The Past, The Present & The Future

 

Torridge Vale Drive-by 2023 youtube

If I may, I would like to run a few things past you? I leave you to make up your own minds.

The Past:

Before Oil
Photo: Torrington Museum

Look closely - is there someone
standing on the top?
(photo courtesy Torrington Museum)

The concrete chimney. 

I couldn't find a date for when this photo might have been taken but it goes with the new boiler house which is under construction here.

I would hazard a guess that this is just after the Second World War, maybe 1946-48.

That would more-or-less fit with the lorry which could be a Seddon Atkinson of late 1930's - 1940's.

I recall being told that it was a Swedish firm who constructed it from red brick with a concrete overcoat.

Look closely at the photo. 

Is there someone standing on the chimney?

Certainly, at the coronation of our late queen, Queen Elizabeth the second, in 1953, a young Dick Williams, (later, in the 1960's, to become a senior foreman and supervisor) did climb the 175 foot chimney and, once on top, walked proudly around the three foot wide brickwork waving a Union Jack flag in celebration.

I recall he had to have help getting down as the tricky part is finding the small iron rungs set in the concrete, which you cannot see to make foot contact with before  descending.

I think it was Louie (?) Baker, Boiler House attendant, who climbed up to assist Dick.

That took some guts for sure!

continuing....

Everything we have done is because we either wanted it or needed it, whatever "It" is.

Necessity is the mother of invention, the saying goes.

If some of those inventions have not turned out to be exactly "clean" then necessity, when demanded, has provided an inducement to provide an improvement as an answer.

But what has happened in the Past cannot be undone in the full sense of the word.

Imagine how different life would be if some Being in the distant past had not discovered that a tree, divided into sections, could provide the invention of the Wheel?

There would likely be no Stonehenge or similar for a start, using tree trunks to run the huge stones miles across the land and then using similar to lift them into place.

You see where I'm coming from?

All those years ago one mans' idea created what became Torridge Vale Dairies. I believe, before that, fruit was grown on the slopes of the valley and known as Torridge Vale Gardens. The introduction of the railway fitted the whole idea, just what was required to transport milk and products across the country. Ideal!

Local folk must have been excited by this new development, somewhere else to apply for work other than on the railway, Claymore or as an agricultural worker.

Who, then, would have thought that one day it would all come to a tragic end and lie in ruins?

No provision was put in place should that ever happen, sadly.

I remember my father commenting on my new job, back in 1969, saying "well it's a reasonably sound job I would expect." I remember how he had used the word "reasonably" and wondered why. Now, of course, I know.

Invariably, nothing stays the same.....for long.

The Present.

The best laid plans of Mice & Men
2019

Each second is short-lived and represents The Present. Each one gone we will never have again.

We think of it on a daily basis and are not concerned until something goes wrong or we become old.

There are things that remind us of "The Present". Some may be good, others not so.

The Future.

Who can really say? But my view is "be careful what you wish for."

My own experience is that it very easy to have an idea, then jump up and down extolling the virtues of what, in effect, I know (knew) nothing about - p'raps I'm doing it now?

As for the dairy. Well, it has lain derelict for 30 years to date. From the start and as I mentioned further up, the idea that it would come "unstuck" was likely not considered.

It is where it is because it was right at the time, beside a river for water, near the town for workers and handy for local farming communities.

There are several records of excess flooding in the valley for that is a natural phenomenon and cannot be undone. I recall when, in 1973, the river rose some 12-13 feet so that only the very middle and top stones were visible on the little bridge at Taddiport. The water came into the churn lorry park.

The pump house, which I believe is still in place, has the marks of the various rise in river level going back to the 1950's as I remember. 

The Plans. 

Page 549
An illustration included in a part of the planning application.
By placing it here I acknowledge all artwork & intellectual property rights
of the owners and/or producers of this image.
If it be required it be removed, please contact me at:
ardefriendship@btinternet.com

The planning application is available from the web site of Torridge District Council.

It is comprehensive and the version I have downloaded runs to 1,148 pages.

By any standards it represents a significant investment.

To the costs of planning, add the cost to demolish, not just down but also up.

There are three effective levels.

The old part will have dangerous materials to be disposed of. Actual "knocking down" probably not so difficult. Much of the steel infrastructure will be corroded.

But it has to be cleared away if it is not to be employed in the new "base". Then there is the roadway, sub-tunnels and silo bases, not to mention the litter that has been added over the years. There is the large and relatively modern Stork building to remove along with the office.

The later buildings on the left, probably not such a task. Asbestos from the dock area was removed during the early 1980's. Lots of bricks to reclaim?

The current plan offers proposals to make use of these newer buildings.

And so to the new builds. To the number planned will be the cost to build, the services etc., and, once accomplished, the profit expected from all of them.

A sizeable amount if it is to be successful.

I would have hoped that whatever does come about it will benefit Torrington as did the factory in the past.

At the very least, removal of the factory would indeed be a bonus. The longer it goes on the more will be the cost to do so.

I live, (for my time remaining) in hopes.