It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of two great friends and colleagues, this year. Both were significant to the arts and crafts of the New Forest and it is fitting that we pay tribute to them here on our website dedicated to artists and craft workers of the New Forest. Melvyn Gates

Phyl Somes died peacefully on January 28th 2007. She was an artist and potter, founding the New Forest Pottery, so well known and loved by so many. Her themes were drawn from the natural environment of the Forest that she loved and understood so well.

Our association began when I first met and worked with her in the 1980s, at the Working Weeks of Forest Crafts run by Rosamond Douglas and Janet Foster. She sparked my interest in working with clay that later became a period of working as a potter as well as a painter. Phyl was the epitomy of what a traditional potter should be and I was always enthralled watching the consummate ease with which she created a beautiful milk jug before our eyes.

Joan York passed on March 7th 2007. She was internationally known for her work in textiles and millinery. Joan was tireless in her energy, in spite of being almost 91 and will be greatly missed by many students and colleagues that she inspired to reach even greater goals. Friends, she had many!

My association with Joan also began at Forest Crafts where we had adjacent studios in the attic. First memories are probably 30 years old now and were of Joan looking very regal sweeping into the house dressed all in black with a rose worn at the throat. Her sandals were always 'parked' outside the back door, in spite of it being freezing cold. In those days, as always, Joan burned incense in her teaching studio next door - something that puzzled me for years! In the intervening years I changed so much but Joan just seemed to remain constant. In recent times we came to work together much more closely and we debated 'difficult' topics of philosophy and living, late into the night on so many ocassions. She was always a merciless opponent asking the most difficult of questions and making the most challenging of statements. I fear a number of our art debating group were often confounded when we suddenly veered off down a 'tricky' path - just to find out where it would lead us.

Oh, and yes, I too burn incense now.