DISASTER AVERTED

Lorry brakes fail – the newly opened Teignmouth escape road averted possible disaster on Tuesday when the brakes on an articulated lorry, carrying 20 tons of chipboard, began to fail as it descended the two-mile gradient of the Exeter Road into the town. The lorry was so deeply embedded that the efforts of two powerful recovery trucks failed to budge it. After several hours, the cargo had to be off-loaded.

ONE ARM WINNER

At the National Schoolboys Boxing Championships at the Dunmore, 14-year-old Steven Willis fought his last round with his right arm completely useless. He had swung a hard right in the second round which tore his muscles. ‘He was in terrific pain, but he said he wanted to go on,’ said trainer Mr Fred Tooley. ‘I agreed, and lifted his arm into a fighting stance, He then went out and beat the other lad with just one arm.It as a tremendous show of courage.’

TWENTY TWO SEATER BICYCLE

The Urban Council agreed to a sponsored charity race on the Upper Den carriageway on a 22-seater bicycle, weighing 2 1/2 tons, to be run by the Rotary Club or Round Table on June 19. Those taking part would be dressed up, and could raise up to £500 a day.

FIRST CUCKOO

The cuckoo was heard by Mrs W Rose, of Hopes Close, on March 22.

PRAISE FOR YOUTH

Pupils from two schools in the town have offered to help the elderly and incapacitated. A letter from the Grammar School to the Welfare Committee stated that there were a number of pupils who were willing, either individually or as a group, to give assistance. The youngsters from the Secondary Modern School were doing a wonderful job in this respect; they were tending gardens and decorating rooms. As they were short of materials, the Rotary Club decide to give them help. Mr Evely said: ‘I think we have a magnificent bunch of youngsters in this area, and they do their share, and more, very often without asking for reward or bouquets.’

CLASHING OF EVENTS

A social diary in which organisations can enter their forthcoming events has been placed in the library at Shaldon, with the purpose of preventing  clashing of dates.

RIVIERA CINEMA

‘WATERLOO’: Much has been written and televised about the making of Waterloo, of how 16,000 Red Army troops were taught drill from an 1815 manual of arms, of the recreation of the battlefield, which involved the Russians in laying four miles road, levelling a hill, deepening a valley, and constructing four farms and an entire village. Twenty miles of irrigation pipes were laid to simulate the morass on the morning of the battle, and crops and flowers were planted well in advance to match the vegetation, as it would have been on June 18 1815. Starring Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Jack Hawkins, Orson Wells and Virginia McKenna - and a cast of 20,000!