FESTIVAL PEOPLE
Liz Eveleigh - A Special Friend to Many
I first met Liz almost 25 years ago in the back of Albert’s shop where we were making costumes for Pilton Festival, and we remained friends ever since. Liz was a skilled seamstress, and over the years she made 100’s of costumes for the Festival and pantomime! Liz was a key contributor to the Pilton community spirit and was known and loved by everyone. She was on the Festival Committee for many years, helping to organise the Festival, and also a Church Hall Committee member, and during that time was heavily involved in the refurbishment of the Church Hall.
Liz was always there to support and help with the running of community social events. Both Liz and Jim, her devoted late husband, were great fun to be with, and we have lots of happy memories from those times. Above all Liz was a good, kind, gentle, caring, wonderful person, and a special friend to many people, we will miss her terribly.
Abi Winfield
Annie Featherstone - A Beautiful Soul
Pilton has just lost one of the world’s most beautiful souls. Anne Featherstone was truly a child of the universe. The amount of good that she brought to the world, the number of broken bodies she fixed, and the countless minds she put at ease are astonishing. She had the remarkable gift of having all the time in the world for everyone equally. She gave that time to encourage, to inspire and to heal. No one could leave an encounter with her without feeling more wholesome as a result of it. Holistic by nature, she could effortlessly get to the root of people’s problems. With each patient, it was less about the physiotherapy and more about helping to heal the emotional and psychological wounds that can come with long term injuries. She wove her love of nature into her every day, and could often be found by an open window at 4am in summer, cup of tea in hand, listening to the dawn chorus.
She was not only a strong woman, but also a woman whose mind was at peace with the world. This strong, calm, beautiful mind was a place of refuge for many hundreds, if not thousands, of people over the years. Her love of food and love of feeding people were also another wholesome string to her bow. The world is just not the same without her, but to all those whose lives she touched, you should carry on her legacy of goodness.
Mike Featherstone
Tracy Grant - Made Our Lives Brighter
I asked people to sum Tracy up in one word. “Lovely”, “Kind”, “Brave”, ”Genuine”, “Talented”, “Fun” and “Beautiful” were just some of the all positive words used. She was one of those people that made life brighter to be in her company, a kind and considerate person who always looked out for others. In the 20 years that I knew her, I never once heard her say anything unkind about anyone. She always looked for the good and positive in people. Tracy lived with her husband Rick and the other love of her life, their Jack Russell, Mitch. On several occasions Tracy said that the two best things she had done in life were to meet and marry Rick and to get Mitch. She met Rick when he was a DJ in Bees Night club and she started heckling him to play better music! Tracy was a hard-worker and thrived on being busy. She worked for several years at Saunton Golf Club and was so loved by them that, when she became poorly, they organised a rota to drive her to Exeter for treatment. Tracy was always willing to be involved in anything community-orientated and in the last couple of years took on the temporary Hall bar, and through it raised much needed money. She liked to be busy and even when she had to leave work she started making greetings cards, Christmas cakes and chocolates to sell at craft markets – all profits went to charity. Tracy was diagnosed with cancer several years ago. She bore the news bravely and stayed positive and still looked out for others. Tracy was all of the adjectives people gave me to describe her, and more. Tracy – still loved and always missed.
Pip Cartmell
Carol Haddrill - Community Organiser
Pilton lost another big contributor to the life of the Pilton community with the death of Carol Haddrill in April 2019 at the age of only 72. A northern lass, born in Cheshire, she came to Devon by way of Newcastle, Milan, Monza and High Wycombe so was by no means a local. However, in the 18 years since she came to live Pilton with her husband Martin, Carol was active in both St Mary’s Church and in the wider Pilton community as well as being involved in Pilton Festival, as it was known back then. Among many other activities over the years, she helped re-start the Friends of Pilton Church, organising wonderful summer and winter concerts in St Mary’s Church to raise money for its maintenance.
She was also the instigator of The Big Pilton Quiz which reached its ninth year in 2019. In the last eight years she organised the Decorate your Door, Scarecrows, Pirates, Shepherds and Wellies displays around the village in July each year. More recently she ran one half of the ticket office for the revived Pilton Panto and the annual walking Treasure Hunt and Tea, a quiet Sunday afternoon antidote to the previous noisy Green Man Day. Until 2017 she could be seen around the village with their two dogs, Tinker and Petra, who are in this charming photograph. She will be much missed.
Tom Evans – Town Crier
The Pilton Green Man Procession lost its figurehead in June 2019 with the death of Barnstaple Town Crier, historian and legend Tom Evans at the age of only 66. Tom was one of Barnstaple’s most recognisable characters in his role as a guide and tourist information officer. In Pilton he was best known for leading the popular, annual Green Man procession from Barnstaple Museum to Pilton which he had done for upwards of 20 years. His proclamation of the appearance of the Green Man and the start of the market was an important part of the magic of the day. He will be much missed and is a difficult act to follow.
