Poetry-loving country boy became a star

In his series on significant people who lived in Torbay during the 20th century - not always famous - Ian L Handford researches the life if Cyril Trevellian Fletcher.

Cyril Fletcher was born at Watford Hertfordshire on June 25, 1913 while his father was fighting in France.
Living with his mother, sister and grandfather, John Ginger, who worked at the Berskins Brewery in the high street and who also owned an allotment behind the brewery which was where Cyril's interest in matters of the earth arose. Daily he would watch his moustached grandfather digging manure, planting and then harvest goodies which Cyril could eat. That led Cyril to later writing authorative books on his gardens and growing.
Cyril's other grandfather, George Fletcher, was the owner of a grocery shop in the High Street sporting Bottoms the Butchers and Butchers the Optician... perhaps an early clue to Cyril's future odes'.
Both his parents supported the local dramatic society and that ensured Cyril found the stage early. Although attending Trowbridge Dame School he could not have known that later he would play a panto Dame in drag.
At the age of 17 he was working as an insurance clerk (salary £50 per annum) while always dressed in a bowler, gloves and carrying a rolled umbrella. In the evenings he would attend the local Music & Drama school.
By 1930 he was organising the firm's dances where those earliest odes surfaced.
An avid lover of poetry, he noted that authors like Evelyn Waugh mocked country matters penning 'Feather-footed through the plashy fens passes the questing vole' while John Masefield wrote 'Drop me the seed, that, I even in my brain, maybe its nourishment'.
As a true country boy he found this entertaining but wrote 'oh, oh how different that idea is in my head and how haltingly it translates to paper'.
By 18 he was in Torbay staying at a Paignton holiday camp with a fellow clerk from the insurance company. He recalls it held about 50 guests and a river trip down the Dart from Dartmouth to Totnes one day included a stop at Dittisham pier.
That may well be why he chose to celebrate his special 21st birthday party at the Ferry Hotel, Dittisham. Within a year he had left his day job while seeking to be an entertainer.
The first opportunity came at Alexandra Palace when a BBC Radio studio hired him to do a sketch entitled 'Fletchers Fare' - written by Bob Monkhouse and Denis Nordon.
Thereafter Cyril toured theatres as far distant as Plymouth to Edinburgh yet always sported his bowler, leather gloves and that umbrella.
Being a man of style he was topping the bill everywhere before then meeting his future wife, singer and dancer Betty Astell at Colston Hall in Bristol.
They married in May 1941 and their first home was at Welwyn Cottage in Hertfordshire where for four glorious years they both created 'a garden of joy' for Cyril.
His busy life now saw him writing books including Cyril Fletcher's Gardening Book, Rose Book and Planning the Small Garden, while domestic bliss and dogs were an inherent part of the Fletcher lifestyle.
Their second move was to East Grinstead before five years later and a move to Newbridge Hill, which was where Cyril played a Pantomime Dame for the first time. Following Newbridge came a new home at Sussex, then Dartmouth and finally Torquay although it was at Hastings their daughter Jill was born.
During five decades the couple bought numerous holiday homes in Torquay and on Guernsey until a second home at Torquay became a permanent home for two years.
Yet it was the lack of a garden that forced the next final move to Guernsey. Betty calculated that during their married years she had made no less than 265 sets of curtains before the final move to Fort George, St Peters Port on Guernsey. In retirement Cyril survived 10 more years before dying at age 91 on January 2, 2005, survived by Betty who lived until age 92.
IAN'S COMMENT A wonderful life which brought him to my business during the 1990's for us to undertake his typing requirements. A charming man always smart and polite customer and one that paid on time as he left my office.
My biography of Cyril Fletcher can be obtained by sending 2x 2nd class stamps and a small SAE: to Office 4 at No.1 Palace Avenue Paignton TQ3 3HA