Businesses

Christmas Eve at the Front

An interesting letter has just been received by Mrs Packer, of Broadclyst, from her husband, Corpl Packer of A Company, 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment, who is serving with the Expeditionary Force in Northern France. In the course of a letter he describes a remarkable incident which occurred on Christmas Eve between the British and German trenches.

After over 100 years in the drapery trade between them,

the last 12 being at Messrs Yeo’s of Manchester House, Chingswell Street, Bideford, which they took over from the late Mr Robert Yeo, Mr and Mrs A H Skinner have retired.

At a dinner at the Royal Hotel, Bideford, Mr and Mrs Skinner were presented with a ‘Teasmade’ by Mr and Mrs Stuart Skinner, a fruit bowl by Mr E W Skinner and Mrs Skinner, and a table from staff.

Mr and Mrs Stuart Skinner have taken over the business, Mr Skinner jnr. having entered the drapery trade from school 12 years ago.

For three years he and his wife did nursing training at Bideford Hospital and qualified as State Enrolled Nurses.

The full Gazette article is dated February 13 1970

Bideford Firm Develops New Non-Spill Paint

Orders worth £15,000 already received

Those seen in the picture are: Messrs W Gifford, H W Ellison, J Floyd, A Teasdale, J Jelly, R F Essery, E Pudney and W Butler

Manufacture of a paint that is claimed to be the answer to the home decorator’s prayer – the tin can be knocked over and the paint will not spill, nor will it run down the handle of the brush when a ceiling is being painted – has been begun by a Bideford firm, Devon Paint Ltd., at its factory at the Pill, Bideford. The firm will be building up a production of a thousand gallons a week at the first stage and nine men are employed at the factory at present. Orders worth some £15,000 have already been received and a start has been made on meeting this demand. A new store is in the process of erection in the vicinity to cope with the demand for the new paint and as a dispatch department to supplement the firm’s other premises at Barnstaple.

To prove the non-spill properties claimed the firm staged a demonstration. Mr E Pudney, the technician responsible for carrying out the experimental work, is seen holding a full tin over the head of Mr R F Essery, a director of the firm and the works manager. Mr E Pudney, who lives at Clevelands, Northam, and came to North Devon after many years with a well known London paint firm, told the Bideford and North Devon Gazette that, thanks to the support and facilities he had received from the directors, he had been able to complete an exhaustive series of tests on the new product in the short space of five weeks.

Kuro waterproof paint for damp walls, which is being made by Devon Paint Ltd at Bideford is being exported to Singapore and Hong Kong.

Gazette article dated 13 January 1956

The Gannet

Steak House And Bars Opened At Bideford

Bideford’s newest rendezvous, the Gannet Steak House and Bars, at 70 High Street, were officially opened on Monday by Mr F E Flood, joint managing director of Ushers Brewery Ltd, who invited the Mayor of Bideford, Mr Harold Blackmore, to carry out the traditional ‘drawing the first pint’.

The Mayor discharged the duty with smooth precision, and is seen between Mr and Mrs Frank Bemmer, who have come as managers of the new Steak House from the Mitre Steak House, Reading.

They had called their Bideford enterprise the Gannet, bearing in mind years of nautical associations and that the vessel plying between Bideford and the island of Lundy was The Lundy Gannet.

Mr Flood thanked all who had helped the successful completion of the work, particularly mentioning the local building contractor, Mr C H Cox.

The full Gazette article is dated 4 August 1967