| Admin History | DAVID FRANK TOMLINSON
5.9.1940 - 29.1.1998
David was born in Wokingham and spent his childhood at 2 Ashton Villas, Terrace Road, Binfield, with his father Frank, mother Edna and sister Margaret.
Both children attended St. Marks Infants School and All Saints Junior School. David passed the '11 Plus' examination enabling him to go on to Ranelagh School, Bracknell.
As a boy he showed keen interest in Natural History and it was a regular event for him to go off on his bicycle, sketch pad and pencil ready for anything that caught his eye. His first introduction to Local History came from his father who, in his work as local carpenter and wheelwright, and foreman of All Saints Church tower, noticed many things that happened in the village and started to jot down items of interest. Frank eventually started to write all his notes up in a book rather than on odd slips of paper and many an evening was spent by father and son poring over old maps and papers.
David, meanwhile, excelled in Art at Ranelagh and, encouraged by his Art Teacher, entered and passed the entrance examination to Reading University. There was, however, no grant for art students that year and as his parents were unable to afford to send him there, it was not to be. He did, however, obtain a place at Maidenhead College of Art and Technology and kept expenses down by living at home and cycling from Binfield to Maidenhead every day, come rain or shine. He obtained an Art Degree eventually but like so many young people of the times, he decided to emigrate and set off for New Zealand. When his father died in 1974 David returned home to be with his mother while the company he worked for in New Zealand, Pye International, agreed to keep his job open for six months. However, he met and married his wife, Beryl, and settled in Crowthorne and worked for an American company, Nashua Copycat in Bracknell.
While helping his mother sort out his father's papers he came across Frank's Binfield notes which resumed his interest in Local History. He could see so many changes and realised that the village as he had known it was fast disappearing.
At a Postcard Fair in the 1980s he met up with an old school chum, Pat Tegg, who still lived in Binfield with her mother, and they discovered that they both had the same keen interest in local history. From then on they spent many hours swapping information, photographs etc and comparing notes. It was a regular monthly outing for them to meet up at the Berkshire Records Office to do more research and then to return to write up all the interesting things they had discovered.
At the age of 50 David took voluntary redundancy and decided to work as a freelance Botanical Artist from home. He produced beautiful flower paintings and had also started to teach art at the local Art Society where he was much appreciated.
He died suddenly in January 1998 and requested in his will that all his notes and ephemera relating to Binfield should be lodged with the Berkshire Records Office for others to have access to for their research. |