View source for Snowy Farr

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[[File:Snowy Farr sculpture by Gary Webb, 8 August 2012.jpg|thumb|alt=text|Snowy Farr Sculpture]]
'''Walter "Snowy" Farr''' [[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|MBE]] (b. 1919; d. [[Oakington]], [[Cambridgeshire]], 8 March 2007) was a British charity [[fundraiser]] who mostly operated in the streets of [[Cambridge]], [[England]]. Over several decades   Farr collected many thousands of pounds for [[The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association]]. In recognition of his efforts, he received an MBE in November 1995.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/snowy-farr-commemorative-sculpture |title=Snowy Farr commemorative sculpture |date= |access-date=22 May 2015 |website= |publisher=Cambridge City Council |last= |first= }}{{dead link|date=January 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Farr was usually seen in eccentric clothing, often incorporating antique military wear, and accompanied by tame animals, including mice, cats, dogs and even a goat.<ref name=":0" />
A former local authority road sweeper,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title = Snowy the eccentric|url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/content/articles/2007/03/12/snowy_feature.shtml|access-date = 2015-05-22|language = en|publisher = BBC}}</ref> Farr lived in one of the terraced cottages on the main road through the village of [[Westwick, Cambridgeshire|Westwick]], and later (after he had retired) moved to the adjacent village of [[Oakington]] and a bungalow whose garden contained a display of flags, dolls and teddy-bears.<ref name=":1" />  This collection was occasionally reduced in scale and exuberance in response to the demands of the local Council. A board outside the house recorded a 'running total' of the donations he had collected.
For many years, Farr also maintained the graveyard of St Andrews church in Oakington.
Farr was the subject of a famous photograph by [[Don McCullin]], taken in the early 1970s.{{cn|date=October 2023}}
In September 1977, Farr led a procession of 150 children around Cambridge city centre, filming for a TV show which never went ahead. Brief panic resulted when he became confused and took a wrong turn.<ref name=zero1>[http://w3.cambridge-news.co.uk/people/past_times/2002/09/18/525c0e5f-86da-40a7-9e69-ddc89400b1d9.lpf "Cambridge Evening News"], September 18, 2002 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926212206/http://w3.cambridge-news.co.uk/people/past_times/2002/09/18/525c0e5f-86da-40a7-9e69-ddc89400b1d9.lpf |date=September 26, 2007 }}</ref>
He later appeared in the [[ITV Yorkshire]] programme ''Snowy and the Buttercup Buskers'', which aired in 1984.
A newspaper article from 2002 reported that Farr had been commended by the Cambridgeshire Society for the Blind and Partially Sighted after raising £62,005 for the charity; it also reported that he had raised £33,700 for Guide Dogs for the Blind and £28,305 for Cam Sight, which supports people with sight loss in and around Cambridge.<ref name=zero2>[http://w3.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/articles/2002/11/28/fba4cb88-d030-4d16-b3ef-d369417cd953.lpf "Cambridge Evening News"]{{dead link|date=August 2012}}, November 28, 2002</ref>
Farr died on 8 March 2007.<ref name=":1" /> Within a short time, suggestions were made on a local newsgroup<ref name=zero4>[http://groups.google.co.uk/group/cam.misc/browse_frm/thread/56f25d6db54b4990/4daabc72aa1d0085 "cam.misc newsgroup"], thread in response to Snowy's death</ref> that a statue to Farr ought to be erected near the site at the end of Petty Cury where he habitually collected. On 3 March 2009, [[Cambridge City Council]] announced the decision that a memorial of some kind would indeed be erected.
A Snowy Farr memorial artwork, designed by [[Gary Webb (artist)|Gary Webb]],<ref>{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111224402/http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/public/docs/Proposal_2_Gary_Webb.pdf |date=November 11, 2013}}{{dead link|date=January 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> was unveiled outside the Guildhall in Cambridge's Market Square in August 2012.  The statue resembles a combination of Farr's cat and mice; his cat was trained to sit on his hat, and the mice trained to run circuits of the rim.
==References==
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==External links==
* Photographs: [https://www.flickr.com/photos/-andyjm-/59106103/ 1] [https://www.flickr.com/photos/victius/411683060/ 2] [http://www.ecoln.com/donsnow.jpg 3] [https://www.flickr.com/photos/victius/5625104922/ 4]
* Ranjit Dhaliwal, "[https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/picture/2013/feb/26/photography-charities Snowy Farr: Picture of the Day]". ''Guardian'', 26 February 2013. A photograph by [[Tony Ray-Jones]] that appeared in the ''Sunday Times Magazine'' in 1970.
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[[Category:1919 births]]
[[Category:2007 deaths]]
[[Category:People from South Cambridgeshire District]]
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[[Category:People from Cambridge]]<!-- life -->
[[Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:English philanthropists]]
[[Category:Charity fundraisers (people)]]
[[Category:People from Oakington]]
[[Category:20th-century British philanthropists]]