Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2007 | Page 36

life

INTERVIEW
Russell Moul

Mark Tucky and Gay Baldwin

Ghosts of the
Isle of Wight
Mark Tucky (theatrical name
Marc) was born in Solihull,
Warwickshire and was privately
educated at a prep school before
moving onto private school.
When he left school, Mark joined his
father’s printing company where he worked
for a while as an estimator before moving
to Crockradee near Banbury and spent the
next 10 years learning the antiques trade.
“I was like a real life Lovejoy, I
would go into the back of beyond
to some old farmhouse and find a
treasure hidden away somewhere.
“I learnt my trade the hard way by going
to all the auctions and speaking to the
antique dealers - in those days people
were willing to help anyone who wanted to
learn the business. I learnt an enormous
amount about the antiques business and
had a great deal of fun for 10 years.”
In 1987, because his mother-in-law
had become ill, Mark and his family
moved to Niton, only 10 days before
the big storm in the autumn of 1987.
“I remember the previous owner of the
house we had just bought saying that it
was a bit of a windy spot. The property
was located right on the edge of the
downs and after the storm I thought,
‘what the hell have I bought here?’
Mark quickly came to the conclusion that
the antiques business on the island was
pretty much sewn up, so he went back to
his original trade and secured a part-time
job as a print estimator with Crossprint.
Mark and his wife Jane remained in Niton
for many years until they agreed to an
amicable divorce and Mark moved to

36

Porchfield where he still lives today.
work.
A full-time position came up with West
“I said to Gay that I didn’t mind
Island Printers in Freshwater where he
standing up in front of people and
stayed as an estimator for 13 years and
making a fool of myself, so she gave
this was where he met Gay Baldwin.”
me a script and we gave it a whirl.
Mark got to know Gay quite well. “Gay
“I invited three of my colleagues:
was an established writer about ghosts
Ian Johnson, Steven Airs and Robert
on the island, and had come to us for
Le-Brett round one Sunday morning
an estimate to print her next book. I was
and said ‘come on guys we are going
intrigued at the time because the title of
into the ghost walk business’.
the book was The Newport Ghost Walk, he
“At the time I was still full time at West
says.” Mark asked Gay how ghost walks
Island Printers and this was only going
worked and she explained that you buy the
to be a Wednesday night bit of fun.
book and follow the route and read about
“We started the ghost walks from the
the ghost stories in the various properties.
Castle Inn, Newport. The landlord at the
“When we had finished talking about the
time (Eddie) was a right old rouge, but
printing of the book, just by chance, as
despite this he kindly agreed that we could
Gay got up to leave she said: ‘I’m looking
start the ghost walks from his pub.”
for someone to lead the ghost walk’, and,
Mark at the time thought that the idea
for some reason or other I volunteered.
would not run the course of time and that
Afterwards I thought to myself ‘why have
nobody would be interested, but how wrong
I agreed
to this, I
don’t know
anything
about this
at all?’
“I was
lucky in
a way
because I
had acted
for years;
I suppose
I am what
most people
call a Thesp.
and I had
also done a
small bit of
Russell Moul (old lady) and Steve Martin as the soldier
professional

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