I have always wanted to learn how to ‘throw pots’ on a wheel so when I retired some 6 years ago, I decided to pursue this ambition, found a local pottery class and was immediately hooked! With the coaching and encouragement from my tutor and fellow potters, this new venture has now become a passion!I love the challenge of persuading the clay to do what I would like it to, to create and refine the shapes I have in my head and for the results to be appreciated by others. It is an evolving process and I am constantly learning and exploring new ideas, shapes and glaze combinations. I find the whole process fascinating – at times frustrating and disappointing – at others very exciting and rewarding – especially when I open the kiln and see what comes out! Creating pottery and ceramics has given me a completely new creative focus as well as the opportunity to meet a wide variety of people – local potters and crafts people as well as those I meet at craft fairs or virtually via my Facebook (AnnasPotShop) page. And I am continually amazed by the positive comments I get and the fact that people actually like my work and buy it! Based in Threlkeld just outside Keswick and also at Brougham Hall near Penrith, I have now developed a range of functional and decorative stoneware (safe to use in the oven, dishwasher, microwave and freezer) and porcelain. I want my pieces to be ‘used’ – not to gather dust on a shelf. They need to ‘feel’ right – after all pottery is very tactile – as well as being aesthetically appealing. When I started this new venture, all my sales went to charity – a positive outcome to a positive interest. Nowadays I take out the costs of clay and firing etc. but still donate the surplus to help others – for example in April 2022, together with a group of fellow potters, we raised over £2500 for Ukraine.