Editing Bideford (section)

==Culture==

===New Year traditions===
Bideford is renowned for its [[New Year's Eve]] celebrations, when thousands of people – most in fancy dress – from surrounding towns, villages, and around the world gather on the quay for revelries and a [[fireworks display]].<ref>{{cite news
  | last = McCurrach
  | first = Ian
  | title = TravelEtc: Ring in the New
  | work = [[The Independent on Sunday]]
  | publisher = [[Independent News & Media]]
  | date = 8 December 2002}}
</ref> The event normally includes a number of local musical acts performing on the X Radio One Roadshow stage.<ref name="thisisnorthdevon">{{cite web|url=http://www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/PHOTOS-Thousands-enjoy-New-Year-8217-s-Eve/story-17739842-detail/story.html#axzz2XEyQ1gZ9|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130628042647/http://www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/PHOTOS-Thousands-enjoy-New-Year-8217-s-Eve/story-17739842-detail/story.html%23axzz2XEyQ1gZ9|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 June 2013|title=PHOTOS: Thousands enjoy New Year's Eve celebrations in Barnstaple and Bideford &#124; North Devon Journal|publisher=thisisnorthdevon.co.uk|access-date=31 March 2015}}</ref>
[[Andrew's Dole]] is a custom dating from 1605. In that year, the Mayor of Bideford, Andrew Dole, established a trust to provide for loaves of bread to be distributed to poor, elderly, persons who applied at the Mayor's Parlour. The custom continues to this day and takes place on [[New Year's Day]]. He also left some land to trustees and the income is distributed to 10 deserving people, for each trustee.

===Radio===
Local radio was provided by Heart North Devon. The station, which started in 1992 and originally called Lantern FM, was based in Bideford in a building named "the Lighthouse", and later moved to an industrial estate in nearby Barnstaple. In April 2009, the station was rebranded as part of the [[Heart Network]], losing the long-standing Lantern FM name. In August 2010, amid much controversy, the station was merged with its sister operations in other areas of Devon and all operations were moved to new studios in [[Exeter]] and renamed [[Heart Devon]]. As a result, numerous members of staff at Barnstaple were made redundant. Since then, many of the Lantern FM team, past and present, have reunited to create [[The Voice (North Devon)|The Voice]], a local radio station currently broadcasting across Devon on DAB Digital radio. The radio station was launched on FM in January 2014 after being granted an FM Licence.

===Television===
Local news and television programmes are provided by [[BBC South West]] and [[ITV West Country]]. Television signals are received from the [[Huntshaw Cross transmitting station|Huntshaw Cross]] TV transmitter and the local relay transmitter situated in [[Westward Ho!]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Huntshaw_Cross|title=Full Freeview on the Huntshaw Cross (Devon, England) transmitter|date=1 May 2004|website=UK Free TV|accessdate=7 November 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Westward_Ho!|title=Freeview Light on the Westward Ho (Devon, England) transmitter|date=1 May 2004|website=UK Free TV|accessdate=7 November 2023}}</ref>

===Newspapers===
Bideford is covered by two main local newspapers, the ''[[North Devon Gazette]]'' and the ''[[North Devon Journal]]'' which are published weekly. The ''Gazette'' was founded in Bideford, and was originally known as the ''Bideford Gazette''. It is now a free newspaper, delivered to most local homes, and is now based in Barnstaple. The regional daily paper, the ''[[Western Morning News]]'', is also available. A local newsletter, the ''Bideford Buzz'', was published monthly from 2000- 18 by a team of volunteers, and from October 2018 is available online only.

===Twinning===
The town is [[Twin towns|twinned]] with [[Landivisiau]] in France. It has been twinned with Landivisiau since 1976; each year members of the Bideford Twinning Association take part in an exchange trip with Landivisiau.<ref name="bideford-tc2">{{cite web|url=http://www.bideford-tc.gov.uk/your-history-and-our-friends/twin-towns/landisvisau-france|title=Bideford Town Council – Landisvisau – France|publisher=bideford-tc.gov.uk|access-date=31 March 2015|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402122930/http://www.bideford-tc.gov.uk/your-history-and-our-friends/twin-towns/landisvisau-france|url-status=live}}</ref>
On 20 October 2006, British [[ex-patriate]] David Riley came to mark the '20-year link' between [[Manteo, North Carolina|Manteo]] on [[Roanoke Island]], [[North Carolina]], and Bideford. The Bideford town clerk, George McLauchlan, told him that locals had never heard of Manteo, and that the only town Bideford was twinned with was in France. Mr Riley handed over a clock to 'celebrate' the twenty-year link, while the Manteo Town manager Kermit Skinner said the link started in the 1980s during the 400th anniversary of Raleigh's voyages to America.
It turns out the 'twinning' of Bideford with Manteo had been established 20 years before. But the story goes back much further – 500 years – to the mysterious disappearance of a colony of more than 100 people on Roanoke Island, many of whom were immigrants from Bideford. The colony was established by Sir Richard Grenville, who brought back two Native American Indians, one of them called [[Manteo (Croatan)|Manteo]] which gave the North Carolina town its name.<ref>{{cite news
 |title = Gifts from an undiscovered US twin town
 |url = http://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/northdevongazette/news/story.aspx?brand=NDGOnline&category=news&tBrand=devon24&tCategory=newsndga&itemid=DEED18%20Oct%202006%2013%3A10%3A50%3A900
 |work = The North Devon Gazette
 |publisher = Archant Regional
 |date = 18 October 2006
 |access-date = 21 October 2006
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070311021428/http://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/northdevongazette/news/story.aspx?brand=NDGOnline&category=news&tBrand=devon24&tCategory=newsndga&itemid=DEED18%20Oct%202006%2013%3A10%3A50%3A900
 |archive-date = 11 March 2007
 |url-status = dead
 }}</ref>

