On spending time with Ian, one becomes aware that here is a man comfortable at having ‘run a good race.’ Not that there is a hint of complacency, for he is still on a mission. Once the mission was to make his way in the world of newspaper journalism; then it evolved into directing and editing a huge regional daily newspaper, and now it is keeping our little hybrid community on the Quay informed about each other and the place where we live. His life has been a peregrination determined by ability and ambition. It started in Exmouth and it will likely finish here…only not yet! Born in 1940, the son of an Otterton market gardener, with an elder brother and two elder sisters, he soon worked out that his prodigious memory and zest for the written word would suit him to journalism. At the Exmouth Journal, at the age of 18, Ian made the most important relationship of his professional life…one Bill Gorfin, who edited the Journal for 55 years. Gorfin was the first to see that he had a rather special acolyte in Ian who had an unusual skill set, which included print design and energy to get a job done well and quickly. New print technology in the States in the 60s brought the miracle of colour to even small circulation papers and Ian joined Woodrow Wyatt, the controversial Labour MP and broadcaster, who obtained four of the new presses and started colour papers in the UK. At 21, Ian was appointed editor of the Wallingford News, but it was another paper in the Wyatt group that took him to the city where he would spend the next 35 years -- the futuristically named Birmingham Planet.In 1966, Ian joined the Birmingham Post and Mail group, where his energy skill and ambition took him quickly through the ranks, leaving him time for a 15 year spell as editor, before retirement brought him back home. Personal tragedy left its mark on Ian in his mid-forties, when a stroke claimed the life of his first wife, just as his two teenage daughters had flown off to Greece for a first holiday on their own. Ian had to arrange for their immediate return and met them at the airport to break the terrible news. He says: “I will never forget that day. The girls were grief-stricken and I feared for their health, but time has been a healer.” This reporter is not sure he has conveyed just how passionate Ian is about his time as editor of the Birmingham Post and Mail. Can I suggest that you conduct your own experiment? A lot happened in his four decades in the newsroom. If I give you a list of the “hot button” stories he was involved in, you can ask him your own questions…Kennedy’s Assassination; Churchill’s State funeral; Enoch Powell’s ‘rivers of blood’ speech; The Birmingham IRA pub bombings;The Handsworth Riots; The death of Diana…Ask him where the infamous car workers’ leader ‘Red Robbo’ got his nickname?




Who went to press first with the surprise resignation of Margaret Thatcher on a whisper from his political editor? Who revealed that the council had dyed the grass verges green along the route of Bill Clinton’s drive to the Birmingham G8? Who giggles like a schoolboy at a photo of Bill being well and truly snogged by Cherie Blair?

He will also keep your attention with gossip from four Prime Ministers and tragic tales of Aberfan, Dunblane, Hillsbrough, Lockerbie, Hungerford and the Falklands. Campaigns were an important aspect of Ian’s editorship: “it is not our job to simply report the problems… we should try to solve them.” With this in view, Ian’s paper stopped the closure of the city’s general hospital, which has now become the prestigious Princess of Wales Children’s Hospital. It won a reprieve for Rover Cars after getting 25,000 men, women and children to march through the city. And it saved the job of a Bobby threatened with the sack for clipping the ear of an unruly 12 year old after Ian had published ten pages of names and addresses of those wanting justice. Yes, there’s something of the rascal in Ian to this day as those of us who’ve seen him on the dance floor or woofing a crafty ‘all day breakfast’ in the Dockside Café can testify. Pauline will tell you that even for a big fellow he eats for the nation and that if they had the misfortune to be marooned on a desert island it would not be long before he ate her all up! The editorship of a daily newspaper makes huge demands on the ‘after hours’ life of the incumbent: “Although I had four assistant editors, everybody wanted the editor at their event. We were out till midnight four or five nights a week and I was getting up at 5.30 am on most work days.” Ian and Pauline thought their race had been run and it was time to go … not a phased withdrawal, but definite retirement. They spotted the Quay development at its genesis and thought it would do very nicely. Praise Quay News to Ian and he glints down to you through his specs and says: “it’s therapy …and it gives me a mission.”

Business is booming for the Exmouth Mussel Man whose produce appears regularly on the dining tables of some of London’s finest restaurants. The success of the Exmouth Mussels company, which Myles Blood Smyth set up five years ago, operating from three units in the Pierhead, is a rare good news story in the troubled fishing waters of the South West. “Our turnover has doubled every year since we started,” said Mr Blood Smyth, aged 50, who has spent all his life as a commercial fisherman, specialising in shellfish. “We work hard to provide completely clean mussels, free of barnacles, with a high meat content and distinctive flavour. We want the mussels to be ready for the chefs to use as soon as they receive them and any broken or disfigured shells are removed before dispatch. The mussels go through a purification process for 42 hours and, to maximise shelf life, we aim to distribute them to wholesalers on the day they are taken out of the tanks. Each bag is capped with crushed ice to help keep the mussels cold and wet. If they dry, or are dried by refrigerated air, they will gradually weaken, open and start to die.”


