Budleigh Past and Present

Never mind the gaps I’m busy making what I think will be the first panel for our 2016 Reg Varney exhibition at Fairlynch Museum. It’s a selection of the people associated with the Budleigh area who, as I put it, ‘have given pleasure to millions, with their contribution to theatre, cinema or the media.’ Here it is. It’s still only a draft, with corrections to be made and gaps to be filled. Please let me know if I’ve missed anyone out. The panel is likely to be a permanent exhibit in Fairlynch Museum, to show how the area has been blessed with quite a number of entertainers, writers and artists who’ve kept us entertained. That includes the various drama clubs and societies, not forgetting the wonderful Imperial Productions who have been entertaining Budleigh audiences for so many years. No, not a dance troupe! But it was not an entertaining image that I saw on the front page of last Saturday’s Times ...

Fairlynch Museum's 2016 exhibition 'Our Little Clown' is a a centenary tribute to Reg Varney, former Budleigh resident and a much-loved figure among past British entertainers. Imperial Productions, as locals will know, has been in the business of entertaining audiences in the area for many years. They are delighted to return to Budleigh Salterton this Christmas with a whacky, wicked and wonderful update of Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic court-room comedy, ‘Trial by Jury’.   Simon Jones as Mr. Justice Soxon This hilarious adaptation - by prize-winning composer/lyricist Alaric Barrie - started life as a charity show in the Guildhall School of Law Courtroom and has since been produced at the Inns of Court in London and as part of the New Wimbledon Theatre ‘Fresh Ideas’ season, where it was their most successful studio production ever. Robert Felstead and Rebekah Engel...