the Rector of Langtree, the annual St Michael’s Church fete proved a great success, about £142 being raised for Church funds. In brilliant sunshine helpers on the various stalls were busy throughout the afternoon.

Mrs Wallington was introduced by the Vicar, Rev P G Harrison.

There were over 20 entries for a fancy dress competition for children. The competition was won by Ann Searle dressed as a poodle. Second prize went to Jennifer Slade and Linda Marson as hula-hula girls, with Sheila Marson, Bo-Peep, and Jennifer Oke, English Rose, third and fourth respectively.

Stall holders were Mesdames H Vincent, Warne and Bromhead; Miss L Mathews and Mrs J Heard; Mesdames J Nicholls, K Finnamore, R Lugg, A Ayre, E Ebsworthy, J Darch, T Vodden, Gordon, K Blight, M Hutchings, W Hoare, H Oke and others; Mesdames L Eastmond and C R Popham, Miss Gordon; Miss E Beer; mr C R Mitchell and Miss K Mitchell; Mesdames Coombe and F N

...

A topical note

in more ways than one was sounded by this tableau at Torrington Carnival. Entered by the girls of Sudbury's Torrington factory, with uniforms lent by the local Voluntary Silver Band, its humorous touch was perhaps a sign that the recent misunderstanding involving the band and May Fair was on the way to being resolved. Martial music was supplied by radiogram.

Gazette article dated May 1966

People living in the Torrington area

were invited to help in the preparation of photographs which is to be sent to Torrington, Connecticut.

The request for help came from Mr Harold Bundy, chairman of the International Committee of the Rotary Club of Torrington, which plans to twin with the Rotary Club of their American daughter town.

First contact with the Connecticut club was made by Mr Alan Stacey, formerly manager at the Torrington Unigate depot, while he was on a visit to the States, and another link was forged when a visit was paid by Mr Arthur Newcombe, of Newton Abbot.

Contact has also been made between the Rotary Club of Torrington and that in Aseda, Sweden, in this case through Mr Eskil Vilhelmsson, managing director of Dartington Glass Ltd and it is hoped to make this an official twinning too.

More on Torrington, Connecticut, can be found at THIS LINK

Full Gazette article dated 26 January 1973

Just over 400 years ago the traveller-antiquarian John Leland came through Torrington

and described it in his journal as ‘a great large toune and standith on the brow of an hille and hath 3 fair streates in it”.

Making no claim nowadays to being a large town – in fact it is one of the smallest boroughs in the country – Torrington still stands on its hill and certainly has more than three fair streets, as this recent aerial photograph shows.

Gazette article dated 18 August 1961

Torrington Town Council are exploring further an offer by the Clinton (Devon) Estates Co.

to hand over to the Council free, subject to the Council paying legal costs, the six almshouses held by the estate in New Street.

The Council have received a report from the District Valuer on the almshouses which stated that with the exception of the roofs, which required attention, the premises appeared to be in sound structural repair.

Members of the Council are at present considering the extent of improvements contemplated, bearing in mind the possibilities of getting the grant towards the cost of the works.

The consent of the appropriate Ministry will be required for the transfer.

One of the agreed conditions will be that the houses shall continue to be let to old people.

Article dated 19 December 1958 and a 1964 article provides an update on progress.

Closing of ‘Setting Sun’

An inn which has stood at Torrington for many years closed down on Sunday night.

It was the ‘Setting Sun’ belonging to the brewery firm of Starkey, Knight and Ford Ltd. The licensee and his wife, Mr and Mrs A Clarke, have become well known in Torrington during the two years in which they have occupied the premises.

Now they are moving to the Globe Hotel, at Barnstaple. They came to Torrington from Mortehoe.

Mrs Clarke told a Gazette reported on Saturday: “The structural conditions, especially in the upstairs rooms, which are very old, have got into a bad state over the years. So the brewers have decided to shut it down.”

Mr Clarke said he thought the inn was extremely old. “I think that, next to the Black Horse Inn in the Square, this place is one of the oldest in the town,” he added.

Article dated 13 February 1959

To find one postwoman these days is rare enough in this part of the world

– to find two in one small town is remarkable

While most women on Torridgeside will be busy in their kitchens immediately before Christmas preparing for the holiday, Miss Marjorie Bissett and Miss Becky Gamson will be building up to a crescendo of mail delivering at Torrington.

The hustle and bustle of Christmas deliveries are no strangers to Miss Bissett, who each day leaves her home at 7 Potacre Street, Torrington, in time to report for duty at the post office at 6.15am. She has been delivering letters at Torrington for 26 years, the last 14 of them as a full time employee.

Her colleague, Miss Gamson, drives in from her home at 1 Canns Terrace, Beaford, to reach the post office at about the same time.

Both women reckon they walk about 10 miles a day and it’s a six day a week job. They serve between them hundreds of houses with Miss Bissett having the perhaps unenviable job of delivering in Mill Street.

Miss...

Anxious search for three missing Torrington boys

Three Torrington boys who were reported missing on Sunday were found some nine hours later, in falling light, on the banks of the river Torridge at Beam, three miles away from their homes.

The boys were Tony Allen, Nicholas Hammett, both of the Calvesford Estate, and Richard Roach, of Town Park Estate.

Mrs Allen said the boys were playing at the estate soon after 10am. At 1.30pm her husband, Mr Reg Allen, went out to call his son for dinner and there was no sign of them. Mr Allen scoured an area of some 15 miles without any trace of them. He returned home and a full scale search party was recruited. Then Mr and Mrs Arthur Burke, 70 Town Park, Torrington, were seen near Torrington station, and they told searchers that they had seen the boys playing on the Bideford-Torrington road. Mrs Allen and her parents, Mr and Mrs W Ayre, travelled along the Bideford road, with Mr Bob Pearce following. They reached Bideford without finding the...

