It is only in retrospect that the path which leads to one's eventual career emerges. We may not notice the pointers or we may give them scant recognition at the time, but later on we see that they were firm indicators of the right direction and were there throughout. So it was for me, but it took a long time for the penny to drop. Growing up near Winchcombe Pottery in Gloucestershire I used to watch Joe and Trudy Finch making and decorating pots. Occasionally I was handed something to draw on, but generally I did not pay much attention. Later, when teaching in a girls' school, I had to accompany the children to the art school in Stroud for pottery lessons. The tutor, Colin Gerard, was tolerant of this young art teacher who clearly did not know anything about clay, and let me muddle along with my students, helping me here and there. Only his skill and that of a wonderful technician saved my efforts from oblivion, but a seed was sown.
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