A Night Out in Bideford Part 3

The last pub:
We have completed our mission and have landed at our final pub for the night. We’re squirreled and this is likely to be a very short visit unless we have gone somewhere where there is a dance floor. If there is a dance floor we can get into the beats and sway our bodies like complete losers. The quickie has been sunk, let’s get to the club. I can hear the beats from here and I am trying to resist getting my freak on and pulling out some funky dance moves.

Club:
That’s it then we are firmly in the zone. After standing in a queue and talking rubbish the wait was worth it. It appears to be full of other drunken one eyes, imagine my surprise. Now I feel obliged to act like one. As if I needed any form of encouragement. Can I be bothered to get a drink, or should I hit that dance floor? More than likely I won’t think of getting a drink as the tunes are pumping, but then I realise dancing looks slightly camp and I hate it.So that’s it really. All the way from being half drunk to acting like a nonse on the dance floor- that’s the night out. I have to say by reviewing all this I can say the best time of the night always seems to be around the merry stage but you’re always wanting more and more until you can’t physically have anymore. Is it worth it? .........

Kebab or Pizza place:
Now just as I thought of ending this masterpiece based on a true story, it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t include getting something to eat at the end of the night. This part of the night is not to be forgotten as your insides won’t be in the morning. If you left after kicking out time, then you could be waiting around for some time, as you will find all kinds of drunken idiots within the vicinity buying a variety of unhealthy, high cholesterol foods, which you wouldn’t dare eat if you were sober. As I said, this could take some time, but will only seem like a few micro seconds, as time becomes irrelevant at this point. Not entirely sure about the science, but for me consuming a greasy ‘bad boy’ makes me feel so much better the next day, so I am convinced it must absorb a large part of my alcohol- fuelled system – who knows???
Paul Johnson and Davey Snead

Westleigh Walks Enquiry
I read Tony Sanders letter with interest as my Westleigh Walks had appeared in the Buzz in July 2006. In response to his queries I can assure him that the old track; close to Millrow Cross and the Vicarage; that once led to Gazawash still exists. As part of the Public Footpath that crosses the A39 towards Eastleigh Manor this is now a route best avoided by walkers! By the time the A39 was open to traffic in 1987 the ruins of Gazawash had vanished forever beneath the construction work for the bridge that now carries the A39 traffic over the lane between Bradavin and Millrow Cross. Off this lane the remains of the other entrance to Gazawash is still visible.
The old quarry towards Southcott is marked on the 1889 Ordnance Survey Map for Westleigh. (6”to 1 mile) I wandered down the lane to see if I could locate it but the site appears to have been filled in. The 1889 map revealed that Westleigh had numerous small quarries - as in all rural areas – the local stone would have been used for constructing both domestic and farm buildings and used for field walls and surfacing the parish roads.
Finally the question of the number ‘17’ which Tony says marks the field where the American Army Camp was sited. On the 1889 OS Map the 17 is clearly marked at the road junction where the original lane from Westleigh meets the new road between Instow and Bideford. I assume that the camp must have been in the big field on the Bideford side of that junction, on the Tapeley Lodge side it is tidal marshland. The number 17 appears again on the marshland in the 1946 OS 1” map of Barnstaple Area 163 and also the 1960 OS Landranger 180. Whereas on other versions that I have to hand it either vanishes altogether or becomes a 5! I understand that 17 refers to a road survey height. I wonder which mapTony was using for reference?
Obviously Tony has affectionate memories of the GI camp. I certainly owe my love of Jazz to the GI boys who were camped in our village on the outskirts of Plymouth during the 1940s.
Dawn Frost
.(To the reader who was asking for a contact for Tony Sanders, his email address is ajs777@tiscali.co.uk)



I am writing in response to the letter you received from the lady in Bideford who would like to make friends.
There is a support group called Rheumers for people with Rheumatoid Arthritis and they have 3monthly meetings at Fremington parish hall. They have a large membership and it could be a way for the lady who wrote to you asking for friends both to make friends and help her condition. The contact name is Ann Lewis, Osbourne House West Down Ilfracombe ex34 8ng. tel 01271 865405art of my alcohol fuelledHelen Belcher