Torrington

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.

An idea which Torrington Town Council have had in mind for some time has been realised with the erection of two “Welcome to Torrington” signs at the two main approaches to the town.

On the Bideford road, one of the eight feet by four feet signs has bene put on the cemetery wall and on the Exeter-Plymouth Road the other has been placed on the left-hand side of the road about halfway up the hill between the town and Town Mills bridge.
The boards were made by Mr J H Long (formerly an alderman) and the lettering was done by his brother, Mr Dick Long, whose trade this was.
Surmounting each board is the borough coat of arms.
Gazette article dated 14 July 1961

Young Wives Want Maternity Unit Re-Opened

Staff shortage at Torrington

A lot of young wives in Torrington were anxious to see the maternity unit at the Cottage Hospital re-opened, and was there any hope of this, asked Cllr H Pollard at Monday night’s meeting of Torrington Town Council.
The unit has been closed for some time because of shortage of staff.
A number of women were having their babies at home but were not keen on this, and if they went to hospitals in neighbouring towns it was a long way for husbands to travel at the end of the day, said Cllr Pollard.
The Medical Officer of Health, Dr C F R Briggs, thought that everything that could be done towards getting the unit re-opened was being done, and this was endorsed by Ald. F R Hodge, a member of the hospital’s advisory committee, who added that there was extensive advertising for staff. “I know it is a grave situation but, honestly, I don’t think anything further can be done” added the doctor. “The trouble is that there are more jobs than there are midwives to fill them, and midwives can choose where they go. It is a very small unit in Torrington and it doesn’t give them a lot of experience and work”.
Gazette article dated 5 June 1964

From Torrington Farm To Woomera

BGS Old Boy’s big part in Blue Streak project

12.6.1964 Blue Streak3

When Blue Streak, Britain’s first space rocket, successfully soared from its launching pad at Woomera, South Australia, on Friday, no one was more thrilled than a Torrington farmer’s son.
Mr C H Martin, who is 35 and an Old Boy of Bideford Grammar School, had, as a space vehicle design engineer, worked on the project for six years. Recently he was appointed chief project design engineer on Blue Streak at the Stevenage factory of Hawker Siddeley, of which group De Havillands, with whom he trained, are now part.
Elder son of Mr C Martin of Locks Beam Farm, he was born at the farm and first attended Torrington Board School. On leaving the Grammar School in 1945 he became an engineering apprentice as a member of the De Havilland Aeronautical Technical School at Hatfield. This gave him wide experience of the manufacture and design of the then current De Havilland aircraft such as the Mosquito, Vampire, Hornet, Chipmunk, Dove and Comet. In 1950 he graduated as an Associate Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and became a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society. During 1951-52 Mr Martin was on National Service with the RAF – as a boy he had been a member of the Torrington Squadron of the ATC and of the Royal Observer Corps at Torrington.
On the 200 acre farm which he farms in partnership with his other son, Arthur John, Mr Martin senior admitted some relief that Blue Streak had been successfully launched. He said that as a boy Henry would have nothing to do with farming, ‘He was aircraft mazed and his bedroom was always full of model airplanes’. The third child, now Mrs Vera Williams, has also had an eventful life. After training at Bideford she joined Queen Alexandra’s Nursing Service and served in many parts of the world, including Cyprus.
The full Gazette article is dated 12 June 1964

https://spacecentre.co.uk/blog-post/blue-streak-success-failure-extraterrestrials/