Teignmouth Post and Gazette No 4890 Friday ,7 November 1975

JOBLESS SCHOOL LEAVERS

Many young people are leaving school with high hopes of a promising career, and finding themselves outside the social security office. The problem is made worse by the fact that many local firms are subsidies of companies based elsewhere, these branches being the first to close down in times of economic squeeze.

Some feel that rivalries were created between the development area of North Devon and the rest of the county. If the whole county, including Teignmouth, were designated a development area, and local people came forward with job prospects, they could take advantage of the £1 million being offered by the Government to help combat unemployment in the South West.

OUIJA BOARD

May I speak to you about this tragic plaything, the “Ouija Board”, that has gained so much publicity, since some children in the schools dabbled with it. We fought hard to get it outlawed, and succeeded in getting a promise from manufacturers that no more will be made.I know what tragic results can be obtained, and I have been called many times to help these frightened young teenagers, and to rid them of this Entity who has attached itself to them.

Young people today are sometimes bored and look around for kicks, and most have tried some form of drugs. I appeal earnestly to the mothers and fathers to stress the unhappiness they will bring on themselves if they persist in this so - called game. Mrs. A. FOSTER (President, Christian Spiritualist Church).

TEIGNMOUTH OPERATIC SOCIETY

The Society was founded in 1901, and has a history of ambitious programmes and very professional productions.

In the modernised Carlton Theatre, the year 1962 was particularly memorable, when an excellent performance of "The Quaker Girl" was interrupted by the theatre being flooded.

Undaunted, the Society carried on, providing a causeway of boxes and planks so that the audience could see the show. One gentleman insisted on staying to see the whole show - after he had fallen into the water!

HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

The first lecture of the winter season welcomed Miss M. Thornton of Bishopsteignton, who spoke of the Solanum family.

She delighted her audience with her knowledge of the subject, and her humorous way of imparting it. The Solanum family could be compared to the Borgia family of Mediaeval Italy, with its great range of attributes, beauty, uses and danger, such as the Tomato, where all the rest of the plant is poisonous.

The “sinister” members include the Nightshades, Henbane and Thorn-apple. Tobacco was introduced into Europe in the 1550s and was first used as a medicine, the smoke being used against the plague. Nicotine isa splendid insecticide. The Potato was found to be a cure for scurvy