===Art===
[[File:Burton at Bideford front 2017.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Burton at Bideford]] Art Gallery & Museum]]
[[Bideford Art School]] was located on The Quay from 1896 to the 1970s. Alumni included [[Judith Ackland]] and novelist [[Rosemary Sutcliff]]. Today the building houses Bideford Arts Centre. The [[Burton at Bideford]] is an art gallery and museum in the town that has collections on various things of interest connected with Bideford's heritage, including clay pipes and tea caddies. The art gallery displays work by local artists featuring local heritage and local landscapes.<ref name="burtonartgallery">{{cite web|url=http://www.burtonartgallery.co.uk/|title=Burton Art Gallery & Museum – Home|publisher=burtonartgallery.co.uk|access-date=31 March 2015|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402131634/http://www.burtonartgallery.co.uk/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Bideford Film Society===

The Bideford Film Society was set up in 2001 and with the aid of a grant from the Bridge Trust and Bideford Town Council. The Bideford Film Society shows films just after their cinema release. The films are screened at Kingsley School, or in the Devon Hall at Bideford College.<ref name="torridge7">{{cite web|url=http://www.torridge.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=749|title=Torridge District Council : Arts and Culture|publisher=torridge.gov.uk|access-date=31 March 2015|archive-date=28 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150228082056/http://www.torridge.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=749|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Markets===
[[File:Entrance to Bideford Pannier Market.jpg|thumb|An Entrance to Butchers Row in Bideford Pannier Market.]]
In 1272 Bideford was granted a market charter, and has had many markets throughout the years. The medieval market was once held near to where the bottom of the High Street is today.<ref>Howell, David; Butler, Tony; Priestly, Mike and Howell, Louise (2013) [https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CD8PK3O Bideford Heritage Trails eBook] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724110627/https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CD8PK3O |date=24 July 2021 }}. Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved on 25 September 2015.</ref> The current [[Pannier Market, Bideford|Pannier Market]] has been there since 1884, and consists of a large market hall which, as well as markets, hosts boxing matches and other events; and Butchers Row which is now made up of small shops, galleries, and butchers' stalls.<ref name="bidefordbuzz">{{cite web|url=http://bidefordbuzz.org.uk/articles/bideford-pannier-market-and-butchers%E2%80%99-row/|title=Bideford Pannier Market and Butchers' Row. &#124; Bideford Buzz|publisher=bidefordbuzz.org.uk|access-date=31 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402105159/http://bidefordbuzz.org.uk/articles/bideford-pannier-market-and-butchers%E2%80%99-row/|archive-date=2 April 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A farmers' market takes place on the quay on nearly every Saturday throughout the summer.<ref name="torridge8">{{cite web|url=http://www.torridge.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=7276 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120606214434/http://www.torridge.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=7276 |archive-date=2012-06-06 |url-status=dead |title=Torridge District Council|access-date=31 March 2015}}</ref> A continental market also visits Bideford annually – market traders from France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Holland, Poland and other countries come to sell products on the quay.<ref name="torridge9">{{cite web|url=http://www.torridge.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=9184|title=Torridge District Council : Continental Market Comes to Bideford|publisher=torridge.gov.uk|access-date=31 March 2015|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402152255/http://www.torridge.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=9184|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Shopping===
[[File:Atlantic Village Shopping Outlet - geograph.org.uk - 1460129.jpg|thumbnail|right|Affinity Devon.]]
Bideford has many small shops and galleries. Affinity Devon, formerly Atlantic Village, is an outlet shopping centre on the western outskirts of the town: it has over thirty retail outlets<ref name="atlanticvillage">{{cite web|url=http://www.atlanticvillage.co.uk/|title=Atlantic Village|publisher=atlanticvillage.co.uk|access-date=31 March 2015|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402130604/http://www.atlanticvillage.co.uk/|url-status=live}}</ref> Opposite Affinity Devon is Atlantic Park, a collection of restaurants, supermarkets and hotel chains built in 2015. This destroyed large parts of Moreton Park Woods and was campaigned against by local residents.<ref name="Moreton Park Woods">{{cite web|url=http://www.northdevonjournal.co.uk/bideford-mcdonald-s-opening-day-announced/story-27844426-detail/story.html|first=Joseph|last=Bulmer|title=Bideford McDonald's opening day announced|date=22 September 2015|website=North Devon Journal|access-date=6 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151128165135/http://www.northdevonjournal.co.uk/Bideford-McDonald-s-opening-day-announced/story-27844426-detail/story.html|archive-date=28 November 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>