Budleigh Past and Present

Few local artists are as well known in Budleigh Salterton for their keen eye and their witty portrayal of small town life as Joyce Dennys, whose achievements were celebrated recently with the installation of a blue plaque at Lion House, her former home on Fore Street Hill.   Joyce Dennys died in 1991 after a remarkable career as book illustrator, wartime poster designer, novelist, playwright and of course painter. Some of her paintings are owned by Budleigh Salterton Town Council and hang in the Public Hall, while others are on display at Fairlynch Museum.     Early in 1995, the Museum commissioned a professional photographer to produce prints of seven of her paintings. The most successful prints would be used for the production of greetings cards, for sale at Fairlynch. The cards have proved so popular that a new batch has been produced and are now on sale at the Museum. The example seen above is part of a series of mermaid-themed fantasy...

The second book of the Budding Creativity project managed by Budleigh Salterton Decorative & Fine Arts Society was launched on 1 June at the town’s St Peter’s Church.  It features the same young Budleigh heroes Peter, Caroline, Eddie and Bud the dog, whose adventures were the basis of the first book in the series. The Times of their Lives takes the reader on a trip back to the age of Queen Elizabeth I. Which ties in rather well with the opening earlier this year of the Sir Walter Ralegh Room at Fairlynch Museum. Artist Jed Falby's mural shows the young Budleigh heroes passing through the time portal in All Saints Church where they enter the colourful age of the Tudors  Sir Walter, Sir Francis Drake, Queen Elizabeth herself and even William Shakespeare all make an appearance in this ripping yarn where imagination plays as important a part as historical fact.  We learn for example that Fairlynch Museum’s thatched...