By Christine de Kock
A BLOCK of wood in the hands of William Burgess takes on a life of its own.
Mr Burgess has been making free wooden toys for children in the City of Maribyrnong for more than 40 years.
He won the Rotary Club of Footscray’s John H Kerr Community Service Award last year for his generosity.
These days Mr Burgess makes most of his toys for West Footscray Neighbourhood House.
“It’s my way of returning something to the community,” he said.
“The best satisfaction is seeing the kids’ faces light up when you give them the toys.”
Mr Burgess took up the craft in 1965 as the result of a family crisis.
“My older daughter was in hospital, the ball joint of her femur wore away,” he said.
“She needed a wheelchair, crutches and correspondence school.
“Way back in the ’50s there wasn’t a lot of publicity about where to go for what you needed.
“But I spoke to a friend and she told me where I could get them and what to do. She worked at Chislon Spastic Centre in Yarraville.”
Mr Burgess’s daughter was in the Royal Children’s Hospital for three years.
He was a sales rep for TipTop bread makers at the time and used to pass the Chislon Spastic Centre each day on his way to work.
He decided to drop in and ask whether there was anything he could do for the centre. “They said there was a need for occupational therapy stuff, things that could occupy their mind, like puzzles.”
Mr Burgess had not previously worked with wood, except at school, but took up the woodwork hobby with gusto.
“I saw a need and I stepped in and did it,” he said.
Since that initial start Mr Burgess has helped train handicapped people in wood work at the Chislon Spastic Centre, gave them saleable wooden items for fund raising at Crana Accommodation Centre in Altona, and he also taught residents at Cyril Jewel House and Mephan Street Nursing Home light woodwork skills between 1965 and 1990.
He also ran woodwork classes at Devonshire Private Nursing Home in Sunshine and the Tottenham North Primary School in 1980s. These days Mr Burgess spends most of his time in his workshop.
He stops at construction sites to ask for leftover pieces of wood and sells some items to pay for glue and nails.
He also takes tricycles that have broken seats or handles and fashions new parts, donating the tricycles to the West Footscray Neighbourhood House.
“I’ve been retired 10 years,” he said.
“I don’t really look at toy making as being creative. I’m not a very imaginative person, I can adapt things but I need to see something to make it.”
Mr Burgess plays down his skill.
“It’s a way to get rid of frustration – hammer at a nail and a block of wood – if I go without it for more than a week I feel the tension build,” he said.
West Footscray Neighbourhood House’s coordinator Jill Milthorpe said without Mr Burgess they would not be able to run the toy library.
“If it is made out of wood he can make it or duplicate it.
“He does all kinds of handyman stuff, if we need the door knob fixed or screws tightened.
“He’s genial and never gets cross, he’s really the most generous spirited man.
“He’s been our Father Christmas for the last three years.”
Nominations for the 2005 John Kerr Community Service Award are now open, nominations close on 29 November. Use the accompanying form for nominations.
Mr Burgess said donations of tricycles should be made to the West Footscray Neighbourhood House.
