In memory of Ted Chapman, a stalwart of the Cornish Green Party, the wider Green movement, and many many other local and community organisations
Ted sadly died at home in Falmouth early on Wednesday morning 13th October 2010
Transition Cornwall Tribute to Ted - Tributes on the Goresth website
The funeral took place on Saturday 23rd October at 11.00 a.m. at Penmount Crematorium, Truro and afterwards at Truro Rugby Club, St Clements Hill, Truro TR1 1NY.
The Cornish Green Party is very sad to have lost its longest serving active member and a very great friend, Ted Chapman. Ted was involved in the local party since its inception in the 1980s and acted as agent for Howard Hoptrough - the candidate in the 1987 by-election. Since then he has served the party as a true stalwart, never wavering in his desire for a fair, equal society and a healthy environment.
He stood in the Cornwall Council election in 2009 as our candidate for Falmouth Penwerris where he polled 11% in a five way fight, a tribute both to his local standing and also to his tireless work leafleting his ward. He was very active in his assistance for the General Election this year, producing and editing videos for candidates, delivering leaflets and helping at stalls and events.
His massive knowledge of all things electronic and technical, and his ability to simplify it for the uninitiated, were of immense value, as well as his ability to see through the propaganda and spin of politicians and publicists. He had an immense store of anecdotes and pithy stories and saw through folly and pretension. He was, though unfailingly kind and seldom criticised anyone.
But what Ted will be most remembered for is his great love of his native Cornwall. He was passionate about all things Cornish and was a fluent speaker. That being said he was critical of nationalism and felt that if you loved and respected Cornwall you were, to all intents and purposes, Cornish.
The Green Party has lost a valuable member and a truly great friend and Cornwall has lost a wonderful son.
Lindsay Southcombe
When I received the news about Ted, like most of us I was shocked even though he had some infirmity…but Ted was Ted the forever activator of what we would want all of us in Cornwall to feel. He was the essence of being Cornish, but in a modern manner of being a localist and compassionate.
I remember telephoning Ted when I moved to the Tamar Valley enquiring about the then Ecology Party (1984) and wondered if there were any other members 80 miles east of his location, which at that time was in Penzance. Typical of Ted he did not know exactly, but would call me back as soon as possible. Within one hour he did informing me that there were registered two other members - that was Ted; knowledgeable, efficient, quiet but friendly in his own way and a consummate Green at all times and in all ways; bowing to no-one nor any organisation.
In many ways he is an icon to which we should all aspire, and he was one of the two wonderful persons in our Green Party (one of which is happily still amongst us physically and spiritually) whom we should always remember in our hearts for, always doing the right thing at all times….
Nigel Miles
For me as a relative newcomer to Green politics Ted will always be the rock at the heart of the Cornish Green Party. Always friendly, always kind, and always living by his principles he seemed an example to us all.
The depth of knowledge, not just book-learning but real practical knowledge, which we have lost will be hard to replace. Ted was quiet and confident in his beliefs and his thoroughly modern sense of inclusive Cornishness and strong radical edge have been brilliant lessons.
I remember Ted as the wise elder statesman, but I know that there was also the radical fighter inside and I wish I had been able to stand alongside him in his younger days.
Rest in peace Ted, your example continues to shine for us.
Roger C-O
I didn't know Ted well in person, but met him a few times in the 80s. I 'know' him mostly through his correspondence.
Ted was a long-term, dedicated, highly-principled Cornish Green Party activist, also devoted to his beloved Cornwall and to railways. He was working conscientiously for his cherished causes right to the end, and he will be a hard act to follow.
It will be strange not to receive any more of Ted's frequent emails related to the Cornish Green Party, Cornwall, railways and other matters about which he cared passionately.
My sincere condolences to those who knew Ted better than I, who will miss him dearly and in whose lives he has left an unfillable gap.
Vivien Pomfrey
I came to know Ted Chapman over Cornwall GP happenings since I moved back home to Cornwall in January 1998: Slowly - you had to get know Ted slowly - as an in-depth and in-width Green of immense value to the Party and to 'greens' and to the nation of Cornwall as a whole.
