WHAT was happening in and around Teignmouth in the 1970s?

► ANGRY RESIDENTS’ THREAT

Twelve residents of Harts Close presented a petition to the Urban Council that they would withhold rates payments until the roadway was adopted and maintained by the authority.

They complained that there was no street lighting; debris was dumped by builders, a danger to pedestrians after dark; and the roadway and pavement had collapsed into the garden of ‘Pandora’ and not been reinstated.

► CROSSING IN EXETER ROAD

Mr A B Mitchell, chairman of Teignmouth’s Accident Prevention Committee, brought up the matter of the pedestrian crossing at the bottom of Exeter Road. The County had turned down the suggestion that the island should be moved further up.

‘It seems to me wrong that the County should spend thousands of pounds making a wide road coming down to Bitton Park Road, and then, because there was a danger point, narrow the road,’ Mr Tom Underhill (Chamber of Commerce) said. ‘It must be obvious that something serious has to be done with Bitton Park Road, otherwise it is going to be the Easter bottleneck all over again.’

It was decided to leave the matter on the table to see what emerged.

► FIFTY-SIX MILE POLICE TRIP

A Widnes man came to Teignmouth looking for work, but on Saturday he was drunk and disorderly. When he was told to cease using obscene language, he would not, so Sgt K Bennett arrested him.

The Magistrates’ Court in Cullumpton was the only one sitting on Monday, so he was taken 28 miles by road. He pleaded guilty, sentenced to a day’s detention in the police cells, and brought back to Teignmouth.

► TAGGED SALMON

A 9lb salmon was tagged 2,000 miles away off the coast of Greenland in an international experiment. It was caught in a seine net near Coombe Cellars by Mr John Boyne of 11, Ivy Lane. Research vessels from Canada, Denmark, France and Great Britain took part, following movements and survival rates.

This fish was released from the Danish vessel Adolph Jensen on August 18. Mr Boyne returned the tag, plus a map of where it was caught, to the address shown, and had a letter of thanks and a small reward for its return.

► AIRCRAFT CANNON ‘CAUGHT’

Fishermen at Teignmouth trawled up a cannon from an old German aircraft, in 1969. It was completely encrusted with barnacles, but Mr Andrew Cruse, of Wrigwell, stripped it down and found it to be a 20mm Oerlikon cannon. He had to take great care because it still contained  50 live rounds of high explosive and armour piercing shells in the magazine.

He realised it was a prohibited weapon and immediately sent it to an arms dealer, who held it in store while he applied to the Home Office for permission to keep it in his private collection. He was given a licence to hold it for three years, but this expires next year. The Home Secretary’s policy is not to authorise possession of continuous fire weapons by private individuals.

► FOR SALE

Asbestos sheets, used, 8ft x 4ft, cheap, to take away.

► RIVIERA CINEMA

Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy; Charles Bronson in The Mechanic; Impasse with Burt Reynolds and Anne Francis.