25 YEARS AGO

JUNE 3, 1994

LIBRARY MOVE: Angry Bridport residents swooped on Dorset County Council to deliver a 632-signiture petition, protesting the plan to move the town’s library from East Street to the fire station in South Street.

Petitioners asked the council to go for the cheaper option of buying the former Co-op building in south street, which is sufficiently modern and well-equipped to house other amenities such as the Citizens Advice Bureau and the Tourist Information Centre.

REMEMBRANCE: Tributes were paid to the former Bridport musician, the late Ron Pickford, at a memorial service at Bridport United Church.

He was a gifted organist, former musical director of Bridport Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society and Bridport Choral Group who died aged 72.

HOUSING COMPLETE: Tenants celebrated the completion of west Dorset’s largest-ever social housing scheme this week by launching 113 balloons - one for each home built.

The ceremony signified the end of two and a half year’s work, costing £2 million on a site at Orchard Avenue, Bridport.

50 YEARS AGO

MAY 30, 1969

CLIFF FALL: A 17-year-old west Dorset youth joined his injured mother in the same hospital after falling from a cliff.

Philip Gibbs was climbing East Cliff at West Bay with his brother when he fell 10 to 12 ft on to the beach below.

An ambulance and police car rushed to the scene and Philip was taken to Dorset County Hospital.

BOMB FOUND: A young boy, Stephen Brook, found an unexploded anti-tank shell while playing in a field at South Holme Guest House in South Mill Lane Bridport.

He brought it back to the house and the 23 guests were asked to vacate the building by the police but rather than interrupt their dinner, proprietor Anthony Bowditch picked the shell up and took it away from the house, for which he was given a ‘dressing down’.

TEN TORS: Seventeen of the 24 Woodroffe School pupils in the Ten Tors walk on Dartmoor successfully completed the course and received individual medals.

For the boys it meant a 53-mile walk loaded with food, drink and bedding. For the girls it was not quite so arduous as they only had to walk about 35 miles and did not have to carry bedding.