A PROMISE made 14 months ago came to fruition this week.
In March of last year at the start of the first lockdown, South Devon Railway PR manager Dick Wood rashly promised that he would not shave his face again until the SDR’s steam passenger trains returned to the scenic, seven mile line thinking it might only be a few months before normality returned.
‘The promise was made initially to help raise public awareness of our emergency ‘SOS’ appeal for donations in the absence of any revenue,’ said Dick.
’To be honest I only expected it to last until the summer!’
The good news is SDR passenger trains started running again on Monday and on Tuesday it was time for Dick to say farewell to his fulsome, flowing white, 14-month old beard.
Dick Wood’s regular Turkish barber, Sultan Burak, who owns the ‘Golden Scissor’ hairdressing salon in Tiverton, travelled down to Buckfastleigh station’s platform to carry out the full beard shave and hair trim watched by DSR staff member and amused passengers.
Also present were Devon community choir VoiceWorx who sang a specially commissioned traditional sea shanty called Beardman as the razor did its work.
‘It’s a bit chilly around the chops now,’ said a bemused Dick once the deed had been done.
‘I’ve taken a lot of ribbing in good part in order to help raise awareness of the SDR’s funding plight and need for donations to help keep the railway afloat.
‘The names I’ve heard have ranged from Santa Claus, Mr Tom, Uncle Albert and Ernest Hemingway to Poseidon, Neptune, Captain Birdseye, Ben Gun and the Wild Man of Borneo.
‘It’s nice to return to facial normality and it means I can eat normally again rather than wearing my food, and can also stop having to say “During the war” on request!’.