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Bere Alston memories

Here are memories of Bere Alston and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Bere Alston or a Bere Alston photo.

Childhood 1941-1947

I was born in Tavistock in 1941, but my family lived in Bere Alston until 1947. We lived in a house called The Firs, but perhaps it is no longer there. My father was the doctor and during the Second World War, the local inhabitants petitioned Parliament so that their doctor would not be called up into the army. The end of the war was celebrated in the village and I remember that the streets were filled with long tables for a huge Victory Party.

Memories of Devon

Trevethan

There doesn't seem to be many memories of the Trevethans - anyone help?

Clotted Cream

I remember moving to Milton Combe from Plymouth. It was in the middle of no where - how was I ever to survive - the last bus left Plymouth at tea time and took a tedious hour or so travelling through Clearbrook, Yelverton, Crapstone and Buckland, finally arriving at Milton Combe. The walk down the very steep hill to home!
I remember motor bikes and leather jackets and the joy of getting my first bike - independance at last; no more taxiing by Mum, to and fro.
I remember the school coach to Tavistock Comprehensive - the even longer walk back up the hill. I especially remember the day my sister decided to mitch off school to meet her boyfriend and got chased through the hedge by the cows.
I remember my little sister asking why some of the cows in the field had collars on and then exclaiming that it was so the farmer could tell the black and white ones from the brown ones!
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Bagpuss

A section of this photograph was used by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate for one of the opening sequences in the programme Bagpuss. This was confirmed in 1978 when a Horrabridge resident wrote to the Bagpuss programme and received a reply from Mrs Joan Firmin giving an account of how the picture used came from an old postacrd album which now belonged to her.
The wheelwrights yard is shown on the left and the view is looking south to Station Road taken from the north side of the bridge. This scene has changed little in the last 100 years and is still recognisable today.

Childhood Holidays

From The Railway Bridge c1960
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My grandparents lived at Clearbrook, and as a child I used to spend nearly all of my summer holidays with them. I used to love going for rides on the train to Tavistock and Princetown. My gran took me on a train to Princetown just before the line closed. Other times I used to wander for miles over the moors and down the meadows by the River Plym. Some of my happiest childhood memories are of Clearbrook, it's a place that I have always promised myself that I would visit again, but have not seen it since the early 1960s. My gran had to move into a care home in Plymouth after the railway closed as she could no longer get her own shopping and provisions.

Your photos brought back many memories, especially the first one showing the entrance to Arch Lynn, so close to my grandparents' home. Tears in my eyes time. Thank You.

Military

Plasterdown Camp c1965
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I was the resident Army R.Q.M.S. at Plasterdown Camp from 1963 - 1966 with a civilian staff ran the camp administration durin Territorial occupation and after, also Tregantle Fort in Cornwall, I would like to know if anybody remembers me , I am 83yrs old now.

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