I became obsessed with pots at school, when I reluctantly attended a pottery lesson guided by a wonderful Malaysian potter, Poh Chap Yeap. He threw a pot as a demo and I was transfixed. My life’s course was set in those few seconds, he was a fast thrower!

He suggested Hammersmith Art College which had a 1 year taster course which I loved, and then I went on to the famous Harrow Vocational Pottery course where I had the last year of Mick Casson’s truly inspirational teaching. What a lovely man, I still miss him.

There I met Melanie and we spent 35 years making all kinds of pots , except porcelain. After a long break, the bug came back to bite and here I am starting again but this time exploring porcelain, which I am loving.

We found this a few miles from Pembridge, Herefordshire. The local farmer was going to burn it, so we bought it from him, and employed a local oak specialist to dismantle, move, and restore it. I just acted as a apprentice in the team of four or five of us, and had great fun learning how to do joinery with chainsaws, et cetera.

It made the most beautiful workshop. We built a ceramic fibre 100 cubic foot propane gas kiln at the back. Specialised in large terracotta pots and exported half container loads to Japan until the Japanese recession.

These pictures do no justice to the magnificent 60’ long workshop. It was always a delight making pots here. Unfortunately it was before the age of camera phones, and these were taken with a very rudimentary digital camera, and alas we have very few of the building