Ted Beckett is one of the few special people of this world who can lay claim to fame of helping to build probably the last royal yacht in the history of the British monarchy.
Born in his dad’s pub, next door to His Royal Majesty’s Royal Navy Dockyards in Portsmouth, England, he became a ship’s joiner aged just 15 and worked on Her Majesty’s Royal Yacht Britannia, which was launched in 1954.
When this former yacht of Queen Elizabeth II was decommissioned on December 11, 1997 the then British Labour government was too miserable to spend a paltry $3 billion on a replacement, and no one else is likely to either.
There were also the ship cabinets he crafted with intricate knee-hole cockbeading around the drawers for admiralty that were sunk during World War II, but our Ted is still going. Still taking another shaving or two off another curved edge of an old wooden boat like he has for the past 18 years working on projects in the Armfield Boatshed & Slipway on the banks of Goolwa.
Now 87, every Tuesday and Friday Ted meets his mates here – all volunteers – and is currently helping to restore an old clinker boat once aptly named Bread & Putter by its original owner, a Mr Baker, and building Armfield’s ninth wooden boat that will be raffled during the South Australian Wooden Boat Festival at the Riverport of Goolwa on April 22-23 next year.
These guys need the proceeds from the raffle to keep the shed going.
Ted’s a legend among these guys; a real character constantly spinning funny lines.
However, behind his shield of quips he has the deepest of recollections of hiding in the cellars of his dad’s Cox’s Hotel as the Germans bombed the Portsmouth shipyards next door during World War 11 – before all the kids were sent to the country for their safety. And not even the best of Ted’s lines disguises the fact he still dearly misses his wife, Mary, who after serving the community with distinction on the Alexandrina Council for 15 years, died in July, 2014, aged 77.
“It was Mary who told me to come down here (to the shed) 18 years ago because of my love for furniture restoration and to meet new friends,” Ted said. “It’s been wonderful. There is a remarkable group of people here who support each other. I know, alright.
“It has been good mentally as well. When a few things aren’t going well I come here and before long someone is having a lend of me and I’m taking the Mickey out of them. Nothing else needs to be said, and we all gather around a wooden boat and have the time of our life.
“I think this has put years on me. I have a purpose; I think that’s why we’re all here, having a belonging and sharing a great passion for wooden boats.
“My fascination has always been working with wood; that’s what makes me tick. I still make things for the family.
” “Never let anyone tell you a wooden boat is just a boat. Mind you, there have been days in here when I’ve thought it would be more convenient if they were square.
“I’ve worked on a lot of boats here, but the funny thing is I’ve only built one for myself, a sailing dingy and I gave it to my son (Rob) and his kids to have fun with.”
Ted also has a daughter, Linda, six grandchildren and a seventh great-grandchild on the way.
Ted said the boatshed people were getting excited by the fact the 16th annual SA Wooden Boat Festival, presented by the Alexandrina Council, was looming because it meant building a new boat to raffle.
“It always feels really good to be around the place, but there is always something special about building the raffle boat,” Ted said. “It’s not just a boat; it’s a wooden boat. I don’t think people could imagine the care that goes into making these things.
“They say a wooden boat can sail into the distance and discover new lands; it’s why I buy a ticket to win our raffle.”
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