Wally and Kathleen Reynolds have lived in the village over twenty years. They came to Thurlow from Bury when Wally took up the position of estate foreman on the building side. He left that position to work in the building trade and later became a self-employed builder, with bricklaying as his special skill but oVering plumbing, carpentry, and painting and plastering services too. Wally is quite critical of the standards of various workmen (and their supervisors) today ­ particularly painters of the outsides of houses, who never seem to do the necessary work of preparation and ignore the effects of dirty spray thrown up from traffic speeding through our roads.

Since Kathleen came from Bury they still do most of their shopping there and have a regular circuit of the market and the major supermarkets and stores. They grow a lot of vegetables themselves ­ but ten years or so ago Wally realised he was producing far more than they ever needed so he switched a good part of the garden to growing þowers. They now do over a hundred lilies, and four or five hundred gladioli and chrysanthemums, as well as asters and sweet williams. Their little flower-stall outside the house from June to October attracts many regular customers, several of whom chide them for selling them too cheaply! But like most gardeners they don't really do it to make money.

Wally's other main leisure pursuit now is walking the dog locally, though in years past there was a time when they used to take a lot of foreign holidays in Europe and even the USA.