Not so long ago, Bideford had a reputation for being one of the best places in the country to celebrate New Year’s Eve. When 1997 became 1998, a couple of thousand people gathered on the quay in fancy dress, and a letter in the local paper said that, after Trafalgar Square and Edinburgh, it was the third most popular place ‘in England’ [sic] to celebrate New Year. This year I have heard complaints on social media that no events have been organised in the town. Instead, it was Westward Ho! that promised to ‘Make New Year’s Eve great again’, with fireworks, live music and fancy dress. 

But how far back does the New Year’s Eve tradition in Bideford go? Looking back at local newspaper reports, it seems that the New Year used to be more about charity and the community rather than raucous celebrations. In 1960, a ceremony dating back to 1605, in which bread was distributed to the elderly of the town, was filmed for TV. By 1973, the tradition was still taking place, with butter as well as bread. In 1965, there was a New Year’s pensioners party for 116 people in Torrington and every pensioner also received half a pound of tea. 

In the 1920s, ‘boot tickets’ were distributed to the poor, there was fancy dress dance in aid of the ‘Waifs and Strays Society’, and New Year’s Day entertainment at Bideford Hospital with musical recitals, a singalong, and a ‘humorous duet’. The boozy celebrations were left to the bellringers of Woolsery, who attended a supper held at the vicarage. After toasts to the King in Devon cider, there was music and games until after midnight, and much laughter heard through ‘clouds of tobacco’. 

As the welfare state and the NHS made pensioners healthier and wealthier, it is evident that the focus of New Year celebrations became more about fun and frolicking and less about concern for others.  Then in 2019 there was a new focus on the environmental harm that loud fireworks in the vicinity of starlings roosting under the bridge could cause, and the spectacular firework displays in Bideford ceased. 

How much should we worry that Bideford has lost its reputation as a place to see in the New Year? In terms of regenerating the town and attracting people in, surely this year’s Frost Fair was a better investment of public money.