DEER, DEER

If anyone says Father Christmas lost one of his reindeer, at Bishopsteignton on Christmas Eve, it isn’t true. But there was a dear little deer, in the churchyard, of all places. Mr Dennis Cross, who incidentally is a member of the British Deer Society and an accredited stalker the Devon Deer Control Society, told us the story over the phone on Wednesday.

When he answered the telephone , the Post and Gazette reporter said ‘This is Father Christmas’. ‘Oh, Father Christmas’ he exclaimed. ‘Yes, I hear you found one of my lost deer at Bishopsteignton on Christmas Eve’.

Then Dennis told the reporter that the deer was a muntjac, which only grows 20” high. So it couldn’t have been Father Christmas’s. It could only just about pulled a pram. Asked if it could have been a deer from Powderham, Mr Cross said not, as these are Fallow deer, a much larger type.

‘So this one is still about, then?’ was the question. ‘Yes,’ said Mr. Cross. ‘Three or four had escaped from a pen at Holcombe. One has been seen as far away as Telegraph Hill.’

NEW LIBRARY, THE LARGEST IN DEVON

The new Teignmouth branch of the Devon County Library will probably be opened towards the end of January. It has actually been completed, at a cost of £58,600, but the access road is not yet available. Vans cannot  reach the Library, although the public access is alright. The palatial building contains a reference room, a reading room, a large lending Library, a children’s Library, a workroom for processing books, mending, etc. a committee room, an office and a staff room. The committee room will be rented to local organisations, seats 35, and has a side projector and screen. The Library will have a stock of 24,000 books, double the present stock. It replaces the old Library in Fore Street, demolished for the new road construction scheme.

Mrs. EGC Griffiths (‘Grace’) will be in charge. She is a chartered librarian, and an Associate of the Library Association. She was educated at Crediton High School, where she was Head Girl. She was the first woman librarian to be employed at Exeter headquarters.During the last war, she volunteered for the Red Cross, and was put in charge of 110 people bombed out during the Exeter blitz. In December 1942, she joined the ATS, and did specialist work with the Royal Corps of Signals, involving reading high speed Morse. She was awarded the War Office Certificate of Merit in 1945.

She and her husband have written a history of Teignmouth, published by Bunswick Press, and she has a new children’s book about a cat, called ‘Abandoned’.

COASTER CUT ADRIFT

The German coaster “Kaiserberg” was cut adrift from Teignmouth’s quay by vandals in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The captain and crew were aboard.

The fact that the ship was loose was discovered by a member of the crew, and one of the Teignmouth pilots had to be called to get her back to her berth.The captain reported it to the police.

WISE WORDS

Solitude is a good place to visit , but a poor place to stay. Consider nothing, before it has come to pass, as impossible.  Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones. You can’t chime the bells and, at the same time, walk in the procession.

RIVIERA CINEMA

Sunday: ‘Horrors of the Black Museum’, and Ray Milland in ‘Premature Burial’.

Monday for six days: ‘SCROOGE’, starring Albert Finney, Edith Evans, Kenneth More and Alec Guinness.