Teignmouth Post and Gazette No 4930 Friday 13 August 1976

PLAGUE AND PESTILENCE

The Government is to axe Port Pest Inspectors, to save money. A biologist remarked “We are inviting famine if we allow pests in to destroy our crops and livestock.”The Colorado beetle ship, the “Dart”, which arrived last week, had to be fumigated. Captain Burger, his wife and five crew members, had to abandon ship for the weekend.

Two Rentokill men sealed the hatches and fed pipes into the hold. The Quay was roped off with skull and crossbones signs. The exterminators, wearing gas masks, rolled out their red and blue cylinders of methyl bromide poison gas. It used to be cyanide gas. Two men had to stay on guard on deck for 24 hours overnight.

On Friday the hatches were opened for the gas to disperse, and a halide detector checked round the ship; colours changed according to the danger; red was OK, green a bit dicey; deep blue - get out fast. Captain Burger reclaimed the “Dart” on Monday. Pike Ward had found a cargo of clay to off-set the losses of charters of grain.

THE BARREL ORGAN

Shaldon’s Fair had a Dutch barrel organ drawing the crowds. There is a true story that when the Germans invaded Amsterdam, the commandant ordered all the street organs off the streets for safety. He later relented, to cheer up the townsfolk.

However, the Dutch modified the cards with extra holes, which gave short bursts of the Dutch national anthem in the music. The soldiers unwittingly found themselves whistling the jolly tune, to the annoyance of the commandant.

TEIGNMOUTH REGATTA

Fifty yachts set out on Saturday and Sunday. There had been no wind, only the slightest zephyr, but Teign Corinthians with their Sprog, Graduate, Cherub and Lark 98, and Cruiser classes, put up a good showing.

One mishap involved the starting cannon. Norbert Davey, rushing upstairs for cotton wool to put in his ears, slipped up and hurt himself. Robert Browning took over as Officer of the Day.

TAPE RECORDERS FOR THE BLIND.

Mrs. Muriel Braddick, who has also lost the use of both legs and her right arm, is now going totally blind. She formed the Exeter Tapes for the Handicapped Association in 1971.

In June 1975, this brave enterprising woman was awarded the MBE. The project of supplying lonely disabled people with tapes to cheer and interest them has been taken up by Len Wright, chairman of the Teignmouth Fellowship. Two people have already been supplied with tape recorders, and another is being set up in memory of Fred Brown.

Each disabled person can ask, for example, for Beethoven or a banjo band, or for a book to be recorded for them. Teignmouth Library staff are ready and willing to record books, stories and poems, while Dr. Thompson of the Grammar School will muster pupils with technical know-how for the recordings.