Citizen Ted
Every year we thank Ted Woolley in these pages for planting and watering the flowers on the Fountain roundabout in the High Street. We thought you'd like to know more about this modest fellow whose photo appears on the cover.
Ted was born sixty-nine years ago in Cricklewood and spent his working life as a butcher in the London area and subsequently, Horsley. Always keenly interested in horticulture, he jumped at the chance to take on the job of gardening, caretaking, security and maintenance at the Home of Compassion thirteen years ago. His wife Norma supervises the laundry and linen, and the couple live in the cottage attached to the Home. Their two daughters are married and live not too many miles away.
Very fit and lively, Ted is a great handyman and built a greenhouse at the Home, essential for raising all the bedding plants for the gardens and the Summer Fair, and of course for the planters on the Fountain roundabout. These are watered every other evening during the summer months, with the aid of a standpipe that Ted lugs to the Fountain. This year he fancies blue salvias and cinerarias in the troughs, and trailing begonias from the fountain itself.
Ted's quiet enjoyment in contributing to the community doesn't end there: he's made substantial models of shops, the church and the fountain. Each Christmas he sets this model village up in his back garden at the home, fully illuminated and with Santa cruising the rooftops in a wooden sleigh, for the delight of local children.
Thank you again, Ted.