Gornal News & Goings On

NEWS

Immortalised on a Pub Sign Last week a Gornal inn unveiled its new pub sign - created by a Gornal artist and depicting a Gornal tradesman! When the Jolly Crispin in Clarence Street needed to renew its signage recently, owners Stuart Griffiths and Julie Rowe decided that a traditional hand painted sign was the obvious choice for a pub reputed to be the oldest in Gornal. Fortunately Gornal has its own master commercial artist. Gary Tilyard in Redhall Road began a full-time signwriting career in 1985, and has created many prominent images throughout the Black Country, including the pub sign for The Fountain in Gornal and our own Yampy advertising in Abbey Street. Gary was commissioned to create an original piece to adorn the Jolly Crispin, and quickly chose as his subject a shoemaker at work. However, finding suitable images to use as a basis for the sign proved difficult. "A 'crispin' is a cobbler" explained Gary. "The word comes from St. Crispin, the patron saint of the trade". "I started background research for the project, visiting libraries, local archives, and scouring the internet, but could not find the right picture". A flash of inspiration saved the day; Gary remembered that Gornal still has its own shoe repairer. Arthur Woodfield has been based in the village for more than twenty years, and runs a shop in Abbey Street next to NP Computers. So Gary went along to see Arthur at work, and took a series of photographic studies which he then used to produce the fantastic portrait that was handed over to the Crispin's manager Andy Bracken last thursday. "I'm pleased with the result" admits Gary, whose skills also extend to narrowboat decoration, pet portraits, and vehicle liveries. "The only problem was to show Arthur as a 'jolly' crispin, because like many craftsmen he takes his work very seriously! But the photographs I took of him were invaluable in creating the essence of the final picture".

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