Edward Aldred, who worked at old and New Covent Garden Market for around 65 years, died recently at the age of 97. His niece Jenny Haylock kindly shared this story of Ted’s life with us

‘Ted’ Edward Aldred was born 20th June 1927 in Lambeth and lived with his Mum Frances, Dad Bill, Grandmother, Mary Ann and elder brothers, Jim and Joe. Uncle Ted always spoke very fondly of his Mum as a lovely gentle person; his Gran was the tough, determined matriarch of the family.

They were hard times, and the family lived in a flat in Kennedy House, Vauxhall. As a child, Ted grew up knowing Ivy Thorn, a beautiful young girl who lived close by in another block of flats and in due course they became sweethearts and married. They lived in Burnett Street, Vauxhall, and later had a son, Ian, and eventually two grandchildren.

Unlike Ted, Ivy was very sociable and loved many forms of culture; ballet, opera, theatre and especially dancing. Ted was more reserved, but Ivy introduced him to all the new and different pastimes, as well as her best friend Joyce and her husband Jeff, who became very close lifelong friends. Love, loyalty and devotion were some of Ted’s strong characteristics.

Ted had been conscripted in 1945 and served time in Egypt and Palestine where he was considered exceptional and was promoted, learnt to drive, and could have been sergeant but declined, because he was happy as he was.

On returning to Britain he had the option of a couple of jobs. A friend said there was a chance of working in Covent Garden Market and although he wasn’t sure if he would stay when he first took the opportunity, he enjoyed it so much that he stayed there for the rest of his working life.

Ted always said if he had his time again, he wouldn’t change a thing because Market life as a porter suited him down to the ground. He started working at Covent Garden Market in the late 1940s, for Southside Wholesale, and from day one loved everything about life working in the market. The camaraderie, the complexity, the incredibly early hours and heavy work pulling barrows up the cobblestones were something he thrived on. Even in the last few months of his life he would take pleasure in naming many varieties of apples and other fruits that are now, sadly no longer common place or even available. Ted always saw starting in the early hours of the morning as an advantage that gave him the chance to enjoy the rest of his day with Ivy.

When the Market moved from Covent Garden, naturally this was a big upheaval for everyone and Ted, like many people wasn’t sure if the work would be there for him and more importantly, he wasn’t sure if he would want to stay. Resourceful as ever, Ted did the knowledge and actually found it quite pleasurable and achievable, but driving itself was never something he took much pleasure from and so it was a relief when he found that the New Covent Garden was somewhere he could adapt to, and he settled down to work in the market for many more years to come.

Ted loved running and was exemplary at road running and only gave up in his 70s. He also loved reading, made homemade wine and loved good food, especially chocolate.

It was only when Ivy became ill that Ted gave up work at the Market. He cared for her and she lived long enough for them to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary.

In time Ted found a degree of comfort in returning to the Market, this time in the Labour office for the union. Another former porter and union man, Bob Parker, said: "Ted was an absolute diamond, his heart and soul was in the market. One of his roles was labour allocator for the union - so when firms were short of men they'd go to him and he'd fill the gaps for them. He was exceptional at that, as he was at everything he did, but most of all he was one of the nicest men you could meet.”

Ted was incredibly fair and just in his dealings with everyone – always a true gentleman. It was also true that wouldn’t stand for any nonsense. The governors would ring him and he was great at ironing out any problems and kept the office running smoothly.

Ted only left work at the market in 2012, ending a relationship that spanned eight different decades. By Bob Parker’s reckoning, “he must have been one of the longest serving people ever at Covent Garden”.

In retirement Ted enjoyed learning to cook and loved any new gadgets that became available. He owned everything from a soup maker, bread maker and loved the new air fryers. Ted also took great pleasure in learning. He was always reading, and loved crosswords, sudoku and soon grasped how to use a mobile phone and his iPad, which gave him a whole new window to the world, especially enjoying exploring youtube, although his absolute favourite was Judge Judy!

Ted died peacefully in his own home surrounded by some of his family, all of whom loved him dearly, aged 97 on May 22nd. He leaves two grandchildren, nieces, nephews and godchildren who have heard his stories from the market throughout our lives and will miss him badly, but are comforted by knowing he lived his life as he wanted and in his words, he wouldn’t change a thing.

RIP Ted, one of the all-time great market men.