PERSONAL ELTHAM Donkey's Years


Middle Park’s Len Thorne has been running donkey rides on Blackheath for more than 60 years. He tells Matt Bell how a job became a lifetime’s hobby.


When did you first own a donkey?


It was in 1939 and I was six when my father bought one for me. He already had some. I started off ering donkey rides on Blackheath in 1948 when I was 15.


How many donkeys have you got today?


The most I've ever kept at one time was 29 and now I've got 25. They are stabled on land near Woodlands Farm in Shooters Hill. They hit the headlines about 10 years ago when fi ve of them were stolen.


Is it difficult to keep so many? Yes, mainly due to the cost. One bale


of hay is £3 and can go up to double that and I get through lots each week. I really need to sell some donkeys just to keep going. I stopped making a profi t several years ago. Recently I've had a lorry trailer and a horse box destroyed by fi re. I only keep doing it because they're my life and I'd be bored if I stopped. I'll be 78 in November but I don't want to retire. I enjoy meeting people.


What type of customers do you get?


I very rarely see any tourists because they get off a coach at the entrance to Greenwich Park, go straight into there, have a walk to the Observatory, visit a cafe and then get back on the coach. It's mainly local people with kids. I've had people who rode on the donkeys as a child come back with their grandchildren and even their great-grandchildren. But the council's car parking restrictions don't help because no one can park their


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car for any length of time anywhere near me.


Are there fewer children wanting a donkey ride?


Yes, because they would rather play on their computer or mobile phone. It's diffi cult enough getting kids to go out to a park but then you've got their parents as well preferring to drive out of town to a shopping centre. The heath used to be packed at weekends with families having picnics. It's sad that people spend less time together as a family.


Have you had problems with people worrying about the donkeys' welfare?


Yes, that's happened a number of


times. Someone calls the RSPCA to say we're cruel to them and we've even been accused of using pregnant donkeys. That's rubbish because all the donkeys are male.


Have you got any celebrity


customers? I've had a few over the years. Jools


Holland would bring his kids and Sandie Shaw used to walk across the heath.


Will the 2012 Olympics equestrian in Greenwich Park affect you and the donkeys?


I've been told I have to move to a


diff erent part of the heath but they haven't let me know where yet. My worry is they'll move me to a bit that's out of the way and then won't let me return to where I am now.


Do you have a close bond with your donkeys?


I treat them like they are my kids


I know all of them by their individual name, including the ones which look similar. It's going to be really hard for me when I have to let some of them go to a donkey sanctuary.


Is there someone you would like to read about?


Send us your suggestions of people in the community that would be interesting to interview and write about. www.senine.co.uk


Help keep Eltham tidy! Put your litter in bins.


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