(12.1.26 – 14.10.06)
It is with great sadness that I report the death of my husband, Ric Sellwood.
We met in Coronation Year when both of us had moved to Chipperfield, he from Barnet and my mother and I from Cheshire. We married in 1954 and moved to Scatterdells Lane where we started life together in a caravan. Together we designed our bungalow and Ric, who was a skilled draughtsman, drew the plans.
He was a man of many talents; as a young man in the war he worked for De Havilland, repairing Merlin engines; later qualifying as a tool maker.
His engineering background provided him with a very practical “Can do” attitude to things and during our early married life he was involved in plumbing, electrical installation and brick-laying as our bungalow was being built. Any car, motor cycle or other mechanical object held an irresistible attraction and it was not long before he had a well-equipped workshop where he spent a lot of time to the accompaniment of the classic music which he loved.
In the 1960′s, he moved from engineering to print, joining Varityper in sales and later in management. Following that, he became an engineers’ agent, representing several firms in the Industrial Fastener field.
On retirement, among his many interests, he started painting and joined the Chipperfield Art Group. He showed great talent and his paintings of local scenes sold well and his paintings of cricket matches on The Common were very popular.
An accident 2 years ago affected him greatly and he could not walk without two sticks but could still drive. However, his health declined steadily from then on. He is greatly missed by his family and friends.
Joan Sellwood