July 2011 The Bideford Free Public Library and the librarian

Posted on 20/06/2011 by RoseArno


(I came across this the other day in the North Devon Journal for 20th August 1891. We all know the present librarian is nothing like the one
described here – but when are we going to get real fires back into the building – I would love to be able to relax in front of one with a book
in hand! )
Peter Christie

Sir Would you kindly allow me to make a few remarks respecting the librarian? The library certainly is a great blessing to the town and neighbourhood of Bideford generally and to the working classes especially a great benefit

in that it has kept many of  our young men from those public houses and beer shops where a great deal of their time and money would be worse than thrown away. It certainly must be

very accommodating for  anyone, when time will

admit to go in and get the daily, current passing events of the political, literary or commercial world. And as a ratepayer I must cheerfully subscribe my proportionate share towards its support. But sir, while I am so taken up with the library, I  am sorry to say it is not so with the Librarian, for there are some things of which I have had reason to complain. If I am rightly informed, when anyone comes into the library and asks for a book or paper(if there) it is the place of the librarian to supply them with it;

also in the winter to get the rooms comfortably heated by fire. But Sir the way in which he discharges his duties amounts almost  to his being disagreeable. Some other persons having made similar complaints, I just mention one of the few of my own. Last winter I went into the

book-room just after lighting up, which I sometimes do, to get  a little historical,

scientific, geographical and other information. While sitting there with a book in my hand, (by the fire) the librarian in a most deliberate manner, poked out the fire. After that he went and pushed up the window to give free admission to the cold air. There was a very cold easterly wind blowing across the river at the time. A gentleman came in just after,  and feeling the wind so piercing went and pulled the sash down again. If the librarian is not removed, or an improvement made in this respect towards visitors to the library, I for one, shall protest against anything more being done towards the support of the Bideford Free Public Library

Yours respectfully

H Holloway

One Hundred years ago from the Bideford Gazette

King of Lundy

The venerable white bearded cleric, the Reverend HG Heaven in deciding to quit Lundy island for the mainland for health reasons, is leaving a cliff bound home where he has spent seventy three years of his life. His father, a West Indian planter,  purchased the island. With the exception of a disused lighthouse and the old keep the only building on the island was a straggling farm house. The long rule of this uncrowned king has been a wise one and has justified the old joke that  his people live in the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’

Swimming

On Saturday evening three members of Bideford Swimming Club -Messrs Waldron,Yarnold and Babb attempted to swim from West Appledore to Bideford Bridge – a distance of 4 miles. Two completed the swim,  and the other, about three-quarters the distance.

Bideford Children’s Court

At this Court at Bideford a fourteen year old youth was fined one shilling (5p) costs for using obscene language in New Rd.

Gas Lighting

At Bideford Council Meeting the Mayor said he thought  the fixing of the gas lights in the town was going on satisfactorily. They were a great improvement and all would be in position by the

Winter

Mike Davy – Bideford Archives

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When the tide comes in

Posted on 25/05/2011 by RoseArno

I’m not talking about sandy beaches or rock pools, but the saltmarshes above the Iron Bridge and beside the river Yeo.

Here, an hour or so after the tide approaches the top of Westward Ho! beach, salt water is sweeping up the river and flowing the wrong way along the guts and pills that drain the water out of the marshes where the scurveygrass, orache and glasswort grow in abundance. The tide has already crept up the steep mud banks, or glidders as  Henry Williamson called them, and overspilled the “Pool of the Six Herons” where these days three or four is a good count.

Now the small crabs, hiding in their holes in the banks of the guts, sense the approach of the salt water laden with the debris that contains the delicacies of their diet, and they creep out on to the mud and scurry down to the water’s edge to start feasting as it rises further towards the grass and sea asters growing on the flat marshland.   (Photo © Graham Hobbs)

If it’s a spring tide, which occurs a day or two after full and new moon every month, the salt water rises over the grass of the marshes and floats away much of the dead leaves, sticks and litter that was left behind by the lesser tides of the preceding weeks. It’s quite a puzzle how all the wildlife living in the grass survives this inundation, but I think the answer lies in the fact that the high tide only lasts an hour or two and innumerable pockets of air are trapped under the grass roots for long enough for most of the little shrews, voles and invertebrates to survive.

