Budleigh Past and Present

It's been quite an eye-opener to discover the thousands of photos in Fairlynch Museum's collection. I used quite a number in the recent re-edition of the Budleigh Salterton Railway booklet.  Now that the Museum's Local History Room is being re-organised there's a need for photos to illustrate various aspects of the area's past.  Sometimes the photos are not quite as perfect as one would like. The attached pic shows waitresses at the Rosemullion Hotel in Budleigh, demolished many years ago and replaced by blocks of flats. No date is given for the photo, and only Miss Lucy Sanders, front row, left, has been identified.  If you think that their uniforms look unnaturally dazzling white, as if they've been washed in biological detergent, that's because the wonders of the IT age allowed me to clean up those pinnies, which were definitely on the grubby side in the original photo.  After all, the Rosemullion was s...

'Buses' fan Sir Robin Wales, Mayor of Newham Are you a cradle-born Cockney with a connection to Canning Town? Or just a new arrival from the Borough of Newham, which covers that part of London?  Would you by any chance be a fan of On the Buses or The Rag Trade? I’m seeking a suitable candidate for the role of representative of the Mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales, at Fairlynch Museum’s Exhibitions Preview evening on Thursday 24 March. Invited guests will be able to view the 2016 exhibition ‘Our Little Clown’, an event which which will mark the centenary of the birth of the actor and entertainer Reg Varney, who retired to Budleigh Salterton. You don’t have to speak Cockney, or even wear a mayoral chain. You might just have lived for a short time in Newham, or even better in Canning Town before moving to East Devon. I’m just looking for someone who would be willing to represent  the Borough and who would enjoy rea...

A scene from the 60s: Kids help the fishermen on Budleigh beach    Image credit: Fairlynch Museum   The first thing I need to say is that Fairlynch Museum may be featured on BBC1 tomorrow, Friday 19 February, 2016 at 3.45pm. I shall of course, be watching, though with some regret. Many months ago the Museum was approached by TV company Raise the Roof Productions for permission to film the building. The company was intending to make a programme in the ‘Holiday of My Lifetime’ series, in which a celebrity recalls his or her first memorable holiday in a conversation with Len Goodman. Yes, the Len Goodman who judges all those Amazing Contestants on Strictly Come Dancing.  The celebrity in question was going to be Valerie Singleton. Is going to be Valerie Singleton. You know!  The one in the middle in that Blue Peter Annual Number 5.  Blue Peter from many moons ago o...

I’ll be posting from time to time my thoughts about the Jurassic Coast, having just accepted an invitation from Guy Kerr, Community Coordinator for the Jurassic Coast Team to become one of the Coast's Ambassadors.  More information can be found about that at http://jurassiccoast.org Just after I've accepted the invitation my dear daughter Rosie tells me that she is going to run a half marathon dressed as a dinosaur for Macmillan. So I suppose that makes a sort of sense. There will be pics to prove it. If you can spare a few quid please sponsor me she asks.   https://www.justgiving.com/rosie-downes1/ Go on! It’s a worthy cause and it’ll prove to my children that people do read my blog.           

It’s barely credible that my azaleas are flowering in February and indeed that February has arrived, preoccupied as I have been with the life of Reg Varney. But now my forthcoming biography has gone off to the printer and I’m back to blogging with a vengeance, realising that I haven’t yet posted my Object of the Month on Fairlynch Museum’s noticeboard. So here it is for your enjoyment along with my attempt at some matching verse, and when the rain stops and the wind dies down I might toddle along to Fairlynch for the noticeboard update.   Click on the image to make it bigger.