Devon's Tenth Health Centre - March 1968

Devon’s tenth health centre opened in March 1968 in Torrington and as well as being the surgery for the local doctors it will house the County Council’s health visitor, district nurse, chiropodist, speech therapist, mental welfare officer and other social workers. The Centre cost £20,000 to build and equip, and has consulting rooms for doctors and County Council staff, a receptionist office, a waiting room and pram shelter.

Brown Owl of Torrington Brownies, Resigns - March 1968

After 9 years service, Mrs N Edgecombe, Brown Owl of Torrington Brownies relinquishes her post because she is moving to Bideford. In this picture, Mary Warne is seen presenting a bouquet of flowers to Mrs Edgecombe

To celebrate their golden wedding last week, a Torrington couple, Mr and Mrs Thomas Newcombe, of 199 New Street, had lunch at an Exeter hotel before going on to visit their only daughter, Mrs Doris Tickle, at Topsham.

The day’s expenses were met by their grandson, David.The day’s expenses were met by their grandson, David.

Mr and Mrs Newcombe were married at St Michael’s Parish Church on December 23 1908 by the then Vicar of Torrington, the Rev Frank Emlyn Jones. Now aged 74, Mr Newcombe left school at Langtree at the age of 11 to work on his father’s farm, and continued on the land with Mr Woolacott, of Yarnscombe. After eight years he joined the staff at Torrington railway station where he served for 25 years until his retirement in 1947. Mrs Flossie Newcombe, who is 71, was formerly Miss Pantoll. A native of Torrington, she left school at 13 and worked for Mr Jackson making athletic and sports equipment before going to Messrs Vaughans, the glove manufacturers. She now runs a...

Torrington Badminton - 15th April 1954

Badminton Successes at Torrington

In the winter season just concluding Torrington Badminton Club have played 28 matches and won 20. The Club, which was founded in the early post-war years, plays at the Secondary modern School, club nights being Tuesdays and Fridays. Mr Ken Dowding is the club chairman.
Matches have been played against Okehampton, South Molton, Chumleigh, Winkleigh, Lynton, Ilfracombe, Pilton, Westward Ho! Chivenor and Bude.
In the summer most of the Badminton Club members turn their attention to tennis, as members of Torrington Tennis Club. By jumble sales and other efforts the Tennis Club members have raised £130 for the laying of a second hard court. The first hard court was laid two years ago. New members of the Club will be very welcome.
Badminton Club members in the photograph above are: Front row - Miss Edna Short, Mrs K Jackson, Mrs Mary Fowles. Middle row - Mr Len Ashley, Mrs Connie Yeo, Mr C R Lucas (treasurer), Miss...

MacDonald MBE - 13th March 1959

Photographed with his wife and daughter, outside Buckingham Palace last week, when he received from the hands of H.M the Queen, the M.B.E. awarded him in the New Year Honours List, is Mr T R MacDonald, of 'Viewfield', Torrington, head forester to the Clinton (Devon) Estate Co.

Golden Wedding, Stapleton - 1st November 1957

A Day of Memories...

Next Sunday will be a day of memories for Mr and Mrs Arthur Stapleton, of 70a Calf Street, Torrington - memories of fifty years of married life, for it is on that day that they celebrate their golden wedding anniversary.
A family gathering at their home will mark the anniversary.
Mr and Mrs Stapleton were married in 1907, at Torrington Baptist Church by the Rev. Franklin Owen.
They have four surviving children, three sons and a daughter, ten grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. One daughter died in 1914.
The sons are Messrs Reg Stapleton, of Torrington, and Fred and Bill Stapleton of London, and the daughter is Mrs Rene Mills, of Torrington.
Mr Arthur Stapleton, who is 73, left school at the age of 13 and worked on a farm at Peters Marland for 12 months before going to Croydon in the grocery business. He later moved to Teignmouth in the same business.
After returning to Torrington at 16 he worked for a short time...

Torrington Blue Coat School production of 'Hiawatha'

Torrington Blue Coat Primary School's production of 'Hiawatha' was the first school production staged at The Plough. A total of £42 was taken at the door

The new Sheriff of Devon is to be Lieut-Col Joseph Eric Palmer, of Rosemoor, Torrington.

He was chosen by the Queen on Thursday of last week when she appointed the 1964 Sheriffs of England and Wales by pricking the roll of Sheriffs with a gold handled steel bodkin.
At Rosemoor, Col Palmer farms 400 acres, the holding including some woodlands. Twice Mayor of Torrington, he is chairman of the local Bench of magistrates, a member of the Town Council and local representative on Devon County Council. He is a member of many local organisations and committees. For 30 years he served in the Territorial Army, for most of that time in the Duke of Lancaster’s Yeomanry. For his part in the landings in France he was awarded the French Croix de Guerre and mentioned in despatches. He holds the Territorial Decoration with bars. After the war he for some time commanded the North Devon Regiment of the Royal Devon Yeomanry, RA, TA.
His wife, whom he married in 1939, was formerly Lady Anne Walpole,...

Mr John Quick, who is a postman, was formerly employed for 30 years by a local glove factory.

He has given many years service to public work. During the last war he served with the 2nd Devons, being severely wounded at Neuve Chappelle in France in 1915. He is a past president of the local branch of the British Legion and for many years has been a representative on the Exeter and Barnstaple War Pensions Committee.
For some eight years he has been a member of Torrington Town Council and he has served on the Town Trustees for about 15 years, being this year’s chairman. He is also a Commons Conservator. In August 1939 he was appointed a magistrate for the Borough of Torrington.

Gazette article 13 July 1943

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