Trained under Tony Gant, David White, Colin Metcalfe, Peter Phillips and Siddig el Ngoumi, I have been a maker of pottery since 1970, and set up the studio pottery here beside Penicuik High Street in 1980. For thirty years I taught pottery classes at Cannonball House and Infirmary Street in the centre of Edinburgh; I also teach from the Penicuik pottery and at the Garvald community. There are annual summer schools and special pottery events and exhibitions here at Penicuik pottery, and I show at Penicuik Arts Centre and nationally with Scottish Potters. My work is thrown on the potter’s wheel, useful wares like jugs in all sizes, teapots, mugs, cups, plates and bowls, saltshakers and butterdishes. I use stoneware, porcelain, raku and local Penicuik clays decorated with slips and glazes. Recent commissions include Dalhousie Castle Hotel and the Traverse Theatre. Valleyfield House the home of Penicuik Pottery was built for the Royal Navy in 1812 and I make mariners teapots to reflect naval tradition and my seafaring ancestry.