Funtime Puppet Theatre founder and performer Jerry van der Veer told The Macleay Argus that, at the age of 75, it was time to close the stage doors.

“I have travelled the country for the good part of a quarter of a century and after a near miss, nearly a car accident while pulling the trailer behind, I decided that someone upstairs was trying to tell me something and it was time to pack it up," he said.

Jerry first performed his Funtime Puppet Theatre show at the Kempsey Show in 1989, but it was when he was seven-years-old that the puppets and marionettes first grabbed his attention. 

“I first became fascinated with puppets when a puppet show came to town when I was a child living in Holland,” Jerry said.

“A show used to come through my home town for a fortnight every July and I used to go after school to watch. My father gave me a hiding because I always arrived home late but it didn’t do any good because the next day I was down there again.”

In 1952, when Jerry was 12, he emigrated to Australia with his family and by the age of 14 he had created his own stage show with his first Australian audience in 1954.  

“It was fascinating, the stories and how it makes kids laugh,” Jerry said.

However, it wasn’t long after my first show when I was in year two at high school that my mother made me give it up and go out and earn a living.”

Jerry eventually became a sign-writer and the art of puppet making and theatre shows was left behind for the real world and full-time work, however, he never lost his love of performing and performed small shows on special occasions.  

It was not until 1991, during a recession, that he took up the art again full-time.

“If I was to go deaf tomorrow, I know that I would still be able to make the kids laugh for many years to come," he said.  

“I started doing it officially in 1994 on a commercial footing and I’ve travelled over the eastern side of Australia including Darwin and Adelaide and all points east of that, except Tasmania - the puppets can't swim." 

Jerry does different shows with puppets and marionettes but his main love is the Punch and Judy show.

“All the Punch and Judy shows except one are the Dutch version,” he said.

“Punch and Judy originated in Holland around 400 years ago. In the English show Punch tries to kill everybody, which grows out of the industrial revolution.  

“But the Dutch Punch and Judy show is different because Holland was a matriarchal society at the time where women ruled the roost.  

"So my show, while Punch plays tricks on Judy, Punch never ever gets the best of Judy and she always chases him off the stage at the end.”

Jerry said over the 26 years of performing full-time, he has formed many memories, but the one that most stands out was when he met the man who first inspired his love of puppets back in Holland when he was seven years old.

“I was performing at the Dutch Festival in Sydney and the man had tears running down his face,” Jerry said.

“I asked him what was wrong and he said he used to perform puppet shows under the name of Rob Debard in Holland.  

“I realised Rob was the bloke I used to watch as a kid and I was still performing a lot of his stuff.  

"He migrated about 14 years after me to Australia, but he never had enough good English to perform, so he was glad to see his stuff still going on nearly 60 years later.”

Jerry said he would have liked to pass the trade of story telling and puppet making onto someone else, but it was a stage show that was hard to sell because essentially, he is the show.

“It’s sad and I know I’ll miss it, but it is time,” Jerry said.

“I love the puppets and I love to make the kids laugh, but I it has never made me rich. However, I consider myself rich because I’ll always remember the children laughing and smiling.”