A Tribute to Wilf
Here we pay tribute to Wilf Marshall.
It is with great sadness that we heard of the death of Wilf Marshall.
Our thoughts our with his family.
John Mills kindly put these words together.
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Wilf
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Wilfred Marshall, our highly respected and much loved President , died suddenly at his home on November 2nd. Aged 93.
Unlike many people, for whom the office of president is a sinecure, Wilf was without doubt , the longest serving and hardest working servant any society could possibly have .
Wilf as he was always known was born in a small village in the Forest of Dean where his father was a miner. He was educated in the local school and then by scholarship to the Grammar school.
Like so many allotment holders Wilf learnt or inherited much of his gardening skills and Knowledge from his father cultivating the large garden attached to their home. Right to the end he still practiced many of the same methods and adhered to the same dates as his father did. When I asked him recently if he had sown his Broad Beans he said that it was too early. November 5th was the correct day according to his father so November 5th was right for him.
After serving in the Royal Artillery during the War as an A.A. Gunner in the dock area of London and coming through unscathed, he was accepted for training as a teacher and attended training college at Bognor Regis.
Upon completing his training he obtained a job at South Rd School in the Old Town area of Poole where he eventually became the Deputy Headmaster.
Coming to live in he Strouden area he applied for and was given an allotment on the newly developed site in Throop Rd known as Longbarrow Allotments and was an original owner.
Wilf is first mentioned in the original minute book of the association as being a member of the first committee formed to explore the possibility of forming an association. It was decided to do this and he was a committee member of that first association and has remained an active and hard working member ever since. He became Treasurer in 1967 and was already helping in the hut and thereupon became responsible for ordering for all seeds, fertilizers etc. When he retired as treasurer in December 1990 the turnover was £4480 and the profit £371.47. Although he was no longer treasurer he still continued to do most of the day to day work in the shop including the weighing out of all the potatoes which in those days were supplied in 1 Cwt sacks.
Wilf became President in 1993 following the death of Mr Carne in his hundredth year and many of us thought Wilf would also reach that age but alas it was not to be.
John Miles
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