Cock Marsh from the Hill

Cock Marsh from the Hill.

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Besides being an excellent technical artist as seen in the view of Cock Marsh as seen from the top of the hill just west of the railway line. The Thames can just be seen at the base of the two Lombardy Poplar Trees.

Sidney was also a builder of things in wood. At the bottom of the garden at “Durlston” he built a summerhouse for the family, and one winter he built a wooden kayak canoe in the family living room. As daughter Diana relates, “Mummy was not very happy!” When completed a problem arose! How to get the boat out of the house in one piece. Sidney with all his calculations had not given this a thought. In the end there was only one way, out through the bay window, luckily it just made it, much to Joan’s joy to see it out of the house.

For many years along with the village pantomime crew of Albert and Christine Millard, Bert Felstead, Desmond Atkinson and many others. He constructed model stage sets for the annual festive show. He also had an interest in puppets, and built a puppet theatre for the family. He managed to do all this and keep up with his commissions as they came in. He was to say a very busy man.

Some evenings his daughter Diana use to accompany her father to the railway station to send off a completed work to London by train. I have stated earlier that Sidney wanted to take up science, but had to settle for art. During their walk along High Road Diana relates that her father could name and point to all the major constellations in the northern hemisphere. His interest also was concerned in the gases that formed the earth’s atmosphere, and when the De Havilland Comet first went into service, what damage it would do to the environment, or any other aircraft with jet engines. Was global warming at the back of his mind?