M Y MENTION last week of the proposed archaeological excavations in the Bridge Street car parks reminded me about Bideford's connections with Samuel Pepys the famous seventeenth century diarist.

It starts with one Alexandre le Marchant de St Michel who was a member of a French Catholic family in Anjou. For some reason he converted to Protestantism and fled to Britain and then on to Ireland. In 1639 he met and married Dorothea, a widow, and the couple settled in Bideford where, on October 23, 1640, their daughter, Elizabeth, and possibly her brother, Balthasar, were born.

We do know that there was a French Huguenot (Protestant) church somewhere in Bideford at this date where services were held in French — unfortunately no one knows where this was, but my own suspicion is that it was somewhere in the Bridge Street/Allhalland Street area. So where does Pepys fit into this? Well, on December 1, 1655, Pepys, then an impoverished civil servant, married the 15-year-old Elizabeth at St Margaret'sCchurch in Westminster. If you have ever read Samuel's diary you will know that their married life was fairly rocky, but he was greatly distressed when she died on November 10, 1669. It would be nice if the excavations turned up any evidence for the whereabouts of this French chapel.

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THE Market Management committee of the town council met early in January and among all the usual business was one fascinating suggestion by Cllr Emma Farrington who wanted to brighten up the Pannier Hall "and give it a three dimensional look by way of purpose made market stalls with colourful striped canopies and panels".

I talked to her about this and she explained that her initiative came about after she witnessed some tourists walk up the steps from Butcher's Row to the main hall only for one to say "There's nothing here".

The committee supported her idea and agreed to set aside up to £10,000 to purchase the stalls. As a trial two of the proposed stalls are to be obtained from the makers and put in place with feedback being collected from traders and members of the public.

Even more importantly, at this time of the year, they also agreed to examine the use of a "drapes" system to keep warm air inside the Market Hall during cold spells. I visit the market every week and see it as an integral part of the town — even if we may well have to revisit suggestions I have made in the past that it may need to be moved to a more central position to ensure its continuing viability.

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AT THE same meeting Sam Robinson, one of Bideford's county councillors, gave us a report on some of the things that have been happening at County Hall including congestion problems in Thornton Close on Londonderry caused by traffic generated from social events at Kingsley College.

He surprised me by noting that the Close had yet to be "adopted" by the council. He also mentioned a questionnaire delivered to residents in Northam Road asking for their views on a 20 mph speed limit — about which see below.

I raised the issue of the paving in Mill Street which desperately needs attention as the surface is extremely uneven and dangerous in places. I did raise this several years ago now when the county was Lib-Dem controlled but nothing happened so I await to see if the present Tory-led council will address the problem.

In addition I asked whether a special (un)loading bay could be created for traders at the Pannier Market – the refurbishment of the Market area some years ago overlooked this requirement so hopefully we can now revisit the present layout.

Cllr Steve Clarke asked why all traffic lights in the town couldn't be like the ones along Abbotsham Road where sensors change the lights according to approaching traffic rather than operating on a fixed timing schedule? Cllr Robinson agreed to add this to his list of things to be looked at — along with the continuing serious concerns over the bollards in Clovelly Road which were raised by Cllr Simon Inch. Several other points were covered as well and suffice to say that Cllr Robinson never leaves the Town Hall without a full case book of issues to work on.

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I HAVE mentioned before that I subscribe to the free website TheyWorkForYou which lets you know whenever your MP says something in Parliament. Our representative Geoffrey Cox made a fascinating speech last week on the European Union. After attacking both the Lib-Dems — "discreditable and cynical" — and Labour — "consistently treated Parliament with disdain, contempt ands scorn" — he went on to announce that the electorate in his constituency "are profoundly Eurosceptic". Of course, Mr Cox was only voted for by 30% of the electorate — so clearly a lot of people do not agree with his views. Additionally, but not unexpectedly, he conveniently forgets that it was the Conservatives who took us into Europe in the first place. His oddest comment, however, was about his fellow MPs when he said: "Over the past 12 months it might have dawned on us, and the penny might have dropped, that the people of this country, have stopped trusting us." Well spotted, Mr Cox. Although he himself has, of course, been relatively untroubled by the recent expenses scandals due to the low level of his claims, it is my sense from talking to a lot of people that many don't just mistrust our MPs but in fact view them as dishonest, sleazy and not worth the very large salaries and perks they claim — often for part-time attendance to their role as our representatives. I have even heard it suggested that all present MPs are removed from office and a complete new House elected — the Cromwellian approach if you will. If you wish to read the very long speech then do visit the website.

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DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL is proposing to make Northam Road a 20 mph zone and to help enforce this to install pairs of "preformed speed cushions" measuring 1.5m by 2m and 75mm high outside number 3 Northam Road and 5, 14 and 28 Stanhope Terrace with objections having to be in by February 10. I know many people believe that the cars parked both sides of the road and the odd jutting-out pavements already slow the traffic a lot – but I'm told the work is being done as a result of the number of road casualties on this stretch over the years 2006-8.