Some will remember George and his wife, Juliet, as the owners of the Park Dairy, opposite the entrance to Trafalgar Park.  It’s more likely, though, that you’ll have encountered George at Mitre 10, where he was a tool guy for eighteen years.  At eighty-one, he’s now making terrific garden sculptures, which are available at Eyebright.

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British born in 1939; ‘austere’ best describes his formative years.   He did, however, live in a pleasant part of the UK, an Island on the South coast, five times the size of Rabbit Island, with a population of about 5,000. 

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It was hardly a land of opportunity.  George left school at fifteen and went straight to working on a farm.  Soon after, he signed up for carpentry night classes, and eventually landed a job fitting out pleasure boats for a company called Fairways Marine.  But unless you were wealthy enough to own one of Fairways boats or similar, post war Britain was hard going.

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It didn’t get much better until after Britain joined the EEC in 1974; the same year that George and Juliet his wife set off in search of greener pastures in New Zealand.  They settled in Nelson where George worked for BC furniture in Tahunanui, then for ten years George and Juliet ran the Park Dairy.  When they sold the dairy,  George started  work at Mitre 10. More latterly he has been making garden sculptures, which you can buy at Eyebright.

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Given that George learnt his trade doing joinery able to withstand the rigours of a marine environment, it’s not surprising that his work is beautifully crafted and durable outdoors.

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You can buy an installation with multiple wands or the wands singularly.