Island Life Magazine Ltd June/July 2013 | Page 126

PROPERTY

RICHARD
DICKSON
celebrates 50 years
as estate agent

At the tender age of 17
Richard Dickson was offered
two jobs in the same week.
He was invited to become a
projectionist at the Rex Cinema
in Ventnor, and was also asked
to help out at estate agents
Albert Bull and Porter just
down the road.
He chose the latter, and even
though his salary was barely
half what he would have earned
constantly looking at the silver
screen his choice did have
a silver lining. Richard has
recently completed an amazing
50 years as an estate agent,
and marked the occasion with
a celebration lunch for friends
and family at the Royal Hotel.
Born in Marylebone Hospital,
London, Richard went to
school in the capital and in
Sandbach, Cheshire, before
moving to the Island as a
14-year-old, and attending
Sandown Grammar School.
After always attending all-boys’
schools, he admits he found
it a bit of a culture shock,
especially as they didn’t even
play Rugby at Sandown! He
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met wife Avril at school.
They married in 1966, and
have three children – Mark,
Jamie and Jonathan – and five
grandchildren.
After leaving school at 17, he
slipped into the estate agency
business, working in a small
office opposite St Catherine’s
Church, Ventnor. He recalls:
“Things were very different
in those days. All details were
prepared with carbon paper, six
at a time, on a ‘steam driven’
typewriter. Photographs of
houses for sale in the window
were unheard of, and the
display consisted of a few
hand-written notes pinned
onto a peg board.
“We had just two enamel ‘for
sale’ boards that I was sent to
change round every couple
of weeks, and there was only
one telephone in the building,
which we used to pass between
offices through a small hatch
cut in the wall.”
Richard well remembers his
first sale. He smiled: “It was a
property in Altofts Gardens,
Ventnor, which I sold for

Richard on a seaside trip with his mother