A cut above the rest?
WHILE many of us have finally managed to get our latest lockdown locks removed, Dick Wood, the South Devon Railway’s (SDR) public relations and business development manager, waited until May 18 before having his fulsome, flowing white 14-month-old beard growth trimmed at last.
As we first highlighted in issue 272, at the start of the first lockdown last March, Dick rather rashly promised that he would not shave his face again until the SDR’s steam passenger trains returned, thinking it might only be a few months before normality reigned.
That now obviously hasty promise has meant that he then took on the appearance of a cross between Father Christmas and Cut Throat Jake, for those old enough to remember the Captain Pugwash stories!
It was made initially to help raise awareness of the SOS appeal for donations, and so he only expected it to last until the summer. However, with services having finally restarted the day before and in front of invited local media and onlookers, Dick’s beard was shaved off at a special ceremony at Buckfastleigh station.
Dick’s regular Turkish barber, Sultan Burak, who owns the Golden Scissor in Tiverton, came down especially to carry out the full beard shave and hair trim.
Accompaniment
An added dimension was that it was carried out to the musical accompaniment of a traditional sea shanty called Beardman. Singing the song was the idea of Dick’s wife Barbara, who chairs Mid Devon community choir Voiceworx. Based on Wellerman, the ancient New Zealand sea shanty written about the whalers, Barbara rewrote this about the Beardman and locomotive firemen who ‘fire up steam for trains to run’.
Her lyrics not only tell the story of the Beardman, the impact of Covid-19 on the railway and its closure, and the firemen and train crew, but also the impact on all steam coal users, such as locomotives and traction engines, because of the impending closure of British coal mines next year.
Commenting about his shave, Dick said: “I’ve taken a lot of ribbing in order to help raise awareness of the SDR’s funding plight and need for donations.
“I’m hoping people will once again put their hands in their pockets and donate some more cash to our special appeal for the ‘Great Clean Shave Off’.”
➜ Donations can be made at www. southdevonrailway.co.uk or by sending a cheque to South Devon Railway SOS Appeal, The Station, Buckfastleigh, Devon TQ11 0DZ.