A window into market town’s heady decade

NEWTON Abbot saw many changes in the 1970s – the town centre was radically revamped with the loss of the old market and the construction of the new bypass., while the decade’s start and end was also marked by a pair of floods.

Now a new book covering those heady, changeable years has just been published by local author Brian Thomas. From Flood to Flood – Ten Tumultuous Years for an Historic Devon Market Town 1970-1979 has just been published.

Retired journalist Brian Thomas has pulled together a series of articles telling the story of the town during a decade of change. Through his short stories and news snippets, Brian builds up a picture of how the town coped with the many changes experienced in the 70s.

The times seem busy with parades, summer fetes and carnivals, and he brings to life long-forgotten town centre shops, public houses and the faces and characters of the time.

He reminds us of old buildings now gone, and visits from celebrities such as The Goodies, Leslie Crowther (look him up if you’re under 50) and Miss World to name a few.

The area was also popular with aliens from outer space, and reports of flying saucers abducting cattle and a battle between Dr Who and the Sontarans on the moor making a couple of stories.

He doesn’t ignore the strife and hardship folk underwent back then. It was a time of strikes and picket lines. Local industry was shrinking and the original market was mourned with a sham funeral cortege through the town. And he reminds us that some things don’t change, one story concerns the fight to keep the local hospital’s casualty department open.

It’s a joyful, and sometime wistful, immensely readable account of life in the slow lane of a Devon and recommended to anyone with a link to the place. This really is local history at the micro level, and anyone with a connection with this historic town will find something of interest within its pages.

► Copies of Brian’s book are available online at Amazon, at Newton Abbot Newton’s Place, The Westcountry Bookshop in Queen Street and the Mid-Devon Advertiser offices in Newton Abbot, priced £6.