Family man and Arsenal fan
TED Kinchen was born in Frimley, Surry in 1921, the youngest of four children and son of the village blacksmith.
A lot of his early years were spent in Frimley, where he attended the school and helped out in his dad's blacksmith shop.
He joined the local cadet force and enjoyed the physical side of the force, being a good gymnast and winning medals for both shooting and boxing.
On leaving school, he started to train as a plumber, before enlisting in the Navy in June 1940.
Ted spent 32 years in the Navy and this was where he obtained his nickname "Ginger". On leaving the Navy, he spent the majority of his remaining working life at IBM Havant.
Ted moved to Hayling Island in 1962 and was very much part of the village community.
He was an active member of the Hayling Island Royal Naval Association for many years, holding a number of committee roles.
He also spent some years as an auxilliary coastguard on Hayling Island.
Ted had a very happy, active retirement, enjoying his hobbies of playing golf, gardening and walking.
However the constant throughout his life has been the love of his family.
In 1956, he married Kay at Portsmouth Registry Office and they were very happily married for nearly 53 years and his family have been most precious to him.
He was immensely proud of Kay, Jenny, John and their respective families, including six grandchildren.
Ted shared in all their successes and he worried about them constantly, making sure he was doing everything he could to make their lives easier and worry free.
Ted was also an ardent Arsenal supporter and the origins of this go back to February 16, 1935, when his dad took him to watch an FA Cup tie against Reading.
He became an Arsenal supporter from that day. Ironically, the last match he attended was also against Reading in Arsenal's new Emirates stadium. Ted was 85 years young at the time!
Ted always enjoyed people's company, never missing an opportunity to stop and chat to friends and to strangers alike, he was equally comfortable with both.
In fact all through his life, you couldn't leave him anywhere by himself for long – he would always find someone to talk to!
Ted was first diagnosed with cancer in the early 1990s and he carried his illness with great dignity, never letting it get in the way of his active life.
He had a refreshing outlook on life - all his doctors, nurses and consultants recall how brave he was throughout his long illness, never once moaning about the pain and discomfort – one and all refer to him as a lovely man.
The family have been overwhelmed by messages and words of support from his many friends and shopkeepers in the village.
Even in the latter stages of his illness, he still very much enjoyed his Saturday morning ritual of walking around the village.
His family would particularly like to thank the wonderful staff at Gorseway, Debbie from Hayling Florists, Grady's and Dr Turner for their kindness and support at this very difficult time.
Instead of flowers at his funeral on June 8, Ted wanted to raise money for both the Rowans Hospice and Wessex Cancer Trust and the family would like to thank everyone for their kindness in raising 350 for these two very worthwhile charities.
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Weather for Hayling
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Light snow
Temperature: -4 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: -5 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: East
