Young Worthing artist sought after picture found by housebound pensioner hundreds of miles away

A colourful rainbow painting by Teddy, age six, from Worthing arrived at the home of Daphne Harman Young in Seaton, Devon, with her government food parcel.

Thrilled with the picture, Daphne could not believe it when she saw where it had come from, as she had lived in Worthing herself for five years, coincidentally when she was also six.

The food parcels are distributed by Bidfood and the rainbow picture has been labelled Bidfood Worthing.

Daphne hopes that Teddy can be traced through the Worthing Herald and has provided a lovely thank you card to be passed on.

She said: “On Monday, June 15, I received my super government food parcel, delivered by Bidfood. Inside was a lovely painting of a rainbow with ‘keep smiling’ written in the middle, done by six-year-old Teddy from Worthing, where I lived with my parents from 1934 to 1940.

“What an amazing coincidence that out of all the places in the UK, I should have a picture from my old home town. Needless to say I was delighted and thank Teddy so much.

“His picture is on my outside porch door, so that everyone can see it and enjoy it as much as I do.

“I shall always treasure it and shall keep smiling.”

Daphne was born in 1932 in a small village near Guildford and has lived in Seaton since her family moved there in 1940.

She has been housebound for six years and has been receiving the government food parcels during the Covid-19 lockdown. She also had a nice picture from Summer in Birmingham last week but was particularly taken by Teddy’s rainbow.

Daphne said: “Really, of all the towns it might have come from, to come from Worthing is incredible. It is a lovely picture of a rainbow and he has written ‘keep smiling’.”

Her father was church warden at St Botolph’s Church, in Lansdowne Road. They lived in a ground-floor flat at 16 The Towers, which has since been renamed Dolphin Lodge.

She remembers the coronation of King George VI in 1937 and still uses the two Union Flags the family had for the celebrations, waving them whenever there is a royal occasion that suits.

She particularly remembers the ice cream man who used to cycle on the seafront and Maynards in The Arcade.

If you know Teddy, please email [email protected] so we can pass on Daphne’s thank you card.

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.