Budleigh Past and Present

Not many people know why our little town of Budleigh was, according to the author R.F. Delderfield, formerly known as The Curry. Fairlynch Museum hopes to explain the reason in the not too distant future with a display about the importance of our Anglo-Indian heritage. So many of the town’s notable former residents were brought up or lived in the sub-continent. They include the scientist Henry Carter FRS, the artist Cecil Elgee and even the Museum’s co-founder Priscilla Hull. However the Budleigh branch of the charity Cancer Research UK has been doing its bit for the last five years to maintain warm memories of the Raj. Its famous and hugely popular Evening in India event is being held on Saturday 11 November at 7.00 pm in the Public Hall. A choice of three delicious curries is on offer, generously prepared as usual by Royal Marines from Lympstone’s Commando Training Centre. The dish has been a popular choice with the Marines. Chris Harris, form...

  Above: How Native Americans coped with alligators 400 years ago   Florida in August… Disneyland and beaches, hurricanes and alligators. Maybe it wasn’t the best time to visit the Sunshine State. It was humid and very, very hot. But the family wedding I attended, in between the devastations of hurricanes Harvey a nd Irma, was everything that the happy couple could wish for. And the rain held off, just about. There’s a close season for hurricanes but alligators are a year-round hazard in Florida. An unexpected meeting with of one of the creatures in a pond at Kanapaha State Park outside Gainesville reminded me of how they were tackled by the indigenous population four centuries ago. This celebrated engraving comes from a book published in 1590. It was entitled 'A briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia’, written by Thomas Harriot, and published in four languages with illustrations by the Flemish engraver and publisher Theodore de Bry....