A very wet day at the Bluebell on 9th November. Rebuilt Bulleid 'West Country' Pacific No. 34046 'Braunton' was the main attraction having worked in on a special from London Victoria.

This article appeared in yesterday's Mid Sussex Times.

from Mid Sussex Times 24/10/13

Yesterday was the opening of the Sir Norman Wisdom exhibition space in Haywards Heath organised by his son Nick. Nick, who once played county cricket for Sussex, owns a sports shop in the town and was my first client after I moved home from Cambridge to Ditchling back in 1995. My most recent commission was designing the lettering for his new shop fascia which was then fabricated in stainless steel by BEL Signs of Horsham.
For the exhibition Nick had me doing the calligraphic labelling for the framed panels and showcases. These contain memorabilia and artefacts from Sir Norman's career going back to his film and stage debuts back in the 1940s. For me it has been a wonderfully nostalgic trip to my childhood when, like the rest of the population, we were entranced by his antics in such films as The Square Peg. Latterly of course he became very popular, indeed revered, in Albania!

Wisdom Sports, South Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex

At the opening we were hugely entertained by this marvellous impersonator/lookalike Glenn Ford

The Sir Norman Wisdom exhibition, The Orchards, Haywards Heath

Our next Ditchling Players production is 'Quartet' by Ronald Harwood at Ditchling Village Hall from 6th to 9th November. The play is set in a retirement home for opera singers and musicians. A gala concert is about to take place at the home to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Verdi's birth. This leads to a number of problems...
I designed the poster using Brioso Pro by my favourite type designer Robert Slimbach.

This is my painting of Bagnall 0-4-0 saddle tank Works No.2542 Jubilee built in 1936. I purchased this locomotive in the early 1970s from Bowaters at Sittingbourne and had it running on track laid at New Buildings Farm, Great Chishill near Royston, Herts. It is now at the East Anglian Railway Museum in Essex. (Oil on canvas 2011)

This is my painting of Gresley A4 Pacific No. 60028 Walter K. Whigham at Grantham loco shed in the 1960s. (Oil on canvas 2011)

Just finished (more or less) this painting of two jewellers at 'Art in Action' at Waterperry House, Oxfordshire. I demonstrated calligraphy there about 30 years ago!

Another visit to the Bluebell Railway yesterday. Very quiet, only one train running but it all made for an authentic country branch line atmosphere.

Here's another painting of mine - GWR 2-8-0 No. 3800 one of 83 locomotives of the 2884 class designed for heavy freight work by CB Collett in 1938.
She is at Newport (Ebbw Junction) depot on a visit I made there in 1962
(Oil on canvas, 2012).

This is my oil painting of our dressing room at Glyndebourne when I appeared in a non-singing role, i.e. as an extra, in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in 2011. My pal Mike in the centre of the picture asked if I could make him a bit thinner! I was a hatter and the other characters included fire eaters, jugglers and acrobats. Great fun!

A short slideshow of Simon, Amanda and my day out at the Bluebell Railway which included the arrival of the first steam hauled through train from London in 55 years.

This is the visit of brand new A1 class Pacific No. 60163 Tornado to the Bluebell Railway on 10th September 2013. Here she is in the Loco Yard at Sheffield Park where we were allowed onto the footplate - wonderful! Amanda took the photo and gave me a suntan in Photoshop!!