I made my usual bank holiday pilgrimage to Hornsea for the Nostalgia weekend and huge sale of pots. Lovely to catch up with society members and see the fabulous range of pots they bring to sell every year.
There's always plenty of information posters to read up on rare, unusual or popular pieces in the Hornsea range.
I love the cruet sets from the 1960's and I didn't realise until I read this poster that they were sold through Boots the chemist.
Whilst looking and drooling over the lovely pots, I took the decision to only buy something if I wanted it, needed it and would use it. So I bought a couple of the slightly more rare lidded soup dishes in the Contrast range, I make a lot of soup and it seems to make more of a meal when presented in a lidded container.They are beautifully designed, they wash well and seem very robust.
And these 2 pin dishes which are in a muramic style with the high gloss decoration. I have none of these in my collection and I shall use them as olive dishes.
After admiring the pots it was such a nice sunny day that I went for a look at the former Hornsea railway station. It struck me that all the times I go to Hornsea and I never knew if the railway station (which was one of the many closed in the 60's) was still standing or derelict. I think this idea to go and look was prompted by a recent photograph I saw of it but it wasn't clear if it was a picture from the past or present so I had to investigate.
I was pleasantly surprised to find the station very much in tact, looking quite lovely and I believe some or all of it is now housing.
This is the main Station House
Here's the rest of the station building
Some information boards about the Trans Pennine route
Most interesting and a nice day to start the bank holiday weekend. Shame the weekend ended with a day full of rain!
Last weekend was dedicated to my fondness for Hornsea Pottery, to ooh and aah at lovely pots and maybe buy a couple of things for my collection.
This year we were actually at the old home of the pottery at Hornsea Freeport. On the Saturday the society members threw the doors open at one of the units for the public to come and see and buy original Hornsea pots.
These are some of the stalls being set up
The red arrow on this photo points to quite a rare tableware set called Ebony
I'm particularly partial to tableware as it's useful and I enjoy using it too. I bought a couple of Contrast soup dishes to add to my collection, they have a nice straight sided design
I also bought this bowl which was part of the Concept range I hadn't seen before and this splattered design is called Cirrus, it's a matt ceramic with a lovely, velvety feel and gloss inside.
One or two more stalls decked with decorative fauna and flora vases, pin trays, jewellery boxes, mugs and plates, so many items to feast your eyes on and all beautifully presented by society members.
On the Sunday we met again for our AGM which we always follow with an auction of sometimes rare pieces and then we let the public in again to buy more pots.
Here are some pieces from the auction table starting with some of the later items produced by Hornsea Pottery, the Lustre ware range designed by Robin Pavitt.
Some wonderful Muramic decorative plaques by the late great John Clappison and of course his very recognisable Heirloom pots.
Lastly a few nice vase samples, 2 rare ones at the back and the ship on the tall vase is hand painted, I think it went in the auction for about £50.
The eggs you can see on the pic above are some rare test pieces hand painted I think by the late Hornsea designer Alan Luckham, I didn't get a very good look at them though.
We had a lovely 2 days of nostalgia and for any lovers or collectors of Hornsea out there I can tell you you haven't missed out as there will be another Nostalgia Weekend up at Hornsea Freeport at the August Bank Holiday weekend with an expert from the telly attending on the Monday 25th to do valuations. The event will be bigger and better than last years.
The Hornsea Pottery Collectors' and Research Society is always keen to have new members and it's only £15 per year single (£18 family) with 4 newsletters and a chance to attend meetings and selling events. You can find details on this informative website run by our committee secretary.
We have a Facebook page too, just search Hornsea Pottery Collectors and you'll find some fascinating pictures and information. We tweet too!
http://www.hornseapottery.co.uk/
