Well here we go again – no rest for the wicked. We all had a busy (if a little stressful) end to the year (snow & flu included) but it was great to meet up with some old friends from New Zealand in Graham and Raewyn Henry which helped to make up for not beating them! It was nice to have a visit from All Blacks legend Ian Jones from Sky Sports and current star centre Ma’a Nonu who were both very charming. We also had some great memorabilia donated from Ma’a, Ryan Giggs and especially from Wales and Spurs star Gareth Bale with his match worn shirts – meeting Gareth has almost converted me to a Spurs supporter!
Ah well in the field of opportunity it’s plowing time again as my old friend ‘Shakey’ used to say and after a great break over Christmas (Happy New Year BTW!) I’m raring to go. As you can see from Work In Progress there are quite a few projects already started. The Mini World Cup Series is going to be a welcome and long overdue addition to our Miniature Range. The idea is to pick one player from each major nation and get them made before the World Cup kicks off in September. I’ve made a start with Richie McCaw and Sebastien Chabal (two obvious choices) but need some help with Scotland and England so your input as usual will be vital! The proposed list is as follows
- New Zealand – Richie McCaw
- Australia – David Pocock
- South Africa – Victor Matfield
- Ireland – Paul O’Connell
- France – Sebastien Chabal
- Italy – Martin Castrogiovanni
- England – Lewis Moody ?
- Scotland – Chris Patterson ?
I have also started on the last 4 missing Mascots which are Fiji (Palm Tree), Tonga (Turtle?), Samoa (Dove) and the USA (the Bald Eagle). The Palm Tree is already on it’s way, it’s only taken 3 years! On the Limited Edition front our favourite tighthead is being Grogged for the 5th time with the Action 9″ Adam Jones. I love making Adam despite all the work in the curls which seem to be getting longer every season! Fingers crossed for the 4th of February – things going well we will be adding some new names to our 9″ Welsh Collection. I’m already too wound up to even think about the England game, we had to start with that one didn’t we! Good Luck to all the boys involved and everything crossed. Not forgetting it’s the 40th Anniversary, 1971-2011, of Dad moving his studio from Llantwit Road to the dis-used public house the Danygraig Arms which is now known as the Groggshop. We will be creating something special to mark this milestone. We have a few ideas and will make an announcement when we’ve decided so, as ever, watch this space!
