Beer News Archive

This page contains previous news items displayed on the Beer-Devon page.

Last updated: 24 February, 2007

 2004

November 11th, 2004. Dolphin Hotel is now under new ownership. The Clinch family have bought the Dolphin from Lee Gibbs.

October 9th and 10th. Village hosted two events,. The 7th R&B Festival and the National Laser Sailing Qualifiers. Accommodation in both Beer and Seaton is full.

Friday 8th October. Beer School celebrated 25 years of serving the community from Mare Lane.

Weds 11^th August, 2004 23.00 through to 1am, a severe thunderstorm hit Beer with as much as 60mm of rain falling. A flood 3ft deep ran through the cemetery at the top of Park Road, down Park Road and Clapps Lane. The roads were ripped apart and several cars damaged.  A number of properties in Park Road were badly damaged and the homeowners have had to move out to enable their properties to be repaired. Some people may not be able to return for 6 months. Among those worst hit were John ‘Freddie’ Newton and Pat, John Pidgeon and Emma Westlake, Peter ‘Echo’ Westlake and Alan and Debbie Reed. The graveyard was badly damaged with tons of flint being dumped in the graveyard and headstones knocked over. A team of around 100 people spent the morning of Saturday 14th August clearing the graveyard.

Quarry Lane, the Causeway and Fore Street also suffered flooding and a number of properties in Quarry Lane and Fore Street were flooded. The Fire brigade were pumping out the Dolphin Hotel at midnight.

At the bottom of Fore Street a number of bricks were torn from the pavement, and, as the water rushed down Sea Hill, it drove a deep channel through the beach into the sea. A number of the fishing boats, including John Newton’s, fortunately on their winches, were now afloat in the floodwater and the boats were banging into one another. A number of people had gone to the beach to secure the boats and also found many dustbins and black refuse sacks full of rubbish floating around and sinking into the sea and being deposited on the beach, as many people had their dustbins out for collection in the morning.

July 2004. Jamie Trewick competed in the World Laser 4.7 championships at Lake Garda in Italy, finishing 61st out of 276 entries and qualifying for the 'Gold' fleet. Results

April 18th 2004. Dave 'Bilko' Mutter runs his 10th London Marathon

Robot Wars

Beer had an entry in the Channel Five "Robot Wars" series. This was broadcast on Sunday January 4th, 2004. The robot was built by David and John Lang and Mike Gardner. For more details about the robot, "Kronic the Wedgehog", click here.

For information on the programme, see the official Robot Wars web site at http://www.robotwars.co.uk

2003

October 2003. Jeff "Harry" West has retired and been replaced as the village road sweep by Kevin "Bun" Hales. Photo

May 2003. Dave 'Bilko' Mutter presented the Beavers with £1644, being the sponsorship money he was promised for completing this year's London Marathon.

May 1st, 2003. In the election to the Beer and Branscombe ward of East Devon District Council the result was as follows:
Michael Green (Independent)        453
Trevor Glasper (Conservative)      213
Jack Russell (Independent)            174
There was no election for the Parish council as there were only 11 candidates for the 11 positions.

February 28th, 2003. Vi Bywater celebrated her 100th birthday.

January 17th, 2003. BBC TV. Robot Wars featured 'Kronic the Wedgehog' built in Beer.

January 2003. Mr Stuart Gale is the the new headmaster at Beer Primary School.

2002

December 2002. Beer Primary School won all seven of its netball matches in a round robin tournament at Axe Valley Community College. The team members were:
 Isla Breckell, Nic Leach, Katie Hubbard, Sammy Aplin, Beth Stacey, Abbeymay Mynard and Jessica Wain.

July 30th, 2002. Paul Vine won the Prince of Wales Cup at the International 14s meeting in Falmouth. Results 

July 7th, 2002. Paul Vine won the European Championships in the International 14 class at the sailing championships held in Kaloevig, Denmark.

June 3rd, 2002. Fore Street was closed today between the Dolphin and Anchor Hotels and a street party was held at 4 p.m. Tables were laid out for the senior citizens of the village and all children under 16 who were then served tea. The street was decorated with flags and after the meal, the local children were presented with specially minted medallions to commemorate the Queen's Golden Jubilee. One side of the medallion contained a design of  Beer Fore Street including one of the stone water conduits, and on the other a picture of the Queen. Only 300 coins were minted.
In the evening a disco was held on the beach, where many people gathered with their barbecues and drinks and the beacon was lit as 10 p.m.

