Snowy Farr
Walter "Snowy" Farr MBE (b. 1919; d. Oakington, Cambridgeshire, 8 March 2007) was a prominent and colourful charity fundraiser well known to the people of Cambridge, England. A familiar sight in the city's Market Square and Lion Yard/Petty Cury slope over several decades, Snowy Farr collected many thousands of pounds for The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. In recognition of his efforts, he received an MBE from the Prince of Wales in November 1995.
Always clad in unusual clothes (often with an antique military appearance) and eccentric hats, and distinguished by his long white beard, Farr was often accompanied by tame animals — including mice, cats, dogs and even the occasional goat — which charmed children and adults alike.
A former local authority road sweeper, Farr lived in one of the terraced cottages on the main road through the village of Westwick, and later (after he had retired) moved to the adjacent village of Oakington and a bungalow whose garden contained a display of flags, dolls and teddy-bears. This collection was occasionally reduced in scale and exuberance in response to the demands of the local Council. A board outside the house recorded a 'running total' of the donations he had collected.
For many years, Snowy also maintained the graveyard of St Andrews church in Oakington.
In September 1977, Farr led a procession of 150 children around Cambridge city centre, filming for a TV show which never went ahead. Brief panic resulted when he became confused and took a wrong turn.[1]
A newspaper article from 2002 reported that Farr had been commended by the Cambridgeshire Society for the Blind and Partially Sighted after raising £62,005 for the charity; it also reported that he had raised £33,700 for Guide Dogs for the Blind and £28,305 for Cam Sight, which supports people with sight loss in and around Cambridge.[2]
Farr's death was reported on 9 March 2007.[3] Within a few hours, suggestions were made on a local newsgroup[4] that a statue to Farr ought to be erected near the site at the end of Petty Cury where he habitually collected. On 3 March 2009, Cambridge City Council announced the decision that a memorial of some kind would indeed be erected.
A Snowy Farr memorial artwork consultation is now in progress (Jan 2011).[1] A design has been chosen for the new Snowy Farr memorial, which will stand outside Cambridge’s Guildhall (March 2011).[2] The statue was unveiled by the Mayor on 7 August 2012, and designed by Gary Webb [3]. The statue itself resembles a well loved combination of Farr's tame cat and mice, whereby his cat was trained to sit atop his hat, and the mice trained to run circuits of the rim.
References
- ^ "Cambridge Evening News"[dead link], September 18, 2002
- ^ "Cambridge Evening News"[dead link], November 28, 2002
- ^ "Cambridge Evening News"[dead link], March 9, 2007
- ^ "cam.misc newsgroup", thread in response to Snowy's death
External links
- Photographs: 1 2 3 4
- Ranjit Dhaliwal, "Snowy Farr: Picture of the Day". Guardian, 26 February 2013. A photograph by Tony Ray-Jones that appeared in the Sunday Times Magazine in 1970.
- Newspaper report of Farr's funeral: [4]
- Newspaper report of the design of Snowy Farr's memorial. [5]