There are numerous ant hills among the higher marshes and these seem to thrive despite the flooding while the little black wolf spiders that run around all over the grass when the sun is out can often be seen skating around on the surface of the water, being so light they don’t even get their feet wet. These spiders can easily be distinguished from true water skaters that live on ponds because while the latter have stiff hairs on their feet enabling them to race around on the water at high speed, the spiders can be seen running like mad and getting nowhere because their feet just slide on the smooth water surface.

It is noticeable that there are no mole runs in the saltmashes, and when rabbits foolishly burrow in the banks they can often be seen swimming for the shore when caught out by a spring tide. I’ve seen crows waiting on the bank and picking off baby rabbits that arrive too exhausted to run for safety and on one occasion, when collecting firewood by boat, I rescued a bank vole who was drifting down river on a log.

Eventually the tide subsides and water flows outwards down the guts again as the saltmarshes drain off. The spiders grab hold of plant tops as they emerge from the water, to avoid being washed away, and no doubt the ants in their hills give a communal sigh of relief as water ceases to seep into their underground chambers and they can carry their precious pupae, that we call ants’ eggs, back up near the surface to be warmed by the sun.

Meanwhile I have a boatload of driftwood logs to unload and saw up for next year’s fires.

Chris Hassall 13/05/2011

In St Mary’s Church, Bideford

We are starting an all age communion service every second Sunday of the month and the first one is on Sunday 12 JUNE at 10 am to celebrate Pentecost.

worship for families and people of all ages – including drama, worship songs, and activities for the children.  Everyone welcome – Do come and join us!
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June Edition – Landscape Gallery.

Posted on 23/05/2011 by RoseArno

Picture of the wreck “Sally” Westward Ho! Beach

Beach Patterns.

Hartland Quay in winter.

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Gallery – Landscape

Posted on 02/05/2011 by RoseArno

Peppercombe Beach © Tom Arno

Welcombe Beach © Tom Arno

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C is for Clovelly

Posted on 26/04/2011 by RoseArno

Clovelly is now famous as one of the most picturesque villages in England, and receives huge numbers of visitors each summer. However it remained just a small herring fishing port, quite unknown to the outside world, until writers such as Charles Kingsley and Charles Dickens first wrote about it in the mid-nineteenth century. Charles Kingsley, whose father was rector in Clovelly in 1830-36, featured Clovelly extensively in  “Westward Ho!” in 1855, as did Charles Dickens in  “A Message from the Sea”, first published in 1860. In fact no-one one has ever produced a more evocative description of it than Dickens, though he did not explicitly identify the village in which he set his story as Clovelly, instead calling it Steepways:

“. the village was built sheer up the face of a steep and lofty cliff. There was no road in it, there was no wheeled vehicle in it, there was not a level yard in it. From the sea-beach to the cliff-top two irregular rows of white houses, placed opposite to one another, and twisting here and there, and there and here, rose, like the sides of a long succession of stages of crooked ladders, and you climbed up the village or you climbed down the village by the staves between, some six feet wide or so, and made of sharp irregular stones. The old pack-saddle, long ago laid aside in most parts of England, as one of the appendages of its infancy, flourished here intact. Strings of pack-horses and pack-donkeys toiled slowly up the staves of the ladders, bearing fish, and coal, and such other cargo as was unshipping at the pier from the dancing fleet of village boats, and from two or three little coasting traders. As the beasts of burden ascended laden, or descended light, they got so lost at intervals in the floating clouds of village smoke, that they seemed to dive down some of the village chimneys, and come to the surface again far off, high above the others. No two houses in the village were alike, in chimney, size, shape, door, window, gable, roof-tree, anything. The sides of the ladders were musical with water, running clear and bright. The staves were musical with the clattering feet of the pack-horses and pack-donkeys, and the voices of the fishermen urging them up, mingled with the voices of the fishermen’s wives and their many children. The pier was musical with the wash of the sea, the creaking of capstans and windlasses, and the airy fluttering of little vanes and sails. The rough, sea-bleached boulders of which the pier was made, and the whiter boulders of the shore, were brown with drying nets. The red-brown cliffs, richly wooded to their extremest verge, had their softened and beautiful forms reflected in the bluest water, under the clear North Devon sky of a November day without a cloud. The village itself was so steeped in autumnal foliage, from the houses lying on the pier to the topmost round of the topmost ladder, that one might have fancied it was out a bird’s-nesting, and was (as indeed it was) a wonderful climber.”

