25 years ago

1993

January

Luccombe’s red telephone box was saved after a campaign by the parish council and Exmoor National Park Authority with a petition that was signed by every householder. The threat arose when a broken light bulb was reported and BT decided to replace the whole kiosk, but now had a change of heart.

February

Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes was fighting frostbite and a severe infection while descending the dreaded Beardmore Glacier. He and Dr Michael Stroud were crossing the Antarctic to raise £2m for multiple sclerosis sufferers.

March

A Minehead woman was tied up and held hostage while masked raiders ransacked her home in Paganel Road. They broke through the patio doors at midnight, woke her and stole valuable antiques worth thousands of pounds. It was 6.30am before she could free herself.

April

Calls were being made on Home Secretary Kenneth Clarke and Environment Secretary Michael Heseltine to push through legislation after an illegal rave shattered the peace and quiet of the Quantock Hills on Easter Sunday morning. The rave on Triscombe Stone was the third to be held on the hills within a month.

May

Phone users in Williton and Watchet would be able to make faster connections from next week by dialling an extra digit – 6 – in front of their existing numbers. The area was being linked to a £263,000 digital exchange.

June

A test for firemen spread panic among villagers when they thought that Dunster Castle was burning down. They raced to the castle gates to help, and motorists stopped to watch. But it was a practice run, part of an inspection by the Home Office.

July

County bus chiefs warned passengers to “use or lose” the new Williton surgery service that was introduced after pensioner Dorothy Webber complained that it was impossible for many residents to keep doctors’ appointments. Very few people had used the re-routed bus.

August

The future of the Quantock Staghounds was hanging in the balance after an historic decision by county councillors to ban deer hunting on a strategic area of the hills, Over Stowey Customs Common. The hunt’s executive committee was holding a crisis meeting at a secret location.

September

Vandals deliberately drained a water tank used to supply Exmoor ponies on Cothelstone Hill, Bishops Lydeard. It had contained 150 gallons but the ponies were found licking the bottom of the water trough, which was dry.

October

Steepholm island was ’invaded’ by Bristol Channel buccaneers who smashed down a door to get into the Victorian barracks. But it was scarcely worth the effort of putting to sea and climbing the steep cliff – the loot amounted to a radio and some rusty tools.

November

The keys to Minehead’s revamped lifeboat station were handed over by contractors at the end of a £156,000, five-month project to get the 92-year-old building shipshape again.

December

West Somerset was told that it had been successful in its bid for Objective 5b status and was in line for part of a £6 million share out of European funds to boost prosperity and development.