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Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival goes ahead with tribute to Queen

@camerafirm A photo of the festival@camerafirm
Organisers made changes to Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival following the Queen's death

A Devon literary festival has gone ahead, but with some changes to honour the Queen.

The Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival is running until Sunday.

In a change to the original programme, royal biographer Andrew Lownie was the opening speaker and a one-minute silence was held.

Sue Briggs, chair of the festival, said: "We decided to go ahead with the festival respectfully and with some changes."

'Deeply saddened'

Mr Lownie's talk, which took place in St Peter's Church at 10:00 BST, included Queen Elizabeth II's legacy, her place in history and the impact of her loss on the nation and the world.

Ms Briggs said: "Along with the rest of the nation, our committee was deeply saddened by the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

"After much deliberation and discussion, we decided to go ahead with the festival respectfully and with some changes."

There will also be a book trail around Budleigh and storytelling from authors.

"We hope this event will offer a time for our community to be together at this time of national mourning," Ms Briggs added.

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