WHAT were the stories captivating readers back in the 1970s? Find out below with the latest Teignmouth Post and Gazette column.

► INVERTEIGN SCHOOL OPENED

Both the chairman, Mr W R Turner, and the vice-chairman, Mr Elliott Clarke, of the Devon County Education Committee, came on Friday to officially open the new Inverteign County Junior School. The headmaster, Mr K W Wright, said that it will ultimately accommodate 240 junior children.

Alderman Turner referred to a recent TV programme, contrasting an English school (Ivybridge) with a French one. The French one was a rigid form of teaching, in which the government laid down a set text to be taught, the time and hours of teaching. This was compared with the English system, which had become free - some people thought too free - and there was an argument as to what was the optimum amount of freedom. It depended on the headmaster and the teacher.

► SWIMMING POOL

Dear Sir: With reference to the £250,000 surplus, as published in the national press, I suggest that this money be kept in hand for the deterioration of the new swimming pool, which will prove a white elephant, as it will only be able to be used for a few months of the year, all because those who know best decided that it should not be covered.

Perhaps those who made this stupid suggestion do not partake in such sports as swimming or are not interested in athletics during the winter time, which would have proved a healthy and valuable pastime for the young of this town. 

Janice Hawsham (aged 16), Glendarach Road.

► SECRET DEAL

In a secret deal, a 46 1/2 acres of land in Tavistock, without planning permission, has been sold to a London-based development company. The owner of the land, Mr S R Lancaster, a Shaldon farmer, has declined to comment on the sale, or give the price or name the company. This ‘white land’ is opposite a 32 1/2 acre site in Plymouth Road, Tavistock, where Wimpeys are building a housing estate, but are not the purchasers.

► WISE WORDS

Common sense is instinct; enough of it is genius. You have to bend with the wind when it blows, or break.

► LAND AT MILL LANE AND KINGSWAY

Messrs Terence Stone (Development) Ltd. of Dawlish have made a major purchase of land here. It will be of great assistance to Teignmouth as it will provide the connection from Kingsway to Mill Lane, forming a continuous circuit in the road system.

► GOLF TROPHY

There were over 200 entries for a competition on the golf driving range at Newton Abbot on Sunday. It was won by a 13-year-old, Richard Armitage, of West Buckridge Road., who also secured the Watney Mann Challenge Cup.

► WELL KNOWN PRIEST

Well-known all over Devon, Roman Catholic parish priest, Monsignor Patrick Tobin, now of Bovey Tracey, Vicar-General of the Exeter Diocese, has just celebrated 50 years as a priest.

► RIVIERA CINEMA

Stanley Kubrick’s sensation A Clockwork Orange.