A patriotic neighbour has spent 70 hours creating a personalised mural for his veteran neighbour.
Former fighter pilot Ralph Forth, 93, had the idea to have the Spitfire he flew during World War II painted on a blank wall in his back garden in East Molesey, but had difficulty finding a painter to do the job.
Mr Forth mentioned the idea to his next-door neighbour of 14 years and Kathryn Singleton said her husband might be keen.
A self proclaimed “Spitfire nut”, Graham Singleton, 53, started work on the five metre by three metre painting about a year ago and finished last month, putting in the odd hour when he had time.
Mr Singleton estimated the painting took about 70 hours to complete and he did it for his neighbour for free.
He said: “I am very pleased with it. I have never done anything that size before. Ralph has a lot of photographs from the war time and he has his helmet and war jacket so I customised it and gave it the markings of his actual plane.”
After finishing the painting, Mr Singleton and his wife organised a grand unveiling of the mural on Saturday, July 27, with about 50 people coming along.
The neighbours put a tarpaulin up over the mural and formally unveiled it, with Mr Forth giving a speech while guests enjoyed glasses of champagne out in the sun.
Although he is happy with the mural, Mr Singleton said his neighbour finds the war difficult to talk about as he lost his brother during it and only recently opened up to him about.
He said: “Ralph does not want to be seen as a hero and he is a very modest man. He will never talk about it at all.”
Still an active member of the community and only recently giving up his driving licence, Mr Forth flew a Spitfire again for his 80th birthday after his family hired it for him.
Mr Singleton said: “Ralph is a really lovely guy and the heart and the soul of the community.
“It has been a labour of love and something I really enjoyed and it was nice to do it for Ralph because he is such a nice person. He is the nicest person I could have done anything for.”
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