YOU probably won’t know the name or recognise his face.

However, anyone who grew up in or visited Clacton in the 1990s and 2000s may well be familiar with Peter Battey’s work.

The 84-year-old was the town’s long-serving Punch and Judy man and the last person to perform the traditional puppet show on West Beach.

Now Peter is returning to the scene of his former glories to officially open a new exhibition marking Clacton’s 150th anniversary.

His shows are a rich part of the area’s seaside heritage and he is proud to have made a mark on so many people, both young and old.

“I’ve got such great memories of performing in Clacton,” he said.

“We had great fun.

“This job is never going to make me rich, especially when you’re doing what’s known as ‘bottling’ (relying on collections on the day, rather than being paid a fee).

“Nevertheless, it’s something I always loved doing and still do to this day.

“Even if I won the lottery, I’d carry on performing.

“What could be better than having fun and making people laugh on a nice sunny day beside the sea?

“It’s a wonderful feeling and one of the things I love is getting a positive reaction.

“It’s the audience that makes the show and sometimes people hang around after wanting to chat, because they’ve enjoyed it so much.

“Children want to know where the ‘little people’ have gone while adults enjoy talking and asking questions about the puppetry.

“I also do talks for people with Alzheimer’s. It’s incredible. Some of them struggle to remember their names, but I can see that flicker of recognition when I tell them about Punch and Judy.

“Some of them remember seeing my shows, as do elderly people when I talk to them.

“That’s the greatest compliment and proves I must be doing something right.”

Peter is passionate about his craft and started performing in Clacton in the early 1990s.

A member of both the Punch and Judy Fellowship and British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild, his connection to the town stretches back to his days manning the dodgems at Butlin’s.

“I was always interested in magic and the circus when I was younger,” he said.

“I loved the showmanship and used to see the Punch and Judy man when I went for strolls along the seafront at Clacton.

“I didn’t take much notice at that point but it was later on that I developed a real interest, after meeting the son of the king of Punch and Judy, Percy Press, in Covent Garden.

“I then bought my first Punch and Judy from the late performer Lenny Blease, who many readers will remember in Clacton, Frinton and Walton.

“My first show was for a birthday party and it went on from there.

“Myself and a friend, David Wilde, worked together and put on a show called the Wilde and Battey show.

“We did a couple of seasons together before David started working more in London.

“I went solo and the rest is history.”

While Punch and Judy is carved into the history of seaside culture, it has its critics.

Far from harmless fun, some accuse it of trivialising and glorifying domestic violence because Mr Punch acts in an unruly way to wife Judy.

Other characters on the receiving end include their baby, a crocodile and a policeman.

Peter, unsurprisingly, takes issue with those suggestions.

“Children know they’re only puppets,” said the dad-of-three, whose partner Miraiker is one of the UK’s leading puppeteers, children’s entertainers and puppet carvers, who also performs and runs her own company, World of Puppets.

“When I think about some of the video games on the piers and in the arcades where I perform.

“They were all about blowing people up and chopping arms off.

“That’s violence - not what I do - and to say Punch and Judy encourages violence is like saying Goldilocks and the Three Bears promotes squatting.”

In addition to Clacton, Peter, who lives in Claydon, near Ipswich, has also performed in Castle Park, Colchester, and Walton, as well as speaking about Punch and Judy to Women’s Institute groups across north Essex.

“I still love it, although I’ve slowed down a bit in terms of the number of bookings I do,” he said.

“Obviously work dried up during the pandemic but I still receive inquiries and I’m always trying to keep the act up to date by including new characters like a health and safety inspector, who pops up with his clipboard telling people what they can and can’t do.”

The exhibition is being run by the Clacton and District Local History Society. It is mounting a special display at the town’s library which will run from July 19.