ROWDENS BUILDING PLOTS

The ten building plots on the Rowdens estate are to be put up to public auction. It was fair to the local firms that there was a rider that there should only be two sites per builder, which would mean that large developers would not take them up.

The Clerk, Mr. Leslie Henderson, read letters of protest from eight local builders; some suggested there should be a meeting between the fifteen firms interested and the Council. Mr. Arthur Bladon said that he did not like the air of secrecy about the discussions. If everything had been in the open, the fifteen builders concerned could have been present that evening.

‘MUTTON DRESSED UP AS LAMB’

The Debating Society discussed the motion ‘Mutton is best dressed up as lamb’. Mr. Bosson, proposing, spoke of the enquiries he had made from housewives and butchers, without obtaining a satisfactory answer. Many butchers seemed horrified by the suggestion that they should be thought to be selling anything but lamb. He ventured into the realm of women’s make-up. He did not advocate deception but that one should take an optimistic look at things, rather than accept the onset of age with a depressing resignation.

Mr. W. Webber gave a technical description of sheep and lambs, and many were left wondering whether members were hoggetts, shillings, ewes or rams!

CHRISTMAS JOYRIDE

A Christmas joyride through Teignmouth in a double-decker bus ended in a Court appearance for a 20-year-old Plymouth student last week. He pleaded guilty to taking the bus without consent and driving without the necessary licence. In a statement to the police, he said he saw the bus parked in station yard, and thought he would sit in the cab. He pressed several buttons and started the engine by accident. He had always ‘fancied himself’ as a bus driver, and as it was late, he thought no-one would notice.

LITTER

Steps are to be taken to discourage litter-bugs on Dartmoor.The culprits – ponies, crows and squirrels – have been extracting rubbish from litter bins and spreading it around. A spokesman for the Dartmoor National Park Committee said that in future, litter bins would be provided with re-designed lids.

COMMON MARKET TOURISTS

The Westcountry Tourist Board has set aside £35,000 for publicity and promotion. The money will be spent in the next three months on publicity material and literature in four different languages. The Westcountry is still relatively unknown, and that is why the Board is spending a great deal of money, said the chairman, Mr. Whitmarsh.

TOPLESS COVER GIRLS?

A move to put a ‘bevy of topless girls’ on the cover of the Teignmouth Guide was made by a member of the Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday evening. Mr. Tom Underhill complained about this year’s cover picture being the same as last year’s.

‘What I would like to see is a bevy of topless girls sunbathing on the Ness beach. It may sound stupid, but it is going to be a publicity stunt of the future in many other resorts. Why can’t we set the ball rolling?’ He added that it might attract a lot more visitors. It was agreed that his proposal should go forward as a recommendation to the Urban Council’s Publicity Committee, which is responsible for the publication of the Guide.

RIVIERA CINEMA: Lust for a Vampire’; ‘The Losers’; and ‘The Dirty Dozen’.