                      

Mr Blood Smyth is joined by his wife and five other full-time staff in the business, 80 per cent of which is concentrated on mussels and the remainder on cockles, clams and oysters. He said the Exe is an excellent river for shellfish growth with its clean B grade waters, which are tested monthly by East Devon District Council. It takes 18 months for mussel seed to reach maturity and that is where the Pierhead team give nature a helping hand. Dedicated vessels go as far as Berry Head to source mussel seed and growing beds are laid on various parts of the river to ensure there is regular stock. “Ninety per cent of mussel seed is destroyed in the autumn storms or taken by predator star fish and we try to find it before the bad weather arrives,” he said. The company has made a major investment in boats and specialised equipment and many Quay residents will have noticed a strange flat-bottomed barge at work. This can fish among the moorings by pumping water down to the seabed and it simply blows the mussels onto an elevator. “The mussels and clams are teased from their muddy beds without any impact on the stone layers beneath,” said Mr Blood Smyth. “Minimal disturbance and constant re-seeding allows the high density of fish, crabs and sponges that build up on what resemble ‘underwater rainforests’ to be maintained.” There is also a boat capable of laying 20 tons of seed per trip and a barge permanently moored in the Bight for cleaning the mussels as soon as they are raised. Alongside the purification tanks is a £10,000 French-made machine, which polishes the mussels before they are hand-packed for delivery. Customers are supplied throughout the year, except when the mussels are spawning in the spring and the company closes for two weeks. Major wholesalers in Brixham and Bristol send much of the Exe produce to outlets all over the country, including top London restaurants and one with a Royal warrant. There are also exports to Holland. The company’s progress was marked recently when it won two Gold Medals in the prestigious “Taste of the West” awards, which reflect exceptional local quality. Mr Blood Smyth is also proud of the 9ft long aquarium alongside his processing plant. It contains fish from around the South West coast, all caught by local fishermen, and includes bass, black bream, octopus, scorpion fish, lobster, crab, eel, prawns and “everything you would find in a rock pool.” He said residents were welcome to come and see it.

The management of the Quay’s famous old Beach pub has become a truly family affair with all five of the Paveys helping to run the business. Mark, affectionately known locally as “Hank,” took over the tenancy in November 2006 on the retirement of Dave Russell. He is assisted by his wife Deb and son Daniel, who is the chef, and daughters Leigh and Georgina. Leigh runs the bar with help from Georgina, who also stages contemporary dance classes in the Beachcomber Bar.


        

 
“Everyone has got behind us and we feel we made a lot of progress in our first six months,” said Hank, who is 48. “Some of the pubs in the town have big screens, flashing lights and loud music, but we just want a good, old-fashioned atmosphere where locals and tourists can relax.”

Many Quay residents have commented on the Beach’s value-for-money meals, which pleases Hank, who has spent a lifetime in catering and takes over from his son in the kitchen when necessary. Hank served with the Royal Marines as a chef for 24 years, although he said he didn’t spend all his time creating culinary delights as he could often be called in to do a soldier’s job. “I had done the normal training programme, finishing at Lympstone, and I would join in on exercises whenever numbers were down.” He married Deb, his schooldays sweetheart, in 1977, and they celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in 2007. They now live above the premises. After leaving the Marines in 1999, he worked as a chef at the Maltsters Inn, Woodbury, then at a rehabilitation centre in Okehampton and finally at Exeter University before becoming bar manager at the Beach two years ago. Away from the beer and the bolognaise, he has run a trip for 16 regulars to the rugby at Twickenham and last month took another 50 for a night at Cornish comedian Jethro’s complex. Hank says they want to build on the pub’s family atmosphere, which should be easy for the five friendly Paveys!

Exmouth’s most successful boating entrepreneur was told at the outset of his working life to stay away from the water and get a proper job – by his mother! Fortunately, he ignored her advice and his cruise line is now one of the busiest in the South West.Ian Stuart, aged 42, explains: “Dad had run river cruises for up to 50 people in a small open boat during the summer and mum was convinced that there wasn’t enough business about to keep going in the winter months. She was right at the time, of course, as there were no winter boat trips up to 10 years ago, but I was determined to change things.”