Noel Harley - Community Stalwart
In April 2009, we lost a dear friend in Dr Noel Harley. Along with his wife Pet (right), Noel was a stalwart of community 
life here in Pilton and was a founder member of the re-incarnation of Pilton Festival. Noel was the inspiration behind many of us who are involved in a broad spectrum of activities today, all of us fueled by his enormous sense 
of fun and touched by his generosity of spirit. Speaking of spirit, if you keep your eyes peeled, you might just spot Noel’s uproarious Festival tights, dancing in the breeze from a favoured tree! Here he is (far left) appearing in the brilliant Canterbury Tales in the garden of The Chichester Arms in 2004. With him are (left to right) Bev Neighbour, Vinney and Richard Stevens.
Hamish Patrick - Pilton Leading Light
In December 2014 Pilton lost a leading light with the passing of Hamish Patrick. A founding member of Pilton Festival, he was born in London, educated in the USA, trained as an actor and did theatre work and several TV series most notably Crossroads in1978. He moved to North Devon in 1981 and was a huge influence on community events in Pilton. His dream was to turn the tide of fracturing communities when children grew up and left. He rightly believed that a strong community bond would bring them back and 25 years later some of those children are on the Festival Committee. He directed the Green Man Pageant and organised the family-friendly haven of Rotary Gardens. Over the years he adapted, directed and acted in some 20 local pantomimes and, through these, was a staunch supporter of local charities. He also narrated beautifully an evocative video The Myths and Legends of Exmoor in 2003. He got a great send off when several hundred people gathered to mark his last journey down Pilton Street. The Rotary Club of Barnstaple acknowledged his enormous contribution to Pilton life by posthumously making him their Citizen of the Year. He was a much-loved man who will be greatly missed.
For a more complete obituary of Hamish Patrick click on his photograph.
Albert Linacre - Key Pilton Figure
In September 2015 Pilton lost another key figure with the passing of Albert Linacre. Albert spent the last 35 years of a very full life in Pilton, much loved and admired by all who knew him, but the first fifty years were spent elsewhere. Born in Birmingham in 1930, he was at school in Edinburgh in 1940 and, after national service, began a successful career in catering management which included some very prestigious locations around London. He married Maggie in the late 1960s, and they gave up the London life and moved to North Devon in 1977 and bought a shop and house in Pilton Street. This became a wholefood shop and coffee bar run by Maggie, while Albert went to North Devon College to teach the art of catering. In 1982 the first Pilton Festival took place and Albert, closely involved in its organisation, started making costumes. When the first Green Man Day was held in 1995 Albert, with the help of his sewing ladies, made the distinctive costumes which characterise the event to this day. His strength, enthusiasm and skill inspired others and certainly helped Pilton's community activities to prosper while the shops of Pilton Street gradually declined and closed. Without Albert the Festival would not be the wonderful magical spectacle it is today - a fitting way to remember him each year.
For a more complete obituary of Albert Linacre click on his photograph.
Laurie Wedge - the Tall Green Man
Laurie Wedge, the Green Man on stilts who graced Pilton Festival for 15 years, passed away in February 2016, aged 63. Many thousands of people saw and enjoyed Laurie's deep commitment to the Festival.
No-one could miss his giraffe-like walk through the crowd, ten-feet tall dressed in a spectacular plant and flower costume, sprinkling everyone he could with rose petals and offering them a green blessing. "Pilton Festival, and the Green Man persona, was the highlight of his year," said his partner, Teresa Price. "It represented what he believed in. He'd spend a lot of time preparing for it, arranging his costume and collecting the rose petals. He really loved what he did on the day. It was about fertility and abundance."
Laurie came from London where he learned stiltwalking and other circus skills alongside Abi Falkner of South Molton, with whom he had two children, Robin, 15 and Elsa, 9. Abi said: "He really was a very authentic and appropriate choice for the Green Man, as he loved nature, gardening and growing things. His long terraced house garden in London was absolutely bursting with plants, everything from a huge wild cherry tree to small bonsai trees in pots. Every window sill was chockablock with plants he had grown from seeds, lemon plants, passion flowers, pine cuttings and all sorts. "The Green Man was the first costume he put together."
For a more complete obituary of Laurie Wedge click on his photograph.
Dave Butt - Gifted Community Leader
Pilton lost a gifted community leader with the passing of Dave Butt in April 2016. Dave was Assistant Headteacher at Braunton Academy until 2010, a Barnstaple Town and then North Devon District Councillor and Honorary Alderman and a leading player in the Pilton community. He contributed enormously to the world of rugby, was Chairman of Devon RFU, and was closely involved in the 2015 World Cup. He was a huge supporter of the Barnstaple-based charity Amigos Worldwide, and worked as a volunteer for Children’s Hospice South West. Although he had stepped down from formal public duty in recent years, Dave was still very much involved in North Devon Theatres and Museum. Pilton will be a poorer place for his loss. Among his legacies is a stronger Green Man Festival where his ability to bring people together and get things to happen resulted in the growing involvement of the next generation willing to help the community come together. His will be difficult shoes to fill but he surely did much to inspire people to pick up where sadly he has left off.
For a more complete obituary of Dave Butt click on his photograph.
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