Local Face: Chris Richards

Chris Richards was born in Harrow and lived there for his first five years. During the war, Chris’s father was in the polish Army and at the age of five, he and his family moved to Poland, where he spent all of his school years. He often ski-ed to school in temperatures of minus 30 and on his return to England he was surprised to find that not everyone had central heating! It was an interesting time and Chris experienced both the generosity and humour of the Polish people and also how it felt to live under a totalitarian regime. That experience has been of benefit, Chris believes, giving him a broader outlook on life and an understanding of a different culture. At the age of 19 Chris returned to England and followed up his interest in photography, by enrolling at college to study the subject. That is where he met his wife-to-be, Elizabeth, at a college party. Chris soon realised that he was more interested in the moving picture, so did a further film studies course; and then joined the BBC. Two years later he became an assistant film editor mostly working in current affairs. A pattern to his working and private life emerged which was BBC 1st, 2nd and 3rd and that lasted 25 years!

Four years after joining the BBC, Chris and Elizabeth married and the hunt for a house began. Governed by cost they began looking in London and slowly moving outwards found that they could just afford Wendover. They purchased a house in Perry street and soon realised what a friendly place Wendover was. Unlike Chris, Elizabeth had lived in the same Bedfordshire village all her life and was convinced that nowhere would be quite like it and was happy to be proved wrong. Even though the village has seen an influx of new- comers, the standards and attitudes of “the Old Wendoverians’ seem to prevail. Chris hopes that given time, he might be considered a native.

Joining the Wend over Football Club was one way Chris met new people- it was also meant to increase his fitness! Being quite fast he did well in five-a-side games but in full-scale matches, it was quite a different story. Compared to others in the team, he feels “he didn’t cut the mustard” but does have some smashing memories. In 1974, Charlotte, his elder daughter was born, followed by Naomi in 1976. They both attended Great Kimble First School, transferring to Wend over Middle School later on. All the staff there were very dedicated but both daughters feel they owe much to Eve Defty who taught them both, challenging and channelling them. During his time as Chairman of the PTA, Chris attended a function at a school some distance away, where there was talk of organising an art exhibition. Chris thought it a good idea and brought it up at the next Committee meeting. The rest is hisory so to speak and Chris is particularly pleased that it is still flourishing and raising so much income for the school.

By now, Chris’s career at the BBC was pro gressing. As an editor, he covered the whole range of BBC output-Panorama, Horizon, The Money Programme and on the lighter side That’s Life. He also edited the edition of S ongs of Praise that came from St Mary’s Aylesbury and tried to make stars of as many local faces as possible!

Although work seemed to take up so much of his life, Chris joined the Conservative Association and was a founder member of the W endover Small Theatre. He is a keen member of the Wendover Society but it is Elizabeth who is more actively involved.

However times change and two yeas ago Chris took early retirement from the BBC. He still needed to work but chose to involve himself in a variety of jobs that interest him although occasionally he still does some work for the BBC. Having an interest in disability issues, most of his work is with disabled people both as a support worker for the physically disabled for a small charity and then as an Instructor for Social Services for people with learning disabilities. The work is fulfilling and he is especially pleased that he encouraged and taught one quite severely disabled young man to use and express himself by making video films.

Chris’s latest involvement is both satisfying and frustrating, In May 1999, he was elected as a Wendover District Councillor for AVDC. He had always wanted to participate but working in London made this impossible-council meetings are either daytime or early evening. The satisfaction comes from several areas-he is on the Development control committee which deals with planning applications and on the sub-committees that deal with housing problems and the financial grants that are made to local organisations. For better for worse, decisions are taken and he sees the results within weeks or months. However at the other end of the spectrum, council work can be tedious (there are mountains of papers to read) and bureaucratic- that is the frustrating part. Chris is determined that persistence and persuasion can overcome most problems and looks forward to continuing to represent Wendover’s interests at local level.