Bideford Buzz

On October 1^st the Gazette proclaims that it has been “The Greatest Week of the War” with the Western Front ablaze and Bulgaria surrendering; the following week we are told that “pincers are closing on the Western Front”; Franz Ferdinand’s successor Charles 1 has “renounced participation in State affairs”. Towards the end of October we begin to hear hints that Germany is making moves towards peace.

However on the home front, tribunals continue to take place as men are still needed. In fact a Government directive has been issued to all Chairmen of Tribunals warning them to show no favour or deviation from the required replacement soldiers. Mr W C Friendship, baker, has been exempted until March 1919 with many other men given 3 or 6 month exemptions.

The many friends of Capt. J Whitefield RNR of Westcroft, Bideford will be pleased to learn of the further honour that he has won in the discharge of his duty in seeking the destruction of enemy submarines. He has previously been awarded the Italian Bronze Medal for military valour. He has now had the Distinguished Service Cross conferred.

Alderman J M Metherell, J P and R S Chope, J P, ex -Mayor of Bideford will be among those visiting the Western Front this weekend at the invitation of the War Office.

The local food committee notices state that the maximum price allowed to be charged for milk is 7d per quart, with butter capped at 2/4d per pound.

Jam, marmalade, syrup, treacle and honey will be rationed from November 3^rd. Children from 6-18 years will receive an extra ration of jam. Perkins & Son, Fruit Merchants of The Quay, Bideford, have been appointed receivers and packers of fruit for licensed jam factories. They will pay 3d per pound for blackberries and £12 per ton for small apples.

A £1 reward has been offered for information regarding the theft of birds’ eggs from the museum.

The Barley Mow Inn in Mill Street, Bideford, is offered for sale.

The North Devon Permanent and Terminable Benefit Building Society based at Bridge Buildings in Bideford (established 1853) offers a rate of 3.5% on deposits. Mortgages are granted on Easy Terms.

Harvest festivals and thanksgivings are being held around the area, including at Instow, Littleham, Little Torrington and Lavington in Bideford.

It is interesting to note that the Swastika was an international symbol signifying good luck until a German Nationalist leader adopted it in 1920, and it is now reviled world-wide.

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There are several Court cases this month that are worthy of mention.

Brought before Bideford Borough Magistrates was Frank Rendall, 21, a clerk of 15 Victoria Grove Meddon Street. He pleaded Not Guilty to a charge of “riding a cycle furiously” down Bideford High Street at 8.30pm on Saturday August 17^th. According to the police report he was doing a least 20 mph and barely avoiding the groups of public walking in the street. He rode around the Bank corner, reappeared from Mill Street and was apprehended. Being found Guilty he was given the option of 14 days imprisonment or a fine and after reflection decided to accept a fine of One Guinea.

The Bench at Bideford County Sessions, made up of Messrs A G Duncan, the mayor Mr A Adams, Rev C H Vivian, F W Bennett, J Henriz-Smith, S Fulford, J Cock and W T Charlewood, hears of 2 youths summoned for using petrol for driving a vehicle under hire that was not properly licenced.

Wm Jenkins of Bay View Northam was fined for failing to obscure a light that could be seen for miles. Fined 6/- as a warning. The owner of 12 Kingsley Terrace Westward Ho! fined one guinea for not keeping a register of lodgers.

A 12 year old boy who pleaded guilty to stealing a pocket watch from a waistcoat in a harvest field and who was recently convicted of cruelty to a horse was ordered to receive 6 strokes of the birch. (In the United Kingdom, birching as a judicial penalty, in both its juvenile and adult versions, was abolished in 1948, but it was retained until 1962 as a punishment for violent breaches of prison discipline.)

Farmers are requested to note that Prisoners of War are available for threshing at the rate of 5d per hour and can be obtained from the POW camps at South Molton, Charles, Knowstone, Worlington and Shebbear. The men will have to be fetched and returned.