Ted told me he was interested in and affirmed spirituality, but not in the main-stream churches - though he wasn't against them. He was also very knowledgeable about language, not only Cornish, and I had several conversations with him about the meaning and origin of words, a great interest of mine also though Ted's scholarship was vastly greater than mine.
I came to know him as a solid force in the background, completely reliable with a quiet sense of humour. He had an acceptance of us all, the motley band from all sorts of life experiences, drawn together by our vision of a more truthful, aware society, willing to stick our necks out for the changes we must make if we and our children (and all the other species) are to survive.
I grew to respect his wisdom, knowledge and commitment and to become very fond of our senior member and I, among many others will miss him greatly. Please include my recognition of his contribution and his loss to our lives in your messages to his family, friends and our fellow Greens.
With a full heart, Audrey Bryant.
Good to see Ted laughing in the photograph as his (very dry) sense of humour is one of his many wonderful qualities I'll always remember him for, alongside his kindness of heart, gentleness, and unwavering commitment to Cornwall and the environment.
He did a great job managing the GK website - initially with Helen Banks from 2001 until Ted asked if I'd take it on in 2004. I had first met Ted in 1994 when he was running a Free Tibet stall alongside our Falmouth LETS stall in Falmouth's Market on the Moor, so happily took it on, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him better, and working with him on it till he decided to pass it on to Pat Miller due to deteriorating health in September last year.
I last saw him in town the afternoon before he died, and still find it hard to believe.
Rob Follett
I didn't know Ted for long. What I came to realise was that he was outstandingly generous, considerate, intelligent, perceptive, with the kind of dry humour that I enjoy.
I don't know much about his history with the Green Party, but we found that we had a sea-going career in common. His Father was a Chief Steward in the New Zealand Shipping Company, and Ted followed in his Father's footsteps and sailed as a Radio Operator, which was presumably the basis for his amazing knowledge of, and qualification in electronics.
When he discovered that I had been at sea he invited me to his house, made me tea, and produced photographs. During our conversation we discovered that his Father had left a ship a matter of days before I joined it - my first ship. I knew many of the people in his photographs and we had great conversations. I am sad that there won't be any more.
Tim Thomson
Shaun and I were very sad to hear of Ted's passing. He had such interesting thoughts and views on things that he shared with us all. His commitment and generosity were second to none. Ted was a legend for the Greens and we will all continue to work hard for our principles in his memory.
Jo & Shaun Poland
Ted was a really good man, understood the political situation very well and had an excellent analysis of things. He was always very kind in the limited time I have known him and was a great help during the campaign this year.
Ian Wright
We remember Ted,
slightly stooped, a slightly hidden smile around his mouth
as if the things we uttered tasted good.
He glanced at the speaker, long-term friend or new,
to take in more than words. We shared our food, our compass points
pointing ‘true north’ – not north but to a vision of human wholeness,
cohesion in relationships between all living things,
sea, soil, the beasts, the trees, the wheat and us;
the green wholeness of the world.
Cornwall was essence. Cornwall in its ancient heritage,
its half-seen saints and seers, its stones and sounds
of something bigger than the shouts of men and maids;
sounds in the wind, the ocean waves ruthless against the cliffs,
the growl of shingle driven up the shore,
the haunting bird-cries that were here
before ever human footstep trod this land.
Ted had a sense of that.
The sailor in him, the practiced engineer, the lover of trains,
timetables and tracks and iron roads,
and yet in those dimensions that included cogs and wheels
as outcrops of a world immensely big,
powerful and vulnerable, hidden and suddenly seen
as when the sun slides out between the clouds
to make all plainly gold
and green… and green.
Ted was green
to the width and depth of him, faithfully green,
inclusively green,
and we were lucky to have known him,
to have access to his full and furnished mind,
to have him in our small green circle on this toe of land
that steps between earth and heaven, our haven and his own beloved home.
Audrey Theodosia Bryant.
Cornish translation of poem here on Gorseth site (scroll down)
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Ted Chapman
