Harry Sullivan Born 19/07/1931 – Died 27/04/2025 (age 93)

Sadly, a popular member Harry Sullivan passed away on 27th April 2025 after a short illness. Harry joined Teignmouth Probus Club in May 2011 and became a life member on his 90th Birthday in 2021.

In later life he became the financial director of a highly successful building and development company. He came from Towersey in Oxfordshire where he helped to run the Towersey Folk Music Festival which grew to attract more than 10K visitors by about 2004 and where he and his wife Jenney, used to put on a film show as part of the entertainment. He was Festival Chairman until he retired in 2015. The Festival Patron was his good friend folk singer Roy Bailey and over the years learned many of his songs.

His great love was cinema with his first job having been a projectionist in his local ‘flea pit’. He often recalled the ‘old days’ when he was up in the projection box during each performance, he had to quickly and efficiently change the film reels otherwise the audiences would get rather annoyed. His joy of cinema led him to design and install his own private cinema room at his home, complete with red velour seating, red curtains and large screen and he and Jenny entertained their friends with home cinema parties from his expensive collection of film, tapes and DVD’s.!

When he moved to Teignmouth in the late 1990’s he took up with the local AmDram group. He was a fine speaker and knew off by heart several of Shakespear’s soliloquies and speeches such as Henry V’s speech on the eve of the battle o Agincourt, and many monologues including ‘Brown boots’ by Stanley Holloway and ‘Albert and the Lion’ by Marriot Edgar, amongst others which, for many years was called upon to recite at parties with friends particularly Probus Club Christmas lunches and St George’s Day celebrations he regularly organised.

Latterly, he also used to read short stories for the ‘Dawlish & Teignmouth Talking Newspaper’ for the blind and was reintroduced to our Teignmouth Folk Club as a double act, singing with member David Jeffery’s guitar playing.

Harry didn’t want a traditional funeral or wake but made sure through wife Jenny that the bar was funded for all the members to raise a glass and toast to his memory.

Cheers, Harry, rest in peace!

Published by Press Officer Rick Purnell (Contributors: David Jeffery, Chris Inch & John Polley)