Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2014/January 2015 | Page 38

SOCIAL SCENE

Peter the model professional
when it comes to crafts
W

hen Peter Toogood left
school as a 14-year-old he
dearly wanted to follow in the
footsteps of his father and grandfather
with a life at sea.
But with the Second World War still fresh
in the memory, Peter’s mother refused
to allow him to sign up, and instead he
became an apprentice carpenter and
joiner. Although he eventually spent
three years in the Royal Air Force, working
mainly disposing of bombs that were
surplus to requirement after the war, his
incredible skills working with wood are
now in evidence all around him.
Over the past three years alone, 84-yearold Peter has built truly wonderful, detailed

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models of some o f the boats his father
and grandfather sailed in, including ‘Betsie
Jane’ that his father sailed during the war.

"I also worked on
Lancaster bombers
for a while, and even
managed to go up
for a flight on one of
them."

But his workmanship does not stop with
boats. The home of Peter and Evelyn,
his wife of 62 years, is adorned by the
likes of wooden panelling, chairs, tables,
cabinets and even a grandfather clock, all
painstakingly and intricately handmade.
Peter’s mother and father lived in St
Helens, but his mother went to her
previous home in Reading to give birth
to him. As soon as he could travel he was
brought to the Island, and was christened
in St Helens. He went to school in the
village, where the medical centre now
stands, and then moved on to the church
school, which his father and grandfather
also attended.
He said: “My father was Frank Nelson