THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE - He Ran Away to Sea at Age 14

THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE ― These Findon Chronicles are created by Valerie Martin and are progressively growing to be the only record of life around Findon, West Sussex, England. Everyday stories about real people.

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A Cricket Match in progress in Findon in the past... with Church Hill rising in the background behind the cricketers and St. John the Baptist Church..... not a spectator in sight in those days! Watercolour executed in 1981 by Ronald Windebank of 60 Little Paddocks in nearby Ferring.

HE RAN AWAY TO SEA AT AGE 14 — Ronald Windebank (born 1918)

In the autumn of 2008 I had an interesting puzzle to unravel. A very lovely oil painting came to light by Ronald Windebank depicting a game of cricket at Long Furlong in a bygone era. At first I could not find anything out about Ronald Windebank....(quite an unusual name) ..... except that some of his work was made into postcards c. 1977.... depicting such scenes as "Rackham Mill"......"Allotment Shed"...."Dandelions"......"Jennifer's Farm"......"Nettles"......(I can't help wondering who Jennifer was !) Also, many were made into greetings cards.

Rackham Mill (map reference TQO 461) is a local watermill also in West Sussex and dates from the early 19th century..... it stands in the ground of a private house..... the mill's internal machinery seems to have survived... the mill was originally water driven by a large overshot water wheel. I guessed, therefore, that maybe the artist was a local one.

I discovered that he exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1969 until 1988.

Above is his depiction of a cricket match in progress in Findon.... there's St. John the Baptist Church in the background and Church Hill rising behind the cricketers.....

I left no stone unturned..... and Whibleys the jewellers and fine art dealers in nearby Worthing managed to obtain the following data from Ronald's daughter for me.

I thought this was an interesting story worth relating as it is about another local artist who travelled our byways in the past and illustrated the countryside as he saw it in an earlier age.....

Ronald Windebank was born in 1918 in Southampton.

Aged ten, he moved to Brooklyn, New York with his parents.

Four years later he ran away to sea, subsequently joining the Royal Engineers in the British Army, progressing to Sergeant Major serving in Africa and India.

He returned to England where he worked for the Ordnance Survey in Lewes, undertaking aerial surveying and map drawing.

It was there he met his wife to be, Kathryn Adams, whom he married and by whom he had two daughters, Sharon and Diana. Sadly Kathryn died in 1970, aged thirty seven, leaving Ronald to bring up his two young daughters.

With the need to work from home, he took up landscape painting. His original oil paintings became much sought after, selling through the Royal Academy, London and by private commissions.

Ronald lived with his family in Ferring, West Sussex, and it was the local brick and flint cottages from which inspiration for many of his paintings was drawn.

In September 2008 I heard from Chris Perring whose mother had been a close friend of Ron Windebank for the past twenty-five years when they both lived in Ferring, this being before the artist came to live in Lancing.

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Above is Ron Windebank at Christmas a couple of years ago...with Chris Perring's mother, Thelma Hunter.

I also learned that the Findon cricket match painting was a little unusual as the artist normally painted landscapes without any figures depicted. It was confirmed that he showed at the Royal Academy for several years..... and he also made all his own frames for his art in his garage.

Just before Easter in 2010, I heard from Chris again..... Hi Valerie......I just wanted to let you know the sad news that Ron died peacefully at Drum Connor residential home on 25th February 2010. We attended his small family funeral at St Andrew's Church, Ferring on Thursday 18th March.

I haven't seen any obituary for him in the worthing local paper - his younger daughter Diana presumably decided not to make any announcement. So I though I'd give you the news, given your interest.

My mother, Thelma Hunter, continued her weekly visits to see Ron in Lancing, from her home in Bexhill for the two and a half years he was there - a four hour round trip by train, quite some achievement for someone who will be 90 this year!

I'm delighted to see the picture of Ron and mum on your website - she's happy for you to use her name, by the way.

Best wishes ....Chris Perring"

Continue if you would like to read about Ian Pelling's art in The Findon Nomad

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THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.

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Do let me know of anything you hear about Findon - not too controversial. Please note that opinions expressed in the Findon Chronicles are not necessarily reflective of my own thoughts.... but sometimes they are!