The team at Babbacombe Cliff Railway were delighted to receive the gift of a beautiful oil painting depicting Babbacombe Cliff Railway and Oddicombe Beach last week. The artist is Robert Harris who is a keen amatuer painter who particularly likes painting beach scenes, cats and dogs.
Robert and his wife Eileen moved to Torquay from Birmingham in 2007 and Robert has a studio at home in his cellar. They are regular visitors to Oddicombe, along with their great friend, Mike Salter who also moved to the area a couple of months ago.
Robert said “Donating one of my pictures to the railway was actually Mike’s idea after we’d enjoyed a wander round their Visitor Centre on the beach. We love it on Oddicombe and painting this was a pleasure. I am delighted that the team at the Cliff Railway like the picture and will be hanging it up for others to enjoy. It was nice to be able to present it to them and to have a coffee and a chat with some of the staff, volunteers and Board Directors.” The couple are very busy with plenty of hobbies and have recently become grandparents to twins so Eileen is often up in Birmingham helping out with the little ones but very happy to get back to the seaside. She said “We really love living by the sea in Devon and are always busy. We are regulars at the Babbacombe Inn Quiz each Monday and have really enjoyed getting to know lots of new people since we moved here.”
Chairman of Babbacombe Cliff Railway CIC, John Ayres, said “We think Robert’s picture is lovely and are very grateful to him for giving it to us. It was so nice to meet Robert, Eileen and Mike and to tell them a bit more about what we’re up to.” He added “The Cliff Railway is having an extremely busy summer which is great news. We’re looking forward to a bumper couple of months and then in September we have two fabulous events that we’re hoping lots of people will come and join us for. Saturday 16 September will be our ever-popular Murder Mystery where the public are invited to come and question our suspects until the culprit is found. Then on Sunday 17 September we will be holding our Last Team Standing event on the beach. Another really fun event.”
Robert’s oil painting is hanging up on display at the bottom station should you wish to take a look. Babbacombe Cliff Railway runs from 9am each day with last carriage up at 5.55pm.
From left to right:
Frank Sweet (CIC Board Director), Judy Ayres (volunteer), Eileen Harris, Robert Harris, Mike Salter, John Ayres (CIC Chairman), Lydia Crossan (CIC staff member)
Front row: Jackson the dog!