                                                   

Ian and his wife Philippa got together with the hotels and offered boat trips for their winter guests and business snowballed. Recently, as in previous years, they have run 30 trips for bird watchers, with all 120 places booked solidly in advance for each one, and in November they took packed boats to the coastal firework displays. “December is a very busy month with children’s Santa trips, office party cruises and sit-down meals,” he said, “last year we had 10 days of sit-down Christmas meals and diners came from as far as Yeovil, Cornwall and Bournemouth.” It was much more of a gamble 24 years ago when Ian and Philippa raised £2,500 to buy their first boat, but their energy and drive paid off and three years ago they were able to invest £320,000 on a new vessel appropriately names “Pride of Exmouth.”

The couple also made sure they were in the right place at the right time when the Jurassic Coast initiative was set up. Ian said, “It was established that the Weymouth area was good for walkers, Lyme Regis and Charmouth for fossils and the Exmouth end for the coastal trips and we were ready with our new boat. Now these trips probably make up half of our summer business.” He said the increase in winter trade had also enabled him to employ his staff all year round and not rely on seasonal labour as is the case with many boat operators around the coast. He has two other qualified skippers, with Philippa the main office administrator, and he has recently added a new 12-seater rib to augment “Pride of Exmouth” and the old faithful “Tudor Rose,” which is currently getting a facelift in Camperdown Creek. “We bought the rib with the intention of running a fast ferry service from Sidmouth and Seaton,” he explained, “but we are using it more for private party trips and we recently took a group to the Cats musical in Torquay. ”Looking ahead, Ian has a ready made stand-in when the time comes for him to take it easier …13-year-old son Jake, who has already established himself as a confident seaman. And Ian, unlike his mum all those years ago, will encourage him!

Clipper Wharf resident Jerzy Raciborski’s parents were married in the most dramatic circumstances. His father, Franciszek, a former Polish cavalry captain with a dashing reputation, fell in love with a beautiful Countess. When her parents declined his request for her hand in marriage, he mounted his horse, whisked the young woman up to his saddle and rode off to a little village church where the ceremony was performed. Franciszek took his new wife to his 400-acre farm in the south-east of Poland, where he bred Arab horses, and it was here that Jerzy (English translation: George) was born in 1932. But their fairytale lifestyle was soon to end.


                                

As the Germans invaded on the 1st September, 1939, his father, although 46 and past the call-up age, immediately rode off on horseback to join his old regiment, leaving his wife and three children on the farm. They were never to see him again and the years that followed were to be perilous for the young family. When the Russians invaded, 17 days later, they were thrown out of their home and told to take only what they could carry, and although they moved to a nearby town, the Russian Secret police located them and deported them to Siberia. The three-week trip in a cattle truck that followed was one of several hazardous journeys George and his brother and sister had to endure. Twice they thought they had lost their devoted mother. “On a rail journey out of Siberia, we had only stale bread for food and the train stopped to allow people to get hot water, but it moved off with mother stranded on the station,” recalls George. “We later discovered she had run after the train and jumped on at the back.” In another incident, in Tashkent, an attempt was made to steal their suitcase and, after a fracas, their mother was taken away by police. “We thought we had lost her again,” said George, “but she got back to us.”

In Siberia they had been taken to collective farms and on one of these they lived in a mud hut with little food and had to burn cow’s dung for warmth. The turning point came when Germany attacked Russia in 1941 and as soon as the Russians became Western allies there was an amnesty for Poles in the country. After a long and difficult journey, the family eventually reached a refugee camp in Tehran, where their mother joined the Polish Army and George attended army cadet school. They moved with the school to Palestine and came to Britain when the Arab conflict flared. News also reached them that father Franciszek had died in Budapest.In Britain, George passed his A-levels and studied engineering in Plymouth, where he met Dorothy and they married in 1956. She joined him on an eight-year contract in South Africa for a British company, and on their return he went to an engineering company in London, retiring as a director in 1992. “Looking back, I think I was so young I accepted everything that happened as the norm,” said George, speaking in his Quay home where he enjoys walking the docks and playing bridge. They have two daughters and two sons, one of whom was a canoeist in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics.

Dave Russell reflected on his 10 years at the helm of the Quay’s popular Beach pub and said: “I’m going to miss this place, because really I’m just one of the lads.” There are no airs and graces about Dave, who at the tender age of 55, surprised his regulars when he announced he was turning his back on the licensing trade after more than 15 years and retiring to “chill out.” He explained: “I’m not one of those publicans who tries to lord it over everyone. We’re just an old-fashioned pub where people can come in for a quiet drink and a chat with the locals without the distraction of video games or loud music and I have always felt comfortable to be part of it.”

