Teignmouth Post and Gazette No 4907 Friday 5 March 1976

“SACRED COWS’

The chairman of the Resources committee, Mr.Arthur Bladon, made the hardly rash statement that he would resign from the Council if the rate increased by more than 3%.

When the rate finally did emerge, after 11 hours of preparatory meetings, ratepayers were pleased to learn that the Council had managed to hold it at last year’s level.Of course, a number of “sacred cows“ had to be sacrificed, the one that screamed the loudest being the covering of the Penn Inn swimming pool, which would have cost £203,000.

By chance, a letter this week advocates the covering of the Teignmouth Lido, so that it may be used all year, instead of the present four months.

PLIGHT OF SMALL BUSINESSES

The Chamber of Commerce president, Mr. Fred Morris, said some 400 businesses each month were now going bankrupt in the country because of inflation and taxation. The weekly stamp was costing a self-employed person £2.90, and he gained nothing except a pension when he retired. It was a very serious matter for he country if small businesses, the backbone of the country, were going bust at such a rate.

COMET WEST IN VIEW

Watchers of the sky will have noted the array of planets, Jupiter, Mars and Saturn, in the evening sky. There is another celestial object, which Mr. J. Hedley Robinson tells us will appear in the morning sky in the dawn glow in March, situated to the East of constellation Delphinus, travelling away from us, some 84 million mils from Earth.

LAMPLIGHTERS

In Days of Yore, 75 years ago. Rounds done by the lamplighters around the town should be re-arranged.. While lights on the outskirts of the town are blazing away as bright as can be, Bank Street and Wellington Street are only lit by the traders’ outside illumination, sometimes until seven o’clock in the evening.

25 YEARS AGO.

The County Council refused to allow Teignmouth Road Safety Committee to erect signs on the main road entrances with the words “Teignmouth Welcomes Careful Drivers”. It was decided to ask the County Council what the objections were.

ELECTRICITY BOARD ACCIDENT

Mr. John Tapper, of Kingkerswell Road, Newton Abbot, was badly burned on Friday morning, when a cable he was repairing in a trench in Belgrave Terrace, Teignmouth, short circuited. His clothing caught fire and was extinguished by workmates. He was taken by ambulance to Torbay Hospital.

POLICE CHOIR CONCERT

The Exeter and District Male Voice Choir of the Devon and Cornwall Police Constabulary staged a concert at the Carlton Theatre, in aid of the Guide Dogs for the Blind, coping with being ten men down with the ‘flu, and needing another accompanist.

This was the first public appearance of the new Chief inspector, Brian Smith, who has been a member of the Choir for the past six years.