Budleigh Past and Present

      Former Fairlynch Museum steward Mary Bryars. Photo by her grandson Ben Simpson   Volunteer helpers at Budleigh’s Fairlynch Museum were sorry to hear in January 2011 of the death of Mary Bryars. Along with her husband Denys, Mary moved to Budleigh Salterton in 1980. Five years later, like many married couples, they volunteered to become stewards at Fairlynch. 'He did the desk, she did upstairs,' recalled the late Sylvia Merkel, who organised the stewards' rota. Denys, who had come to live in Budleigh after retiring as company chairman of the Sheffield Smelting Company, was remembered by Sylvia as ‘a lovely man with a white beard’. Mary, who lived to the great age of 94, made many friends among her fellow-stewards and was also much involved with the church. Sadly, she was widowed but carried on the work of being a steward at Fairlynch until she moved to live at Shandford Care Home on Station Road in Budleigh. ‘There have been 400 stewards since 1967 wh

  The Millais tableau, part of Fairlynch Museum's  Raleigh 400 exhibition: (back row) Nick Speare, Anthea Downes, Michael Downes, Rosemary Griggs, John Washington, Chris Fry; front row: Ollie Batson & Bailey Rouson If you happened to be on Budleigh beach during a hot summer day back in 2018, in pre-Covid times, you might have seen this colourful group of people in Tudor costumes posing for the photographer.  Some of them had been acting out a scene from 1870, when the famous Victorian artist Sir John Everett Millais visited the town to make a start on his painting ‘The Boyhood of Raleigh’.   Cllr Tom Wright (Mayor of Budleigh) admires 'The Boyhood of Raleigh' by Sir John Everett Millais at the opening of the Raleigh 400 exhibition on Monday 28 May 2018 It was all about marking the 400 th anniversary of the death of East Devon’s most celebrated historical figure. A highlight of the year for Budleigh’s Fairlynch Museum was the display of Millais’ painting as part