His wife Sheila, to whom he has been married for 35 years, has backed him all the way and they are looking forward to a break from long pub hours and the chance to travel in a newly-acquired motor home. “Don’t get me wrong,” said Dave, “We’ve really enjoyed our time at the Beach (before that they ran the Kings Arms in Kingsteignton), but it’s a slog and you can never really turn your back on it. Now, for the first time, we will also have some public holidays to ourselves, although, having said that, lunchtime at Christmas Day in the pub has been one of my favourite times of the year.” Dave and Sheila’s first destination in the new motor home will be Cyprus, where their son and his family live, and after that they will take trips from Exmouth to anywhere that takes their fancy or “until the money runs out.” Although they lived on the premises during their years at the Beach, it was a tenancy, and they invested in a bungalow in the town.

Dave made a major career change earlier in his life when he entered the licensing trade after 14 years in management accounts with Smiths Industries, a precision fan and air conditioning firm. On October 10, 2006, that career will end when he hands over the tenancy to his pub manager Mark Pavey, known to the locals as Hank, whose son Daniel is the chef and daughter Leigh helps on the bar. Regulars will wish Hank well, but they will miss the down-to-earth Dave who, when asked if Exmouth’s current RNLI conxswain continued the tradition of drinking with his colleagues in the Beach’s famous Lifeboat Bar, replied: “No, he goes to the Grove.”

The incredible life of the man with the longest name at Exmouth Quay is the subject of a new book* Don Emilio Julian Leandro Guillermo Mateas Lopez Lopez Echeverria de Peralta, who lives in Ropewalk House, was born to a wealthy Spanish family, but found himself abandoned in an orphanage at the age of two when his father died suddenly. Although he was rescued and cared for by an uncle, the bloody Spanish |Civil War later put his life in danger and, at the age of 10, he was forced to flee on a hazardous trip to England. Here, his topsy-turvy world continued when he narrowly survived the German bombing raids on Plymouth, but the enterprising young man, who had sold home-made wireless sets using copper wire and old toilet roll tubes to grateful school chums, was to establish himself as an inventor. He took out 47 patents and manufactured a string of popular products, including luggage such as Antler, Kingfisher, Revellation and Crown.


                              


“It was all down to determination,” said the softly-spoken Don Lopez, who in 1951 married Helena, an Exeter girl. Later, he returned to his homeland with his wife and three daughters for a reunion with the friends and family he had left 27 years before. “It was emotional, but I had no desire to stay,” he says, “I wanted to return to dear old England, my new home, where I had found happiness.” Among a host of manufacturing successes, Don is particularly proud of the Alternating Pressure Mattress, which he designed and patented and which is known in the NHS as a “ripple bed.” He built a new factory for its manufacture. He also produced PVC products, luxury lighting, high quality garden furniture and an array of products for Marks & Spencer, Thermos, Burberry, Aquasutum and Zandra Rhodes. He manufactured the first “on the hanger” travel packs, which were made famous by Selfridges, and considered by Shell and BP to be essential for executives, as they could be taken into aircraft cabins and cut out lengthy waits in the baggage halls. Don was asked to modify several packs for Prince Philip to enable him to travel with the uniform for each of the Armed Forces. The great entrepreneur, who is 80, retired in 1991 and says,” Regrettably, none of my daughters wanted to take over the business, with 5 factories and several hundred workers, so I sold up.”

Mark Quilter is the shopkeeper whose daily deliveries arrive by sea. He runs Exmouth Fisheries on the Pierhead and says that 75 per cent of the fish he sells is caught locally from his own boat ‘Prosperity’ and five other trawlers. He also supplies fish merchants and 15 hotels and restaurants in the area, with the new Quay restaurant ‘Olivants’ set to join the list shortly. “Crabs are one of our specialities,” he says, “we catch them, boil them and dress them on the premises and they’re always in great demand.”


                         


Mark, who is aged 34 and married with two children, lives in Hulham Road, Exmouth, and has worked at the Pierhead shop since he was 13. “We own the building,” said Mark, “thanks to the foresight of mum and dad, who bought it from the old Exmouth Dock Company 40 years ago. Sadly, his father Doug passed away in 2005 and his mother, Annette, who is often seen helping out in the shop, will be retiring soon. The shop, which is open seven days a week from 8.30am to 5pm in winter and for longer periods in summer, has recently had a major refurbishment behind the scenes in the fish preparation area and the front of the premises will now get a facelift. Mark said the property development at Exmouth Quay had boosted his trade. “We are always busy in the summer,” he said, “but I have a number of customers living at the Quay who have definitely made a difference to my winter business.” Does he buy from the small angler ? “No, I’m not allowed to,” he explained, “DEFRA (the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) insist that we must have traceability of the fish we sell, which rules out individuals.”