STILL SNIPPING AND CLIPPING

Can you remember when 5 Moor Road was a tobacconist shop? Nothing wrong with your memory then. For the last 40 years it has been a hairdressing salon, owned and run by Italo and Mirella Volgano, trading as DeMarco. The couple decided to sell up and retire earlier this year. You have had the opportunity to read abridged versions of their joint career in tributes printed in both the Daily Echo and the Poole Advertiser.

What you have not had the opportunity to do is to see how much they crammed in to such a busy life including bringing up a family. On learning about these other interests it is tempting to ask how they found time for the day job. First of all the Association wants to take this opportunity to thank them for their valuable support as advertisers for many years, when it (the Association) was not in as strong a financial position as it is today.

Italo first arrived on our shores thanks to a far-sighted hairdresser on the Isle of Wight who had recruited him from Italy with the lure of a free one way ticket. His relationship with his employer blossomed and he was promoted to another salon in Portsmouth under the same ownership.

After two years (half the normal waiting time) he applied for and was granted Home Office permission to set up his own business. This he did with a partner in Bournemouth but before long additional premises were required which resulted in the opening of DeMarco in Moor Road in 1963. Marriage soon followed and they lived above the business until they moved into their own home which released the flat above the salon for their children's day-time carer.

And as they say the rest is history. But not quite. Italo developed an interest in Bonsai when his wife (may she forgive me) failed to look after two indoor Bonsai given to her as a present. From being a complete novice Italo has become a leading member of the Wessex-Bonsai Society in Bournemouth. He lectures and exhibits specimens from his collection all over the County. He is particularly interested in carving wood before young, supple trees are wrapped around them. This style of Bonsai is called Tanuki and the results are breathtakingly beautiful. I feel sure that 40 years of styling hair have proved a useful introduction to this art form.

Not content with just one hobby, Italo has a renowned reputation in the coin collecting world. His imagination was fired when Winston Churchill became only the second commoner to have a coin minted after his likeness. Oliver Cromwell was the first. Having disposed of his English coin collection Italo now collects and researches coins from Italy and Sicily.

As if that wasn't enough he is an expert in wild mushrooms which he assures me grow all over the place, including Broadstone, provided you know what you are looking for. Of course I refer to the edible variety, and these he has supplied to leading chefs in London, sometimes via the medium of his son-in-law, whose Italian restaurant has established an enviable reputation in Broadstone over many years.

Enjoy your retirement, and please continue to give inspiration as to what can be achieved in the space of one lifetime.

Archive Winter 2003 | next

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