Budleigh Past and Present

There’s a poignant air about this photo that I took of Kimmo Evans in November 2013, a year before his death from leukaemia.  He’d come to Budleigh Salterton’s Peter Hall to give a talk jointly organised by the Otter Valley Association and Fairlynch Museum.  As Community Development Officer for East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty he wanted to explain why the AONB is celebrating its 50 years. It was an excellent talk: he radiated enthusiasm for his work. I still remember his amazement that so few of the audience had heard a nightjar, and the offer that he made on the spot to organize a night-time trip to Woodbury Common to hear its strange whirring call.  You can listen to it now at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOAGUfBFcvM   At the time I noticed how frail he seemed, and later I learnt that he was ill. It was sad to learn of the premature death of such a lively, interested and much-loved man. The following appreciation of Kimm...

    Kimmo Evans with a trophy recently presented to East Devon AONB     The idea of Winter Talks arranged in partnership by Fairlynch Museum and the Otter Valley Association, first suggested in 1979, is nothing new. As OVA Chairman Nicola Daniel pointed out while introducing the guest speaker at a joint event on 4 November the two groups have much in common: both are concerned with educating people about the history, geography, architecture and natural history of the lower Otter Valley .         Greater and Lesser Horseshoe bats, along with a few other types use the Beer Quarry caves to hibernate in the winter.  Image credit John Scott See  http://www.beerquarrycaves.co.uk/bats.html     Kimmo Evans, Community Development Officer for East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, had come to tell us why the AONB is celebrating its 50 years. He began by giving some background o...