Remembering Tommy Walsh: Thank You for Bringing Decking to the Nation
THE DECKING NETWORK REMEMBERS
Remembering Tommy Walsh
The laughter, the gardens and the joy of bringing decking to the nation.
We are sad to hear that Tommy Walsh has died, aged 69.
Our thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues.
Yet alongside that sadness, there is so much to celebrate.
Tommy gave us skill, laughter and countless happy memories of gardens brought to life.
Phil Guest / Wikimedia Commons,
CC BY-SA 2.0.
Displayed without cropping.
Making gardens part of everyday television
For many of us, Ground Force was a television favourite.
Together, Alan Titchmarsh, Charlie Dimmock and Tommy made garden makeovers a joy to watch.
Meanwhile, Tommy brought the building work to life with humour and a practical approach.
From the first board to the final reveal, he helped viewers see what their gardens could become.
Above all, he made the work feel approachable.
A deck could become somewhere to share a meal, enjoy the sunshine or simply sit with a cup of tea.
Tommy’s Ground Force decking projects
Bordon: A steep slope gave the team a real challenge.
So Tommy needed extra help for their biggest deck project up to that point.
Newcastle: First came the demanding paving work.
Then Tommy and Will had to find time to tackle the decking.
Molesey, Surrey: Here, Tommy and Charlie helped create a quiet riverside garden for a Thames lock-keeper.
The result included decking and a small water feature.
Thank you for bringing decking to the masses
Through those projects, Tommy helped bring decking into millions of living rooms.
In turn, viewers could imagine new ways to enjoy their own outdoor space.
Of course, the laughter mattered too.
The teamwork, friendly banter and happy reveals gave us plenty of reasons to smile.
Thank you, Tommy.
For bringing decking to the telly, and for making us smile along the way.
We will remember you with great affection.
With warm appreciation from Karl Harrison and the Decking Network.
