A message from our Chairman:

Welcome to ExeDFAS, a member society of the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies. 

We are based in the beautiful River Exe estuary in Devon. Our 275 members come principally from the towns and villages along the river estuary, including Exmouth, Topsham, Lympstone and Exton, together with the nearby coastal towns and villages of East Devon namely Budleigh Salterton, Colaton Raleigh, Woodbury, East Budleigh and Otterton. We also have some members from the County town of Exeter and the surrounding Devon countryside.

Exe Decorative and Fine Arts Society was founded in 1987 with the object of all NADFAS Societies of the promotion and advancement of the aesthetic education of the public, the cultivation, appreciation and study of the decorative and fine arts, and the giving of aid to the preservation of our national artistic heritage for the benefit of the public.

We meet these objectives in a variety of ways. Between October and June each year, we have a monthly lecture at the Matthews Hall in Topsham covering a wide range of subjects on the decorative and fine arts by expert speakers. For example in the coming programme we will start with "The Destruction of the Monasteries - the Greatest Act of Artistic Vandalism in English History", enjoy "Linley, The Continuing Tradition" and end the season by hearing about "Mozart's 'Cosi' - A Comic Opera?", as well many other topics.

In addition, we normally have 3 Special Interest Days during the season where members can have the benefit of learning about a subject in more detail. One of these days always covers aspects of the history of the locations of our annual foreign tour, which in October 2011 will be to Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. This coming year, another Special Interest Day will be about 'Bess of Hardwicke' and her lavish homes which we will be visiting in a short tour to Derbyshire in June 2011. Our members also enjoy organised visits to locations usually specialising in some aspect of the decorative arts, and last year these included our local Exeter Guildhall with its amazing 17C plasterwork ceilings, the gardens at Highgrove, the mediaeval house and 19c Grade1 garden at Athelhampton in Dorset, and Greenway, the restored home of writer Dame Agatha Christie.

In January 2010 we started a Church Recording Group working at St Michael's of All Angels Church at Sowton, and I am delighted to say that this is going very well indeed; and our Heritage Volunteers continue their excellent work in the Exeter Cathedral library. For the past two years we have funded artists to be in residence for a day at a number of local primary schools where the children have worked on such things as printmaking and willow sculpture and you can see examples of the results of these Young Arts projects and some of the pupils' comments on our website. 

We have a number of social functions for members too, and this year we had a soiree with an extra lecture on Gertrude Stein followed by wine and canapés, and coffee mornings for new and established members which are very popular indeed with members.

In this introduction to our Society, I must make special mention about the website which has been up and running for just one year now and I am delighted to report that we received a 'Highly Commended Award' for the website at the NADFAS AGM in London in May 2010. I trust that you agree that it was a very well deserved reward. It continues to be an honour and a privilege for me to be the Chairman of such a vibrant and progressive Society and I hope that you enjoy finding out more about us through this site.

                                                              Maureen De Viell OBE
                                                              Chairman