Tributes to charismatic Woody

An ex-para who was rebuilding his life in Bath after years of sleeping rough has died aged 50.

Tributes have been paid to a man known simply as Woody, who had lived on the streets of Bath and other towns and cities in the west for nearly two decades.

He served in the Parachute Regiment for nine years – being posted to Germany, Cyprus, Hong Kong, and the USA - but said that when he left suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, he was given no support by the forces, leaving him no choice but to take to the streets.

He sold the magazine from the footbridge behind Bath Spa railway station and used to dress up as cartoon characters to boost trade.

Before starting work as a vendor, he was a regular busker on local streets, playing the saxophone.

Born in Northern Ireland, he also ran the Bath Half Marathon to raise money for homelessness charity Julian House and was always ready to discuss his experiences to help raise money and awareness.

Julian House spokesman Cecil Weir said: "Woody was well known to many of the staff at Julian House and it was with great sadness that we learned of his death. Latterly he had his own accommodation and therefore his reliance upon the organisation had tailed off.

"We supported him over an extended period, but at the same time he was very keen to try and give something back. He was a former soldier and despite his difficult circumstances still managed to compete in the Bath Half Marathon and raised a decent amount of sponsorship for Julian House.

"He also took the brave decision to talk about how he became homeless and the real challenges of being on the streets."

A spokesman for Big Issue South West said Woody had been a valuable and professional seller.

"He was charismatic with the public, with his sense of humour and costumes and had many regular customers.

"He was a well-liked man and the office will not be the same without him. He will be missed by all the staff and vendors here at the Bath Big Issue and our thoughts go out to all those who were close to him."

Woody recalled two years ago how he spent years rummaging through skips and bins at the back of restaurants to find food.

For a while, he lived in a home-made bivouac-style shelter in woods in Bath.

He said two years ago: "There are lots of ex-squaddies on the streets.

"We do not talk much about the military as many, like me, still have bad memories.

"But we are all the same in that we have had to cope with leaving the army or navy on our own and with no help.

"It is the same for people now coming back from Iraq and getting no help, so what chance do we have?"