Suffering a life-changing brain injury in a head-on car crash nine years ago has not kept Bridport antiques trader Tristram Latimer Sayer down.
The former drummer for 1980s dream pop band Breathless, Tristram can now be found selling country primitive antiques from his unit at the Alleyways Antiques Centre on St Michael’s Trading Estate in Bridport.
Hailing from London, Tristram relocated to the West Country 30 years ago, moving into a home near Yetminster and running an antiques trading business from Sherborne.
“I’ve been in antiques since my 20s,” Tristram said. “My parents were antiques dealers and I was influenced by them, it was an obvious path for me to take.
“I was employed for a bit as a young man, including drumming in the band Breathless for a while, but I’ve always really wanted to work for myself.
“I’ve been going to antiques fairs since I was young and I knew what to look out for; after my parents died, I started working for myself, buying things I like and finding my own tastes.
“I don’t really specialise in any kinds of antiques, but I like country primitive, particularly metalwork and woodwork.”
Things were going well for Tristram, trading in Sherborne, until a fateful road trip in 2014 when he was driving a car that collided head-on with another car that was going the wrong way down a dual carriageway.
“I can’t tell you an awful lot about the accident, I have no memory of any of it, but I was in intensive care for about eight or nine months, followed by lots of rehab work.
“I had broken bones in the crash and suffered quite a bad head injury – it was a bad crash.”
Now in his late 50s and living with his dogs and the assistance of a team of carers, Tristram seems determined not to let past setbacks keep him from doing what he loves.
“Ever since recovering from that crash I just continued to do what I’ve always done: working for myself, buying and selling antiques I’m interested in and hoping that other people will be interested in them too,” Tristram said.
“Bridport is a good place to be for antiques trading, it seems there are a lot of customers with broad ranges of taste around here.”