Budleigh Past and Present

Continued from   https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2015/10/from-slavery-to-sponges-imagining.html It seems that John Campbell, the wealthy Budleigh resident and benefactor of Henry John Carter, the future FRS, took a keen interest in the voyages undertaken by adventurers of his time.  Admiral Sir John Ross By an artist of the British school, 19th century  He would probably have read the 740-page volume written by a fellow-Scot who had made his name as an explorer. This was Captain, later Admiral, Sir John Ross (1777-1856), pictured above;  the account of his adventures was entitled Narrative of a second voyage in search of a North-West passage, and of a residence in the Arctic Regions during the years 1829, 1830, 1831, 1832, 1833. The book was published by the London firm of A.W. Webster in 1835, and John Campbell’s name is on the List of Subscribers to the companion Appendix which app...

Fairlynch volunteer Maggie Giraud has just updated her website ( www.talksaboutart.co.uk ) and would like to draw your attention to some of the talks she has booked, which she hopes will interest and entertain you in the coming (colder!) months. Maggie is a locally-based freelance art historian and curator. Her talk ‘Understanding Henri Matisse’ was chosen to round off the Museum’s AGM on 29 April. It was one of many talks which she has given during 2015. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Maggie lists her specialist topics as Renaissance Florence, the early 20th century period in Paris, and Dartington Hall, where she was employed as curator and archivist.  However her talks on art cover a wide range. “The ongoing series at The Castle Hotel, Taunton, ends on 12 November with a new lecture on Francis Bacon who has preoccupied me for a long time,” she writes. “Presenting him coherently is a considerable challenge, but his fame is such now that he cannot be...

Admirers of East Devon author R.F. Delderfield’s work may remember Fairlynch Museum’s centenary exhibition devoted to him in 2012 and the talk given in Budleigh by his biographer Marion Lindsey-Noble. A re-edition of her book Butterfly Moments was published to mark the 100 years since Delderfield’s birth. Since then Exmoor-based Marion has been busy. She’d already followed in the footsteps of Delderfield with her first novel, The Green Sari , published in October 2011.  Set in Bangladesh where the former language teacher lived in her twenties, the book was described by its author as a heart-warming read and a bitter-sweet love story. Now Marion has produced a sequel entitled The Banyan Tree, taking the story forward to the next generation of the Khan family who featured in her first book. A large Banyan tree stands in the middle of the orphanage in Bangladesh where Ali and his American wife Martha have taken up their ne...

One of the fine panels in the Priscilla Carter Room at Fairlynch produced by local artist and designer Neil Rogers   A rare set of volumes of the Devon Archaeological Society has been offered to Fairlynch, enriching the Museum’s resources in the Priscilla Carter Room. Local resident Jack Major, who has donated the volumes, is delighted that the set will remain together rather than be split up, especially as it includes the much earlier Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Exploration Society beginning with volume 1 from 1929. Amateur archaeologist George Carter, right, with friends The collection is of considerable interest to Fairlynch as it contains two volumes dating from 1935 and 1936 in which articles by Budleigh Salterton amateur archaeologist George Carter about the pebble mounds of Woodbury Common were published. Professor Chris Tilley, seen here explaining the...

Corporate Friends of Fairlynch The Brook Gallery, now based in both Exeter and Budleigh Salterton, is presenting a selection of work from celebrated artist Brendan Neiland, known for his memorable images of modern metropolitan existence.  The exhibition runs from 16 October to 16 November 2015.  Professor Brendan Neiland, born in 1941 in Lichfield, Staffordshire, is an English artist best known for his paintings of reflections in modern city buildings. In 1992 he was elected into the Royal Academy. Professor Neiland's interpretations of city life have gained him a reputation as one of Britain's foremost painters and printmakers. His use of light and pictorial structure, using a spray-gun technique developed at the Royal College of Art, has seen Neiland likened to Georges Braque and Johannes Vermeer. His work is widely exhibited in major museums and galleries worldwide including, in Britain, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Tate Gallery London, The Colle...

Fairlynch has been awarded 1 st prize in the Community Gardens category of the 2015 Budleigh in Bloom competition. The Museum’s volunteer gardeners are feeling pleased that they are certain to have contributed to the town’s success at regional level. In the South West in Bloom competition Budleigh Salterton won a Gold Award and the Ayre Cup for being the best in its category of a small coastal town with a population of under 10,000.   Fairlynch Chairman Trevor Waddington congratulated the team of gardeners – Odile Cook, Ann Hurt, Sylvia Merkel and Lynn Weeks – who work together to make the Museum garden such a magnificent spectacle.  “We know that the garden looks great, but it's nice to have this  officially  recognised by the experts!” he said.   South West in Bloom is one of eighteen regional/nat...