Mid-September sees the following report about Parkham weather “It is now much against any progress being made with the corn harvest. The corn which is not cut is being driven down by boisterous weather and will be very slow and troublesome to cut and will cause a lot of wastage by the ripe corn falling out. The outlook at present is rather serious with much corn waiting to be stacked”.

At Hartland the cottages and blacksmith shop mentioned last month sold to Mr John Goaman for £105.

A W Cock auctioneers have an auction at the Friendship Hotel where Nos 1-4 Clarence Terrace Meddon Street were to be sold. Number 1 sold to Mr George Brend for £245 and Number 2 to Mr Robert Ellis for £260. Numbers 2 & 4 were withdrawn at £240 & £255 but were subsequently sold after the auction for higher prices.

These and many more items of local interest are available to read at the Bideford & District Community Archive at the Council Offices, Windmill Lane, Northam. Tel: 01237 471714. Open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, 9.30am – 1pm.

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(Regular readers will recall that the Bideford, Westward Ho! and Appledore Railway closed on Wednesday 17^th March 1917). R Dymond & Son are selling by auction on August 21^st the Sheds and General Stores left after the rolling stock had gone. An Engine Shed (wood), 2 Wooden signal boxes, 4 more corrugated iron huts and offices, 7 miles of telephone line from Bideford to Appledore consisting of wire, insulators and posts plus 3 level crossing gates and wheel gear for opening them, 110 Windsor chairs, forms, desks, trestle tables, large street lamps, gate lamps, engine head lamps, signalling lamps and stoves. 7 acetylene generators plus 20 lots of track and train equipment.

Bideford UDC and Bideford RDC urgently require ‘All fruit stones including date stones and hard nut shells for immediate and urgent war purposes’. Collection from jam factories, hotels, restaurants and canteens as well as private houses is needed. With the consent of Education Authorities school children are urged to bring stones for despatch to a munitions department in southern England. Stones will be converted into charcoal to be used in the British respirator, and this type of charcoal has the power to absorb many times more volume than other forms of charcoal.

The possibility of a grouping of local authorities in connection with the work of reconstruction after the war may be said to have come within the range of practical politics. At a gathering of members of Bideford Town Council and Northam Urban District Council at Gammaton Reservoirs the subject was broached and tentative discussion took place.

Walter E Ellis, the proprietor of Ellis & Son builders who are engaged in the repair of Bideford bridge for the Bridge Trust, appeared before the local Tribunal to plead for exemption from the draft. When asked how long the work would go on he said ”Until long after the war is ended” At interview he agreed that he had a 59 year old foreman mason who could oversee the work so he was instructed to be available for service on 1^st October

Harvest Help Scheme. Plymouth College OTC went into Farford, Hartland camp arriving by train while 20 students cycled to Hartland and others went by bus. 40 lads will go to Cabbacott at Parkham, these lads come from Devonport High School. Woolsery has lads from the Rossall School, Fleetwood Lancashire.

Property for Sale: Milford Farm, Hartland, 165 acres; 6 bedroom farmhouse and 2 cottages at Elmscott Hartland including a Blacksmith Shop.Wear Gifford Mills and land, 23 acres. Grazing land at Jopes (Chopes?) Bridge, 8 acres. Freehold Dock & Land comprising 0 acres 2 rods 23 perches. Canada Cottage, Barnstaple Street, East the Water, Bideford. Dublin & Wacklow Cottages also at Barnstaple Street. Hill Cliff & Stables, garden at Buckleigh Westward Ho! Also Hill Crest Buckleigh, Hardisworthy Farm, Hartland 43 acres

These and many more items of local interest are available to read at the Bideford & District Community Archive at the Council Offices, Windmill Lane, Northam. Tel: 01237 471714. Open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings or visit our website

www.bidefordarchive.org.uk.

New Ration books commence distribution on the 6^th July, ready for use in the National Rationing Scheme on the 15^th July. There are seven different categories, all serially numbered and individually addressed. This work has been completed by the Food Office based in Bideford Town Hall.

