On the 4th of February, 1978 Gareth Edwards won his 50th consecutive cap for Wales at Rugby HQ, Twickenham. It was the first game of Wales’s campaign which would end in yet another Grand Slam for that great Welsh side of the seventies. Their talismanic scrum half steered Wales to victory that day in appalling conditions. Gareth’s long, raking touch finders controlled the territory which finally allowed Captain Phil Bennett to kick the winning penalty setting Wales on track for yet another glorious season.
To commemorate Gareth’s unique, record achievement, my father decided to make a special figure depicting the great man in classic scrum half pose, delivering his famous spin pass to his waiting captain and fly half Phil Bennett.
I’ve chosen this particular piece because it illustrates perfectly the way I was learning my trade back in 1978. I had already been working at the Groggshop for two years when this piece was made but I had mostly been making more “Groggy” figures. These did include figures of rugby players which required resemblances, but they were pretty rough caricatures in style. I had also started making my own hand-built figures with longer legs than the standard Groggs but Dad must have felt Gareth’s landmark achievement deserved his more experienced touch.
The piece was hand built using our favourite buff stoneware which gave the Groggs their distinctive look once they were glazed using our secret formula. The difference with this piece is once Dad had got the basic structure in place he lost interest…. especially with the face and hands. Obviously I was working in his studio with him, which in those days was in the front of the shop where the middle room and counter is today. When I noticed Dad was getting frustrated with the finer details I offered to finish the piece which he allowed me to do.
The faces of the players had always fascinated me and I’d been filling sketch pads with drawings of them since I was twelve years old. It may have been a little presumptuous of me but I felt I could see where Dad was going wrong and I guess he must have agreed. Either way this finished figure represents a turning point as Dad stopped making the recognisable figures from this point on and went back to making figures mostly from his imagination. He left the job of making those amazing characters to me. A decision I was delighted about and 47 years later… I still am!
