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.
This obituary was transferred from the old www.piltonfestival.co.uk website in March 2026.
For a much more complete obituary of Albert Linacre, see the pdf file below.
Obituary of Albert Linacre
PDF