Only son of Bob & Eunice. Bob being a former member of the British Expeditionary force and Dunkirk veteran. Eunice, a fiercely proud Welsh nurse who served the duration of the war in the heavily bombed Hackney Hospital in the east end of London.

 

Colin served his apprenticeship at Blackpool bus depot as a diesel fitter, moving to British Aerospace, Warton in 1979 - working on the flight development team until retirement in 2000.

 

He moaned about working every day and then on leaving BAe recreated an identical workshop at home, only this time the work produced was his own and in his own time. This is where his passion for metal work, precision and accuracy shone and developed.

 

Always interested in shooting and weaponry, a national standard shot in both rifle and pistol Colin decided to turn his skills to making model artillery pieces. Mainly for his own enjoyment however one piece he did create, a 25 pounder (Mirbat gun) was presented to the Officers mess at 22 Regiment Special Air Service, Stirling Lines Hereford where it sits proudly under the painting of Sgt Talaiasi Labalaba BEM MiD.

 

Currently running out of space at home the model making continues.  On the go is a modern M118 105 light gun, suspended at the minute as Colin fights an illness.

 

Being a luddite and completely unable to turn on a computer, he turned to his granddaughter Tilly to photograph his models so they could be enjoyed by someone other than his long suffering wife Kath who is rapidly running out of shelf and display areas for the pieces.

 

Tilly thoroughly enjoyed working with her grandad and felt strongly that his models should be shared. It seemed fitting that on his 75th birthday he was reminded how much he's loved, wished the very best and be brought into the 21st century with a webpage specifically for his exceptional models.