Woolacombe 1st Brownie Pack

The museum was honoured to be loaned a collection of photograph albums of the Woolacombe 1st Brownie Pack, the album’s had once belonged to much loved Alice Trebble who had been the Brown Owl for many years. The collection will be scanned and shared online as well as forming part of a display in the museum. It is wonderful to keep these memories alive and we would love to hear from you if you have

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A short history of the Barnstaple and Ilfracombe Railway

There were a great many schemes to build a railway line between Barnstaple and Ilfracombe and in the end the two main rival companies, the ‘London and South West Railway’ (LSWR) and ‘Devon & Somerset”, made an agreement in 1864 for a joint mixed gauge railway to be built. The agreement collaspsed when the Devon and Somerset were unable to contribute their share of the money. A new plan was made by the “Barnstaple and

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US Red Cross Service Club State Record Book

“One way the American Red Cross won the hearts of the America’s fighting men during World War II was through their stomachs. Of all the services that the Red Cross provided the armed forces, the operation of canteens at home, clubs and clubmobiles overseas remains among the most memorable in the minds of the American World War II veterans. At a canteen or club, a solider or sailor could pause for a cup of coffee,

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Coastguard and Rocket Apparatus

Woolacombe and Mortehoe’s coastline have had many shipwrecks over the years. The coastguards have played an important role in protecting the people that found themseles in trouble. The first records of the rocket apparatus at Woolacombe are incomplete, however the first entry in the Rocket Apparatus Records book is dated 1890, and details a wreck that happened on June 23rd at 03:00 in the morning. At this time there were only two coastguards and a

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