Coalport china figurine of a swimmer

by Linda Wright
(Sheffield South Yorkshire.)

Coalport china figurine of a swimmer :-Hello Peter,
I have recently been given a Coalport figurine of a swimmer, sole colour white. I had been going through a pretty rough period of my life, the swimmer was given to me with the Quote -
"You will keep your head above water, you always do, saw this and thought, this is just what you need at the moment. You will look at this swimmer in years to come and say to yourself, I did keep my head above water and all is well." So it is, and so I do.

It was made at Coalport in 2000, was modelled by you and does have a little number 12 on it.
it comes under the category 'Sporting Elements' and is called 'The Winning Stroke'.

I was just wondering what inspired you to make this model, how many figurines are there in the Sporting Elements and what do they consist of?
I would be pleased to know anything you have to tell me about this male swimmer, I really do love him, not only because of the reason it was given to me, but I think should I have seen it in a shop I might have bought it.

I am not ignorant about pottery, having spent quite a few years with Simpson's Potter's during the mid 50's, whilst my father was Chief Engineer at T&R Boot. Tile Makers.

Born in Formby Lancashire, my father worked at Camel Laird as an engineer, sadly as the scene changed my father could see that shipbuilding in Liverpool was coming to an end so sought to establish himself in a position with a good long future, hence we found ourselves living in Newcastle upon Tyne. Later to move to Bantock Park, Wolverhampton.

My few years working with Simpson's Potters were spent being wages clerk in the 'Clay' department, it was indeed very interesting work. I know the rudiments of china production and have still got a large dinner plate I made from scratch during my less busy times there.

As a matter of interest my Mother and Father spent their last 40 odd years in Tudor Cottage, Church Lane, Lilleshall, and then moved to Wellington to be near to two of my brothers, my mother was in the nursing home at Ironbridge, so I am very familiar with this beautiful part of England and it's history.


How sad the picture of our great Empire has changed so.

I look forward to your input regarding the swimmer, I haven't got around to taking any pictures of my swimmer who I called Peter before I had even noticed 'a Peter' had modelled him, my youngest brother was extremely ill at the time the figurine was given to me, he succumbed to cancer, thankfully I have beaten it up to now, though I have been a good 20 years with it chasing around different parts of my body. I always have managed to keep my head above water !!!!

Regards


Linda

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Dear Linda,

What an inspiring story you have to tell. It is marvelous that Peter's figurine has given you so much comfort.

I know the figurine and it is a very good mix of realism and style. It was part of a series of sports people done for Coalport. I do not think that too many were made so it might be quite rare.

Peter was saying that he does not often get called to sculpt men figurines. Amongst other things, this gave him a challenge to get the muscles right. The other lovely thing about this figurine is the way that Peter has depicted the water movement. It took quite a bit of thought to work out how to represent the way the water moves over the body with all the bubbles etc.

I hope that Peter's figurine continues to give you comfort and always helps to keep your head above water!

Best regards

Tony
Admin.