Potty

We’ve made better progress this week than I thought possible, it’s been a productive few days. Today I returned north and my sister returned westwards. A day of clear skies and freezing temperatures.

I stopped for lunch and a look around at the Gladstone Pottery Museum, Longton, Stoke on Trent, as it was only five miles off the M6. Paying for my admission I was asked if I wanted to make a pot. I explained I was on a long journey home, she said it would only take 15 minutes, so after lunch I found myself putting an apron on, rolling up my sleeves, and working clay on a wheel. I’d never done this before, and I have to say - I’m impressed by my first effort.

I am a fan of The Great Pottery Throwdown on TV, the venue for which is Gladstone. This is the last remaining complete pottery factory from the era of the coal- fired bottle kiln. When over 2000 of these formed the six towns skyline (only 47 remain) it must have been quite a sight (and the air thick with smoke, with the workers living and working in appalling conditions. In 1900 the average age of adults at death was 46, and a quarter of all children died in infancy).