The Medical Officer has confirmed that an outbreak of measles has spread across North Devon resulting in Northam School being temporarily closed.

In May it was announced that men aged 43 and above would need to be conscripted to replace casualties from the war. The shortage of skilled tradesmen, artisans and general labour shortages is having a considerable effect on business and especially in farming. A scheme called ‘School Boys to Help with the Harvest’ has been set up and overnight accommodation in barns at Farford Farm for Hartland, Cabbacott for Parkham and Buckland Brewer district and the Parish Rooms at Woolsery have all been organised.

The newspaper has reports every week of Tribunal meetings where local tradesmen plead to be allowed to continue with their business. A local village baker who provides for the entire village of over 1,000 people has been called up and, despite a petition of over 500 names, he was ordered to be available by 15^th July. He had to arrange for another village’s baker to cycle over three days each week to keep the supply of bread going. The Northam Tribunal reports on their only conscientious objector, a local school teacher who refused to undertake any work that could been considered helping the war effort His appeal was dismissed and he had to be available from 15^th August. The Edgehill School gardener, who provides vegetables for the school from 2 acres as well as milking 16 cows and looking after a local power station providing electricity for the school, had to be available for military service by mid-July.

The labour problem is causing several farms and estates to be put up for sale. This month sees the following: West Fatacott, Hartland, 133 acres: Volehouse Farm, West Putford, 177 acres: Saxworthy Farm, East Putford, 62 acres: Venton Farm Westward Ho! 24 acres. Also Kernstone Farm, Hartland, is selling all livestock and 30 acres of standing crops. Forcewell, Hartland, have 23 acres of standing corn to sell.

The effects of the War has caused the Barnstaple Anchor Brewery to dispose of many local Inns including The Plough at Fremington, The Coach & Horses and The Rising Sun both at Appledore and The New Inn at Abbotsham.

(In last month’s edition the item about rabbit culling at Melbury used the word poaching – it should have read “ No paunching is to be done on the reservoir site” …. in an effort to keep the water unpolluted!!)

These and many more items of local interest are available to read at the Bideford & District Community Archive at the Council Offices, Windmill Lane, Northam. Tel: 01237 471714. Open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings or visit our website www.bidefordarchive.org.uk.

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There is a surplus of British-made butter available. The weekly ration has been increased from 4 to 5 oz per person.

Northam Urban District Council seek tenders for the clearing of rabbits on lands at Melbury Reservoir, Parkham. One extra provision has been stipulated, “That no rabbits be paunched on the Council’s lands”.

At the same meeting the council report that 95 allotments are now occupied in the area, compared to 29 before the war.

A handsome chair made from Bideford Long Bridge oak was presented to the Bridge Trust and accepted and acknowledged by George Willy Vincent and Alexander Greig Duncan. Restoration of the Bridge commenced in 1915 and from time to time old oak beams come to light. (It is very uncomfortable, still in use today, and keeps meetings short!!)

A little lad aged 11 years was run over by one of the Canadian Motor Transport cars and lost 2 toes. The previous day one of the same cars drove into a bullock.

Property and Land for Sale. Tomouth Estates, East Appledore: 12½acres and 3 cottages.

To Let: Small farm “Kas Venton”, Westward Ho! 23 acres & dwelling house and farm buildings. Also 6 acre field known as ‘Football Field’ adjoining the main road from Westward Ho! to Bideford.

“It was stated in the Devon County Council meeting on June 20^th that the Hartland to Bideford road had absorbed £28,263, so that the steam roller must have rolled in over 28,000 golden sovereigns on that previous piece of highway.” (The current comparison would be £1.1 million).

These and many more items of local interest are available to read at the Bideford & District Community Archive at the Council Offices, Windmill Lane, Northam. Tel: 01237 471714. Open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings or visit our website www.bidefordarchive.org.uk

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