Budleigh Past and Present

Friends of Fairlynch and many other supporters of the Museum enjoyed the opportunity of seeing the new season’s displays during our evening opening on 3 April.     Many local Councillors attended the event. Left to right are Cllrs Alan Dent and Caz Sismore-Hunt, together with Alan Tilbury (President of Budleigh Salterton Chamber of Commerce). The theme of the 2014 Costume Exhibition is ‘Fashion in the 1920s’, illustrated by this display of a dress shop interior.      Included in the Lace Room display are items made by a former Fairlynch lacemaker, recently donated to the Museum by her niece who lives in the USA. Also in the Costume Room is a display of dolls and toys entitled  ‘Hidden Treasures.’   L-r: Lynn Cook, Bernard Hadley, Christine Bailey, Margaret Williams and Martyn Brown. L-r. Iris Ansell, Laurence Scullion and Dr James Scullion. Previ...

    The madness of war: A Swiss shepherd watches a battle on the frontier during World War I from the 1915 edition of Some ‘Frightful’ War Pictures by the celebrated illustrator William Heath Robinson (1872-1944)  Museums up and down the country - indeed throughout the world - will have been bringing their resources to bear on exhibitions marking the centenary of World War I. In Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron announced last October that more than £50m has been allocated for a historic commemoration of the centenary of the start of the conflict. The hunt is still on at Fairlynch Museum for Great War stories with a link to Budleigh Salterton or any of the villages of the Lower Otter Valley. Those stories based on experiences of active service are naturally of keen interest, particularly when they reveal private thoughts at variance with the official views promoted by the Government’s propaganda machine...