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Selfless Fred’s a walk-a-holic!
GRAFTER ... Fred Bryden who walks every day from Marsden to Bede's World, where he is a volunteer litter-picker.
PENSIONER Fred Bryden is a walking miracle.
Four times a week, the 66-year-old sets off from his home in Marsden at 5am – when most of us are still fast asleep.
It takes diminutive Fred just under two hours to reach Bede’s World in Jarrow, where he’s a volunteer litter picker.
He spends six hours a day keeping the Anglo-Saxon museum and farm site spotless for visiting tourists.
But the daily seven-mile trek to work is nothing for selfless Fred.
The ‘walk-a-holic’ recently took a bus trip to Bedlington in Northumberland – and decided on the spur of the moment to walk the 25 miles back home.
He said: “Freedom to me is walking.
“You can do a lot of thinking on the open road.
“It takes me about one hour and 50 minutes to get to Bede’s World, from Prince Edward Road to John Reid Road, Low Simonside and through the Bede Trading Estate.
“I’m there before the security guard opens up. I’ll have a cup of coffee and wait for the museum staff to arrive at eight, then I’m off to work.
“I work on the basis that I need to be thorough. If I can see a single piece of rubbish on the site, then a visitor can see it too.
“I get a great deal of job satisfaction – and what else would I be doing?
“I’m not one to sit around watching daytime television. I could wait until 9.30am to use my free bus pass, but I’d rather be up and out.”
Hard-working Fred, a labourer for most of his working life, is equally fastidious at his flat in Farding Lake Court sheltered accommodation in Marsden.
He explained: “I’m really against energy being wasted. I’ll go around turning off lights in the communal room and the laundry – it’s such a waste.”
Never married, Fred lived alone for 15 years after the death of his beloved mother Ada in 1991.
He added: “I gave up my two-bedroom house in South Shields and moved into sheltered housing five years ago. I thought a young family could make better use of the house.”
A spokeswoman for Bede’s World said: “Fred’s amazing. He keeps the site spotless and we don’t know what we’d do without him. He’s a treasure.”
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Weather for Jarrow
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 9 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
Comments
There are 10 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
RobbieJ
Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 05:38 PMGreat work Fred, it's great you get so much pleasure from your work at Bede's World.
68purl
Friday, January 27, 2012 at 09:19 PMAn inspirational guy who puts the freeloading, benefit swindling,work shy, bone idle, scrounging masses in this area to shame. Well done Fred !!
68purl
Friday, January 27, 2012 at 09:18 PMAn inspirational guy who puts the freeloading, benefit swindling,work shy, bone idle, scrounging masses in this area to shame. Well done Fred !!
Scritti Politti
Friday, January 27, 2012 at 09:14 PMI trust that bedes world rewards this good mans dedication to volunteering with endless treats and cups of tea from the snack bar. It makes a change to read about somebody who gives so much instead of the incessant reports in newspapers of scallywags rogues and jailbirds who make there way in life by helping themselves.
Cobbler
Friday, January 27, 2012 at 08:46 PMAh knew him when he was a six-foota! Worn to a frazzle, bless him!
The Menace
Friday, January 27, 2012 at 07:34 PMCredit where credits due, these peole are the true people of the area. Keep up the good work.
geordie999
Friday, January 27, 2012 at 06:18 PMmuch better Boldon lad ..well put ..i agree with you .
BoldonLad
Friday, January 27, 2012 at 05:56 PMgeordie999, that is exactly my point, a few more hard working people like Fred, picking litter up, rather than throwing it down, and South Tyneside would be a much more attractive place. I have nothing but admiration for the man.
geordie999
Friday, January 27, 2012 at 05:28 PMbit harsh ..Boldon lad ..know something the gazette does not know ? would have thought the litter picking at Bede's world deserves a bit of a thumbs up ........?
BoldonLad
Friday, January 27, 2012 at 03:10 PMNot many like you around Fred, unfortunately.
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