No wonder the tourists started descending on Clovelly. Though the herring fleets are long gone the houses, the stepped cobbled street, and the donkeys remain. So, thanks to the care with which the village has been preserved, tourists still flock to it in their thousands. But visit Clovelly out of season, or stay overnight and explore it during a summer evening after they have gone, and you’ll find that it remains a veritable Steepways.

Brian Randell

P.S. Even if you cannot visit Clovelly, you might like to visit my web page at: http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/Clovelly/

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Northam Twinning Association

Posted on 02/08/2010 by Tango Alpha

Northam Twinning Association

Northam Twinning with France and Germany has been going on for almost 40 years, with a good deal of bonhomie, entente cordiale and freundschaft during all that time.   Some of our members were there at the start, and we keep it going because we have such a very good time with our French and German friends.  Mondeville, outside Caen, Normandy, and Buddenstedt in what was East Germany, are our link towns, and for the majority of us, we ‘clicked’ straight away.   We soon  realised that we all have the same ideals, laugh at the same jokes, love our children, take pride in our homes and the hospitality we offer to guests;  we have  attended weddings as well as funerals, birthday and anniversary parties, and we all have  grievances about our politicians and the way our countries are run – plenty to talk about there!   Many families have spent holidays together, apart from the Twinning.

We would like more people to share the enjoyment we have with our European friends, and we invite anyone, family, couple, or single, to get in touch with us if they would like to join the Twinning.     The exchanges take place in the Spring and Autumn, for a long weekend, usually Thursday to Monday.   Outings and entertainments are arranged, and we find that we get to know each other better by sharing enjoyment.  You don’t have to speak French or German;   most of us get along with sign language and pidgin-English! It all adds to the sense of humour we share.

If you would like to join the Twinning and be matched up with a family,  or  would like more information, please phone Jenny Rickard on 01237 473479who will be pleased to hear from and help you.

Diana Warmington, (Twinning member since 1971)

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Bideford Bridge Trust

Posted on 29/07/2010 by Tango Alpha

Bideford Bridge Trust


Book Grants are given both to students who live in the Parish of Bideford, who have just finished secondary education, and also to students who live in the north of the Parish but to the south of the Link Road. Discretionary Bursaries are only given to students living in the Parish of Bideford.

Persons living in Bideford and its immediate neighbourhood who are similarly going onto or continuing higher education may be eligible for assistance in the event of severe financial hardship (please note that “severe” indicates something over and above the necessity of seeking a student loan). Each of these cases are considered in any event on their own merits.

In addition, any other persons generally commencing a further education course are again eligible to apply for assistance to be considered on its own merits.  Grants were awarded last year up to £150.

For further information please write to The Steward, Bideford Bridge Trust, 24 Bridgeland Street, Bideford, Devon, EX39 2QB, or alternatively telephone The Steward’s Assistant on (01237) 473122.

Bideford Buzz has particular reason to be grateful to the Bridge Trust. They award us and many community organisations in Bideford an annual grant (ed)

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The North Devon Fuchsia Society

Posted on 11/07/2010 by Tango Alpha

A friendly group of people, dedicated to the growing and showing of Fuchsias.

Richard Stapley (Secretary)
4, Bowden cottages,
Blakes Hill Road,
Landkey,
Barnstaple,
EX32 0LR
01271 831292

Meets on the 1st Thursday of every month except for August (Annual Show), December (Christmas Lunch) and January (winter break).
The meetings are held in the Springfield Centre, Chanters Road Bideford and commence at 7.30 pm.

The membership fee is £4 single with a joint fee of £7.  Click here for website for more details.

