Devonshire Oct to Dec 17

DEVONSHIRE HOME
A point of view!
Nelson’s Column
by JOHN FISHER
Devon’s £1
telephone kiosks
Telephone kiosk at Sticklepath
BT TELL US there are 1,123 pay phones in
Devon, of which 458 are red kiosks. But they
are on the way out unless Devon either uses
them more - or steps forward to ‘adopt’ them
- at £1 each. BT says it has decided to scrap
half of the 40,000 remaining red telephone
boxes in the UK because a third of them are
never used and it’s all because more than a
third of us nowadays carry mobile phones.
However, if there are two kiosks within
400 yards walking distance of a site, BT is
allowed to remove one, as long as there is
one left. Even so, they must inform the public
and consult with the local authorities. The
authority then has 90 days to object, which
is known as a “local veto”.
Many local communities have transformed
and preserved some 4.000 red kiosks by
buying them for £1 from BT under the Adopt
a Kiosk scheme. Some have been re-born as
mini-libraries, art galleries, information
centres or to house defibrillation machines.
Alas, before that letter arrived he was slain
just 11 days later, cut down at the Battle of
Inkerman when and where troops fought on
their own initiative
in thick fog, earning
the engagement the
name ‘The Soldier’s
Battle’.
He was unmarried
and the last of
the family’s male
line. His mother,
Margaret, had a
statue erected to
his memory. It is of
a weeping woman
and stands near the
lake at Tapely, with
this inscription (now illegible):
Forgive blest shade the tributory tear,
That mourns they exit from a world like this.
Forgive the wish that would have kept thee here,
And stayed thy progress to the realms of Bliss
We asked for it
LOVE EM OR HATE ‘EM there are now
some 25 Community Speed Watch (CSW)
teams out there in Devon with two more
coming on stream this autumn. They came
into being because local communities were
asked to tell Devon & Cornwall Police what
their local priorities are. Speeding motorists
were identified as the biggest priority and
CSW came into being. Speed Watch involves
volunteer members of the local community,
and aims to engage and educate drivers
rather than issue fines and court summonses.
Using a staged warning system, first-time
offenders receive education and warnings,
whilst persistent offenders can expect further
police action and even a court appearance.
Elaine Hartley, Force Speed Watch
Coordinator told is “If anyone is interested
in joining an existing team or forming a
new one they can email me at speedwatch@
devonandcornwall.pnn.police.uk
A Devon hero
remembered
IT IS NOW OCTOBER and this is Archibald
Clevland, of Tapely Park in North Devon, a 19-
year old Cornet (or second lieutenant) in the
17th Lancers. He was one of the few officers
to survive the Charge of the Light Brigade on
the 25th day of this month in 1854 and wrote
his mother from his tent at the Crimea that
he was alive and well.
Rain stops play
FUNNY KIND OF MONTH, October. It’s when
the really keen cricket fan discovers that
his wife left him in May. (Dennis Nordern)
The cricket season ends and stumps are
pulled right across Devonshire as countless
‘cricket widows’ heave sighs of relief, their
months of single parenting end and ‘normal
family life’ returns.
It was ever thus. Devon’s first ‘Gentlemen’s
Eleven’ went into bat at the Fortfield ground,
Sidmouth in 1823 against the Gentlemen
of Somerset, but Devon didn’t get round to
forming a County team until 1899 - which also
turned out to be one of the wettest summers
on record.
“Instant karma!” as one 1899 cricket widow
was heard to remark.
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