Page 5 - tmp

www.ilkestonlife.com ILKESTON LIFE November 2021 5
Mail
Putting the fun into Memories of a

fund-raising true gentleman

Over the past few months we Oliver House Care home and
have been raising money for Cedars and Larches Care I mourn the passing of Per- century back in Ilkeston
Young Lives Vs Cancer and home for their fundraising to cy Wilson. He was a curi- and neighbouring mining
have smashed it. We have help us reach this fantastic ous but friendly character communities.
raised a whopping £6,948.55 amount. Also our brilliant who lived by the Cromford Yet Mr Wilson was a
since mid-May. customers who donated. Canal towpath at Amber- genuine gentleman. With
We have dressed up as char- We have also recognized two gate for about as long as consent, this warm-hearted
acters from ‘The Wizard of ‘Little Sunshine’ fundraisers anyone can remember. rustic made a brief appear-
Oz’ ‘No place like home’, by giving them a special Every place has its quirky ance in one of my novels as
‘Superheroes’ and ‘Mex- certificate for their own individuals; I’m sure himself. He was cast as an
ican Carnival’. We have fundraising. Both children everyone reading this will apparent yokel who is re-
held a car wash with the fund-raised by running. be acquainted with some vealed to be a well-informed
local firefighters (where the Six-year-old Esme raised ‘larger than life’ person. local historian, dispensing
money was split 50/50 with £160 for Derby Hospital But probably no one quite interesting information
their charity too) and Wendy Baby Unit and Freddy, aged like Percy Wilson. about the Cromford Canal to
braved the shave. 9, raised £290 for Cancer A fairy tale individual with a group of passing teenage
We would also like to thank Research UK. boys on bikes.
Dallimore Primary School, Fay Stainsby, Morrisons bags of charm, this craggy “Look, Ben Gunn!” says
Granby Junior School, community champion. 86-year-old appeared to one, recalling the stranded
be a natural work of art,
rough-hewn out of the very wild man of Robert Louis
elements of Derbyshire Stevenson’s Treasure Island.
folklore with more skill and But they resist their first
imagination than any human impulse to ‘take the mickey’
artist could achieve. and end up being quite
With brilliant white shoul- respectful.
der-length hair and a Long after he has gone,
massive mane of long grey Percy’s face will still be
whiskers, obliterating most seen in the knotted twisting
of his ancient gnarled face, trunks of ancient trees. At
Percy was an intriguing any moment his head might
combination of Old Father poke out of a hollow old
Time and Stig of the Dump. oak, a suitable home for
His roughly spoken thick such a Derbyshire legend.
Derbyshire accent was akin We will never see his like
to the pit talk commonly again.
heard more than half a Narvel Annable