15/06/2025
Earnest Edwin (Ted) Instone was a quiet, unassuming man who lived his faith, his family and the outdoors, the mountains, cats, being close to nature, peace and quiet.
Ted was born in Coventry in December 1921 and lost his older sister Beryl and his father Arthur Brian in Coventry during the Second World War, along with several cousins who never returned from military action.
To manage his grief, trauma and sadness, Ted was able to escape to the Alps to climb the Matterhorn, which was also a splice for his mum( Grandma T***s) as she climbed to manage her own grief and loneliness.
In 1952 whilst considering his options to emigrate to Canada Ted bought a darelict farm in Blackshaw Head in Yorkshire and soon met Pauline from Leeds. They married in 1954 and moved to Lancashire where Ted became the group secretary for the national farmers union in the Ribble Valley for over 20 years. Ted loved living with his family within such a lively and friendly rural community.
The shared love for Ted and his mum for alpine conditions developed in times of extreme trauma and the need to be away from expectations and people… today on 2025 the love of edelweiss, Gentian and rocky open spaces lives on in his family, in our genes and in our bones.
I’m loving gratitude of you darling Dad, today on Father’s Day and every day. This fabulous ‘Life Grows On’ basket has been so beautifully and lovingly crafted by Carmen, by Floristry by Carmen. We are giving thanks for you and to you for every mountain you climbed along with all the encouragement and inspiration you gave us to follow your footsteps, whether in the Langdales, the Alps or the Andes and whilst planting this willow basket of alpine plants for you here in Cumbria.
You are our eternal Edelweiss Dad, thank you for being so precious, so quiet, so mysterious in your humble isolation and as fresh and as exquisite as the mountain air.
Your daughter Susan.
