Scooting Teddy

Eighty-two-year-old Edward “Teddy” Bryan Tompkins is quite a character on Philip Island and has been a local for the last fifty years, with the last nine at BlueCross Grossard Court, Cowes.

Teddy is living proof that getting older and living in residential care doesn’t have to mean that you stop having fun and living your life.

Although Teddy needs regular treatment and care for some bone ailments, he can be regularly seen scooting around Cowes.

“I have a mobility scooter here in the garage and I am up and down the street a few days a week in winter and every day in the summer. I love having my freedom and I’ll keep doing it as long as I can.”

Teddy also scoots around the corner to visit his mate Graham who shares a lot of the same interests as him such as yachts, as well as having custody of Teddy’s dog, Boris.

“Friends are important, they always have been and I’m happy to have Graham and Boris,” he says with a chuckle.

Teddy also admits he has plenty of friends at Grossard Court. “I have a great rapport with the staff and it just feels like a big family.”

Teddy has a strong bond with the island and reminisces about his years on the Newhaven Yacht squadron when he had a beautiful yacht in the Marina.

“Time has really flown by but not too much has changed here on the island which is nice,” he explains.

“I still go to the same shops and down the same streets as I always have and that suits me just fine. It’s home to me.”