TS Hermes - Tiverton Sea Cadets

Tiverton: WWI Naval Gun [Lime Kiln Road] – Playing in the 1970s Was Very Different! (5.7.2025)

I was born in Oxford – but my parents moved to Tiverton (in East Devon) in 1970. I started school (Wilcombe) in 1972 (when 5-years old) – but changed to a school in Exeter in 1977. However, I have a memory of joining (after school) a group of classmates who “played” on a WWI Naval Gun situated on a public street (situated in Lime Kiln Road)! I have lived in Sutton (South-West Greater London) for over three-decades today – but recently – whilst picking-up my children from school in Cheam, I saw youths dressed in the uniforms of what is today termed the “Combined Cadet Force”, and the thought of myself once playing on a military gun (around 1977) bubbled-up in my mind (although publicly accessible – the gun in question was placed outside the Tiverton Sea Cadets Training Hall). In fact, after having experienced many interest things in my life (including four wonderful years based in Hereford during the 1980s), and having travelled around the world, I surprised myself with this memory and was not even sure it was real!

SES Water 2024

Sutton: Private Company – SES Water – “Runs-Out” of Water Supply! (18.12.2024)

The water company (SES Water) has opened “Emergency Water Supply” depots dotted throughout the Borough! Places such as Local Libraries, Town Halls, and High Street depositories have been established – operating 24-hours a day! Thousands of people are having to queue-up outside Cheam Library whilst Police Constables are keeping order by holding people back! Each person is permitted “one” plastic bottle (1-2 litres) and no more – at anyone visit. The problem is the time the entire process is taking – and the fact that the bottled water-supplies are continuously running-out – leaving thousands empty-handed! It is strongly suggested that only the young and fit queue-up (with no young children) due to the stress involved. SES Water is delivering water to the doors of those who can prove they are “vulnerable”! My view is that water-lorries should be visiting all main streets (as happened during the 1976 Drought – when the Labour government sent relief lorries to nearly every Council Estate – and I carried a bucket with my parents as a nine-year-old). This would stop huge crowds gathering, illnesses spreading, and limit civil unrest! As for ourselves, we are holding-out with the vigour of Maoist Resistance! Even the local schools have closed early for the Xmas holiday due to having no access to water supplies!

Cheam: WWI & WWII War Memorial! (12.9.2023)

The memorial was unveiled on 16 March 1921 by Admiral Sir Arthur Henry Limpus KCMG, CB and dedicated by the Archdeacon of Kingston, Robert Charles Joynt.The carving and erection were carried out by a local mason Mr Snook of nearby Worcester Park. Among the dead commemorated on the memorial was Flight-Commander F A Brock (son of Brock of Brocks fireworks manufacturers) who invented the smoke screen. Following the Second World War, three names of those who lost their lives in that war were also added.