Well I haven't written a post in a while, but things have been moving on quietly behind the scenes in the pottery world in Bideford.
I have recently completed and sent off my report for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust which makes me a Fellow now and I even have my official yellow membership card. I delivered my presentation to the Friends of the Burton Art Gallery and Museum AGM in April and really enjoyed lunch after, chatting to artist and collector RJ Lloyd who lives in Bideford and was responsible for the ceramics collection that the Burton Gallery now own. A book has been published to accompany the collection and 12 of these are in North Carolina and Virginia, with various folks and collections I got to see during my Fellowship trip.
I am also booked in to deliver a presentation about my Fellowship at a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust function in Exeter, Devon in October.
I have recently given up one of my part-time jobs so that frees up some time to devote to going back on the pottery trail and to setting up some more talks and opportunities to share my findings. I am still searching along the tidal river Torridge near to Bideford for sherds and adding to the collection nicely. In fact I can't go for a walk now without looking at the ground and examining anything that remotely looks like the right colour for pottery!
I am pleased to say that Alison Grant's book 'North Devon Pottery' is back in print and I have just purchased my own copy at long last to enable me to make reference to her findings.