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The Devon Medieval Combat Alliance

Posted on 10/07/2010 by Tango Alpha

The Devon Medieval Combat Alliance having recently returned from Wales and a trip 500 years back in time are looking forward to the new season, our eleventh .Based in Bideford, we are a non-political, non-religious organisation which sees education as its primary aim, through promoting public appreciation of life in the early Middle Ages (twelfth to fifteenth centuries in particular) ,by demonstrating the social and military customs of the period at both private and public events. We also aim to further the good fellowship between all medieval re-enactors, their families, friends and the public .


Ours is a totally self funding organisation which depends on its finances from performances and subscriptions paid by members. For the last ten years we have always performed for charitable organisations at cost for public displays or occasionally, for expenses, at many large ‘battles’ held throughout the country, many of which support charitable aims. The trip 500 years back in time referred to in the opening paragraph was in fact a re-enactment of a tournament held at Carew Castle in Pembrokeshire in 1507 when Sir Rhys ap Thomas, was honoured by being made a Knight of the Garter, . The celebrations included hunting with hawk and hound, feasting, music and dancing.
The Devon Medieval Combat Alliance is available for hire to help your fund raising efforts at cost.

Please Contact: S. Jewell ,Chairman, Devon Medieval Combat Alliance Tel: 07989 127697

www.dmca.org.uk

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Two Bideford Soldiers from World War 1

Posted on 08/07/2010 by Tango Alpha

( Photo is of William Lewis May)

Recently at our local history society meeting, here in Netley Abbey, Hampshire, we had a talk about the First World War (WW1).  Afterwards my wife Betty spoke to the lecturer about a distant relative, who enlisted early, at 15 years old and who was killed at the battle of Loos on Saturday 25 September 1915, when he had just turned 16 years we understand.  This very knowledgeable gentleman said he would research the name and report back to her.  In a few days he was able to tell us that William Lewis May, a Bideford lad, had  joined the 8th Battalion of the Devonshire regiment and was killed in action during the attack on the Breslan Trench, on the first day of the Battle of Loos.  Further, thanks to the kindness of Betty’s aunt Lily, formerly of Westleigh, we are in possession of his medals and death plaque, together with a more detailed account of his last battle.

It was also suggested that, as we live very near a WW1/ WW2 Military Cemetery here in Netley Abbey we might like to visit the grave of another Devonshire Regiment casualty Private J Walling, who died on 24 September 1916 and who also came from Bideford.

The Military Cemetery at Netley Abbey was a part of the largest Military Hospital ever built to care for the wounded and sick of the wars being fought by our troops abroad.  Opened in 1863 as a direct result of Queen Victoria’s insistence that her soldiers fighting for her abroad, should have proper and better hygiene and treatment, as more soldiers were dying of disease and poor treatment than in battles, it was claimed.  At this point Florence Nightingale became involved, and was asked to suggest how this new Military Hospital might be built to take into account the above problems.  It seems however that not too much notice was taken of her suggestions because the hospital buildings were too advanced in construction for them to be incorporated.  The Royal Victoria Military Hospital played a major part during WW1 and WW2, but was allowed to become derelict, finally being demolished in 1966.  All that is left is the Chapel building, now a visitor centre and viewing tower.

We wonder if any of J Walling’s relatives still live in Bideford. We already know those  from William Lewis May’s family;  as they may like to know that on the very few occasions each year we walk around the war graves, we pause at Pte. Walling’s headstone, just for a quiet moment with him.

John and Betty (Nee May) Lawrence

3 June 2010

We wonder if any of J Walling’s relatives still live in Bideford. We already know those  from William Lewis May’s family;  as they may like to know that on the very few occasions each year we walk around the war graves, we pause at Pte. Walling’s headstone, just for a quiet moment with him.

John and Betty (Nee May) Lawrence

3 June 2010

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Bideford Buzz

Posted on 06/07/2010 by Tango Alpha

Welcome to the  on-line edition of the Community Newsletter for Bideford   and adjoining towns, villages, and rural area.

‘Bideford Buzz’ is produced  by a team of volunteers and relies on our local community for articles.   If you are interested in supporting this newsletter we’ll be glad to hear from you.

Editor – Rose Arno (Bideford Buzz).        

Telephone 07929-976120, or E-mail: [email protected]

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