These days people get the weather report on their smartphone or iPad or their TV. Years ago we all got it the old-fashioned way. We checked the thermometer usually hung by the kitchen window. One wonders how many homes in Tavistock used the Ben Weston's Bakery thermometer fashioned in the old key style.

Weston's Bakery was started by Fred Weston, a British homeboy. An ad in the Tavistock Gazette dated November 16, 1917 stated that "WESTON'S BREAD is made in the home-made way, with the best of materials and potato yeast".

Fred's son, John H. Spencer Weston, who was always known as Ben continued the business into the next generation. The thermometer was a customer-appreciation giveaway in the 1960s.

Do you remember Weston's bread or better still, Ben's coffee cake with the brown sugar topping or his hot cross buns loaded with fruit and all the best spices?