Storyteller: Turning 60 - and I'm going to celebrate

Some people are kind and say I don’t look my age, others not quite so kind, saying I don’t act it...in fact there is no denying either statement, nor the actual truth of the matter...

In October 1962 my parents got married in Whitchurch, Bristol. They came down to Plymouth for their honeymoon, spending time exploring the area, including trips over Dartmoor. Nine months later, in August 1963, I was born.

I was raised in Bristol, educated at Bristol Grammar School, and, in my early 20s, I spent three years in London, at Mountview Theatre School, training to be an actor. My first job, after graduating, brought me down to the Palace Avenue Theatre in Paignton for a Summer Season, which, amongst other things, saw me dashing across the stage naked twice a week, to fetch a policeman’s helmet, in a production of Joe Orton’s What the Butler Saw...it was here I met my wife to be, as we had employed her as our barmaid for the duration.

Settling in Torbay, when the acting career didn’t take off, I found other employment in the local theatres, rising through the ranks to become Box Office Manager, for several stints over the next 30 years. During those years, much of my free time was spent exploring and Letterboxing on Dartmoor, somewhere I’d fallen in love with on first sight, maybe because it was in my genes after my parents’ choice of honeymoon destination...

I’ve also spent my time studying the many myths and legends that abound on the moors, and in the surrounding areas, as part of my work with TIP, my paranormal investigation group, which I set up in 1995. That knowledge I’m now trying to turn into my Moors and More Tours business, since leaving the theatre at the end of Covid, by taking visitors over the moors, and sharing the sights and stories with them.

Last year, there was another weird connection with my origin story, which came out of the blue. My partner and I recently made a new friend called Bridgette, through a monthly dance night we attend in Taunton, who lives nearby in Wellington. She is also a member of an amateur dramatics group, and she invited us to watch their production of Our House, the Madness musical. Having enjoyed the Saturday Matinee, we met up with Bridgette to have a guided tour around the town between shows, as she knows of my love of old buildings and churches. As we walked up the high street, my attention was drawn to an old building called The Squirrel. It now houses the local council offices, and doubles as a museum of local history. Unfortunately it was closed, so we couldn’t explore inside, but I kept returning to it, taking lots of pictures, curious to know how it got its name.
�
A Google search answered that question, for a squirrel features on the family crest of the Bluett family, based in Holcombe Rogus, across the border back in Devon, who were the main landowners in the Wellington area of Somerset back in the 17th century.
I shared this information, along with the pictures I’d taken, on my Facebook page. The next thing I knew, my mother was commenting on my post, asking what I was doing in Wellington taking pictures of The Squirrel Hotel? It turns out, this was the very hotel where they had spent their wedding night, on the way down to Plymouth for the honeymoon. All she recalls was that their room overlooked the back of the building, up some rickety old stairs, along a dark corridor and with a bowl and Jug of water to wash with. Maybe this was why I was so drawn to the place, as it marked the start of my mum and dad’s married life together...

As I’m big on celebrating birthdays and anniversaries, you would expect that I’ve got big plans to mark the occasion, not just the day itself, but for the whole month and beyond. In fact I’ve already started! Just last week, at our monthly TIP meeting at Chelston Manor in Torquay, we had cake to celebrate the fact that not just me, but another member of the group also turns 60 in August, a fellow ‘63er!

As Dartmoor plays such a big part in my life these days, it is only fitting that it features in my plans to mark this milestone, and when this article is published, myself and 18 members of my family will tomorrow be setting off for a week’s holiday at the award winning Blackadon Farm barn conversions at Moorhaven, just above Ivybridge, in the foothills of Ugborough and Western Beacons, one of my favourite areas to walk in. I’ve got plenty of things lined up to, hopefully, make the occasion memorable, some weather dependent. In my next article, I will share some of my plans with you...