STUART Tudball is a huge cricket fan and has been involved with Minehead Cricket Club for many years. He is also a huge supporter of Somerset, so the game plays a large part in his life.
But with the current lockdown, Stuart found himself at a loose end – until he set himself a challenge.
Stuart, who is an upholsterer by trade, decided to upholster and cover a new chair inside a day and then auction it off to raise money for Mind in Somerset.
“I decided to use the rainbow colours to cover one arm in support of the NHS and key workers, the other arm is blue, the colours of Mind in Somerset, and the back is covered in the Somerset County Cricket Club flag – all causes close to my heart,” he said.
“I managed to complete the chair by the end of the day and I am really pleased with the way that it has turned out, so much in fact that I almost want to keep it, so I hope that there will be somebody out there who likes it as much as I do and wants to buy it!”
When he was younger, for several winters Stuart went out to play and coach cricket at Tarenaki on the North Island of New Zealand, returning home before the start of the 1982 season.
George Parsons, who ran an upholstery business and also played for Minehead then, asked him to work for him, which is where he learned the trade.
In 1995, he set up Stuart Tudball’s Upholstery Services in Quirke Street, Minehead, where he has been ever since.
Anyone interested in buying Stuart’s bespoke chair can do so by logging onto ebay and searching Rainbow Charity chair, where it will be available to bid on from tomorrow, May 8, until May 18.
To make a donation, go to the Mind in Somerset website and click on the donate button, referencing Stuart’s Charity chair.
Stuart is happy to deliver the chair, when lockdown permits, free of charge to anyone living within a 75-mile radius of Somerset County Ground in Taunton.