Westward Ho!

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.

Recommendation by the Housing and Public Health Committee that an application for variation of planning consent to permit permanent occupation of chalets at the Golden Bay Hotel, Westward Ho! for Mr D R Norris, would be recommended for refusal was rejected by Northam Urban Council.

1962 WHo new estate

Instead it was agreed that a sub-committee should inspect the chalets although the Rev A E Green pointed out that every member of the Council had been invited to do so. ‘If they are interested enough they can see them, and if they are not that is that’ he said.

When the committee recommended that an outline application for building sites at Avon Lane-Beach Road, Westward Ho! for Mr E C Poynter, be deferred for more details to be obtained, several members protested. A move by Mr V F Bowyer to get the matter discussed in private also failed. Such matters were normally discussed in committee, Mr Bowyer said ‘so that we can get our facts straight and safeguard ourselves and others’. The Surveyor, Mr H J Bishop, said that the application was for 60 plots, with six per acre. Each would have a 50ft frontage. There would be an access into Beach Road and another into Avon Lane and the road would have to be made up. A more detailed layout would have to be submitted, he said, but he could see no objection to the proposal. The Council accepted the layout plan.

Westward Ho! Carnival 1955

Proud Moment!

Everything is set. Thousands of spectators are lining the mile long route. The Carnival Queen is on her throne, and the attendant Carnival tableaux and characters have been judged and marshalled ... the procession is about to begin!
Mr Jim Martin, joint hon. organiser for Westward Ho! Youth Club, kindly spares a moment for a snapshot. His gaily coloured straw boater is characteristic of the personal zest and lead he has given to the Westward Ho! Youth Cub section, and which helped to make the Carnival an outstanding success.

Movements of Pebbles at Westward Ho!

Mr Inkerman Rogers’ Researches - 1939

Letter to the Editor

Sir, The pebble ridge along the coast around the bay extends from Hartland Point to Northam Burrows. The banking up of the pebbles in the rocky coves and against the base of the cliffs, and also the travel of the material along the shore are due to tidal wave action. The travel of the shingle is confined to the beach, and it is never found drifting where the water is deep. Frequently the shore is denuded of shingle by wave action accompanied by heavy ground swell from the great Atlantic, while in other places the pebbles are heaped in huge banks deep and wide. As the force of the waves which beat against the cliff or sea-wall and cause destruction is governed by the depth of the water on the beach in front of them, it is obvious that the most effective means of protection is the
maintenance of the beach and the prevention of its denudation; and this has been attained, judging by the accumulation of pebbles in front of the sea-wall opposite Westbourne Terrace.
Under Cornborough the advancing waves strike the shores obliquely at an angle of about 30 degrees, but the maximum effect in the forward movement of the pebbles is attained when the angle of waves impact is 45 degrees, which may be observed along the shore from Rocks Nose to Westward Ho!