THe New Inn

My parents ran the New Inn (now The Nobody Inn) when my grandmother died, and we moved from Higher Ashton to take over the tenancy. The Pub was owned by the St Annes Well Brewery who operated from Exeter. Many memories flow from those days. School with Miss Mary Wippell Mallet who had the typical bun hairstyle, and lived with her sister in the school house just below the school. The school inspector?attendance officer called on a weekly basis, he was called Mr Bray, commonly known as "Donkey Bray", he used to drive in his black Austin 7. When Miss Mallet retired she and her sister went to live at Tedburn St Mary. She was replaced by a Miss Harper, a rather younger lady, who had many seemingly revolutionary new ideas. The village came alive when a neighbouring farmer, Reg Lovey, was spied journeying through the back fields and entering the School House at evening times, such things were never heard of, eventually they moved to Honiton and got married. I also recall the infant teacher Miss Down cycling to and fro from Kingsteignton on a daily basis, a journey of about 25 miles a day.