Jan 2002. South West Water has begun work on the project to upgrade the sewage system so that the waste from Beer is pumped to a treatment plant in Seaton, in place of the current outlet at Beer Head.

2001

Dec 31st, 2001. Jeff "Harry" West has been awarded the M.B.E. in the New Year's Honours List for services to the community. A well-deserved award.

Dec 2001. The United Nations has now designated the East Devon and West Dorset coast as a World Heritage site.

Nov 2001. Plans to restart the Beer Scout Group are well under way. The Committee is now in place with Alan Melville as Chairman, Sue Vine as Secretary and Margaret Hancock as Treasurer. Two leaders are currently undergoing training in the hopes of starting Beaver, Cub and Scout troops in the near future. The immediate need is to acquire funds to improve the facilities at the Scout Hall.

Oct 2001. Osborne's Big and Tall Man's company has been bought by Michael Hartnell, Andrew Smith and David Bruce.

Sept 2001. At the Pumpkin show, the heaviest pumpkin was grown by Donald Stevens  of Ottery St Mary. It weighed in at 321lb. Heaviest pumpkin grown in Beer was one grown by Stan Bees which weighed 100lb.

Sept 2001. Beer C of E School will receive an autumn gardening kit from Otter Nurseries as a result of 8 year old Sam White winning a  competition at the Nurseries by growing a prize-winning  chrysanthemum.

Sept 2001. East Devon District Council is to spend £200,000 to reinforce the cliffs above Beer beach before next summer.

Sept 7th, 2001. The new vicar, Rev Anne Thorne has been installed.

March 27th, 2001. Yet another landslip occurred above the path leading to the eastern end of the beach. Click here for photo.

March 24th, 2001. A further minor landslip occurred above the path leading to the eastern end of the beach. This slip is to the west of where the contractors are currently working to secure the cliff following the land slip at the beginning of the year.

March 21st, 2001. The sale of the Scout Hut has been temporarily suspended. It is believed that there is some debate over who has the authority to place the property on the market.

March 2001. The Scout hut in Clapps Lane is to be sold by the Scouts Association for approx £50000 for development.

March 2001. Puffin Playgroup have been granted £116546 of Lottery funds to build new premises on land adjacent to Beer C. of E. Primary School in Ash Hill.

March 4th, 2001. Rev Nigel Freathy conducted his last service as Vicar of Beer.

February 2001. Further cliff falls have occurred at Pounds Hole and just west of Beer Head.

Feb 24th, 2001. Owing to the outbreak of Foot and mouth disease, the AVR Saucony Grizzly has been postponed until October.

Jan 2nd, 2001. Part of the cliff above the path to the Eastern side of the beach slipped today. The fall damaged a number of Wally Hurry's huts on the balcony at that end of the beach.

Click on any one of the following buttons to view a photo:
Photo 1       Photo 2          Photo 3       Photo 4         Photo 5

2000

    Sailing

Beer Sailing Club hosted the International 14s world championships in 2000 starting June 24th. Among the races during the week was the race for the "Prince Of Wales Cup".

World Championship 2000 information

New world champions are  Kris Bundy and Jamie Hanseler (USA)

Winners of the Prince of Wales Cup were Zeb Elliott and Dan Johnson (GB)

Panto People

'Cinderella'  was performed in the Mariners Hall on February 17th, 18th & 19th, 2000. 

Click here to view photos from 2000..

Sailing

Beer Sailing Club  hosted the International 14s world championships in June 2000. 

1999

Lace Postcard

A postcard was produced for the summer of 1999 depicting samples of Beer Lace hand-made by May Wakley and friends.

Click here to view the postcard

Church

As with many other churches in the country, St Michael's church roof was in need of repair. The church ran a Roof Rescue Appeal, the target required being £75,000. 

Pantomime 1999

Beer Panto People performed "Dick Whittington" this year, 1999. Performances were held on Thursday , Friday and Saturday night during half-term in February, 18th - 20th, in the Mariners Hall.

The "Grizzly"

The 1999 AVR Adidas Grizzly took place on Sunday 14th March. There were 1500 entries for this race. The race, organised by Axe Valley Runners, started and finished in Seaton, using a course that runs through Beer and Branscombe.

Sailing

Several members of Beer Sailing Club competed in the 1999 World Championships in Melbourne, Jan 4th to Jan 14th, including Paul Vine, Ian Teasdale, Pete Bagwell and Paul Bayliss.

World Championship results.