Twiggy Lake

Twiggy was born and raised in North Tawton - as a youngster he was an enthusiastic member of the scouting movement, and played side drum in the town’s band for many years, until the band folded.

He left school at just 14 and was accepted as an apprentice with Whites of Crediton, where he learned all aspects of the painting and decorating trade.

‘I reckoned it would be alright because I’d be working indoors in the winter and outdoors in the summer,’ said Twiggy, who spent the next 15 years with the company, before becoming self employed in 1974.

He remembered clearly the first time he considered joining the town’s retained fire brigade, after watching the crew on drill night when he’d been playing football nearby. He signed up at just 17 and on the day of his 18th birthday spent eleven hours fighting a fire at Down St Mary Rectory. Within a few years he became a leading firemen and ultimately took charge of the station until his retirement in 2010, having served an incredible 37 years. He’s been involved in dozens of major incidents - given its position geographically within the county and its proximity to the A30, North Tawton crews could be drafted to assist over a large area. He’s attended many sad call-outs where lives have been lost - and very special ones when new life has come into the world.

‘We had this call out to a lady having twins,’ said Twiggy. ‘The ambulance was stuck in heavy snow at Whiddon Down, the police were run off their feet and the RAF said it was unsafe for the helicopter to land. We got there and she’d had two contractions - ambulance control said we had to take her to Okehampton.

‘We stripped all the kit out of the engine and surrounded her with blankets. We set off through the town, you could hardly see the clock tower for the blizzard. Going along the road the trees were so bent over with snow it was like going through a tunnel, but I worked out if we could get to Appledore Hill we stood a chance. When we got to the top of Okehampton I radioed the hospital and said we were six minutes away - she was beginning to pant!

‘Half way down the hill we had to stop, these kids had built a gigantic snowball in the middle of the road! We managed to push it away with the engine, and when we got to the hospital we only just stopped when the ladder hit the hospital entrance canopy - she had the first baby five minutes later! It was a terrific team effort and the station got a commendation for it - the twins must be teenagers now!’

Twiggy recalled the ferocity of the floods that hit North Tawton repeatedly before a prevention scheme was built, when he and his crews desperately tried to help families whose homes were ruined by the torrents.

‘I remember putting my hand on the bridge - it was pitch dark at the time - the whole bridge was shaking and moving because of all the debris coming down and the water was up to the top of the parapets.’

The camaraderie at the fire station and the sense of community felt by the crews is still the same, even if firefighting has changed hugely.

‘It’s still dangerous for a fire fighter - when everyone else is running out of a building, you have to run in, it’s as simple as that. The equipment is much better now but fire’s hot and it will burn you.’

When not working, devoting hours to the fire service or playing for North Tawton Rugby Club, Twiggy ran his own mobile disco with his mate Paddy, taking Twiggy’s Roadshow to weddings and events, even getting an offer of a summer season at Minehead.

‘We did it right up until punk came along - when people started spitting at you from the floor, that was that!’ said Twiggy, whose other great love is producing shows for the local drama group ANTS.

He now has some 30 pantos under his belt - the last one was Goodbye Mr Tom and Cinderella is ‘ready to roll’ as soon as Covid allows.

Family man Twiggy has two children and grandchildren and at 66 he’s still working - he reckons he’s probably painted most of the houses in North Tawton’s high street now!

So where did the name come about?

‘My foreman at White’s used to say I looked like a stick I was so thin. He started off calling me branch, then a mate at Crediton fire station started calling me Twiggy - and it stuck!’

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