Budleigh Past and Present

  Sculptor Frank Meisler's ‘Kindertransport – The Arrival’ (2006) stands outside London’s Liverpool Street station.     A project established by the Association of Jewish Refugees, it pays tribute to those Britons who aided the rescue of 10,000 Jewish children from the Nazi persecution which led on to the Holocaust.  Image credit:  Wjh31  I’m not certain of being around for the centenary of the outbreak of World War Two. So 2020, the 75 th anniversary of the war's end, seems a good time to reflect on those terrible five years that my parents’ generation endured. Especially as it may help to put the relatively minor disaster of Covid-19 into perspective.   Sadly, the grim pandemic has meant that Fairlynch Museum’s VE Day display may not be seen by as many visitors as it deserves. Here’s a testimony from the Museum’s archives which relates to the early years of WW2 rather than to 1945. ...

This year is the 50th anniversary of Imperial Productions performing shows in Budleigh Salterton.   Its name has gone through various changes over the years, but the gifted performers who’ve been entertaining Budleigh audiences for over half a century can all trace their roots back to London’s Imperial College. One can get a bit lost amidst all the name changes: IC Dramatic Society, IC Operatic Society – or ICOS as it became in 1956; and then ICU Musical Theatre Society in 2003… but there was also Imperial Opera until 2007, when it finally became Imperial Productions.  The company’s relationship with the town goes back a long way, states the website.   Since 1968, the Public Hall, pictured above, has been the permanent location for the annual summer tour. Indeed, this is now the only venue at which the company performs outside of London. But why Budleigh?  No precise answer has emerged. ‘Our love of the place pr...

It’s a long way in many senses from London’s East End of London to the tranquil coastal setting of Budleigh Salterton. But for thousands of fans who look back with nostalgia at the age of British sitcoms like The Rag Trade and On The Buses   the little East Devon town is making quite a name for itself. An exhibition at the local museum, free vintage bus rides and pebble art on Budleigh’s famous beach… it’s all to mark the centenary of Reg Varney, better known by many including more than 12.5K members of the On the Buses Fan Club as Cockney comic bus driver Stan Butler. There’s even a musical show in his honour, staged at the local Football Club. But  Before The Buses, as the show is called, deliberately focuses on his little-known early years when he started out as an 15-year-old self-taught pianist and singer playing in the tough environment of working men’s clubs. By pure chance one of the show’s stars, Madalaine Pe...

'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...