Budleigh Past and Present

Apparently some people who’ve seen my beautiful poster for the Reg Varney event on Friday 1 and Saturday 2 July thought that it was advertising a talk. No, it’s very far from a talk.  And it's not On the Buses. Sorry, no Jack, Blakey, Olive & co.  Before The Buses is a show of about two hours, based on Reg Varney's little-known early life as a gifted singer and musician, making his way in the difficult times of the 1930s and telling us in a charmingly honest way about some of the amusing and often embarrassing experiences that he describes in his autobiography The Little Clown - well worth buying if you can find a copy.  I thought I'd show you in advance, page by page, the souvenir programme.  Click on each image to make it bigger.  Yes, it's at the Football Club and this time I've inserted the postcode so that people can find it more easily. There's plenty of parking if you're coming by car.  And...

  Sue Newcombe, manager of Budleigh Salterton's Tourist Information Centre, is delighted to be handling ticket sales for the Reg Varney tribute show BEFORE THE BUSES on Fri 1 and Sat 2 July It’s a fund-raiser for Fairlynch, but rather different from the usual events. And it’s going to raise money for two other good charities, and provide a great evening’s entertainment. Or rather, two evenings, as the show BEFORE THE BUSES is taking place on Friday 1 and Sat 2 July at 7.30 pm.   Reg Varney’s story, as those who have seen the museum’s centenary tribute exhibition will know, is impressive.   Reg Varney, aged 10, with his father. Their relationship is touchingly described in the autobiography The Little Clown A wartime birth 100 years ago; the discovery of his amazing gift as a musician and as a comic, making his way from humble beginnings in the working men’s clubs of Lon...