In 1991 he became involved with the restoration of the Town Mill in Lyme Regis. He stepped down as chairman in 2000. During this time he began running summer workshops at Parnham in Beaminster and in different parts of Japan. In 2008 he was invited by the Sasakawa Foundation of Great Britain to spend four weeks travelling and drawing in Japan. The trip included a walk along parts of the Kumano Kodo, an ancient Buddhist/Shinto pathway in the Kii Peninsular which links numerous temples and shrines, often located near waterfalls or some other natural feature.

The trip marked a turning point, for the next eight years he worked on ideas directly inspired by the sense of mystery and wonder the walk had evoked in him. A commission to carve new organ pipe shades for St Michael’s Church in Lyme Regis acted as a catalyst.  For the first time he experimented with gilding, under-painting and pierced carving and, using these techniques, he went on to make some large woodcarvings relating directly to his Japanese drawings. One of these, originally shown in Lyme Regis in 2010, is in the current exhibition. He showed more gilded pathway carvings, their size and impact condensed to that of icons, together with woodcuts prints, in his first exhibition at Sladers Yard in 2013. 

A fascination with light on the surface of water in all its many manifestations followed. We are showing works exploring moonlight on the sea, the foreshore and rock pools of Lyme Regis. Some gilded, some painted, these almost abstract rhythmic reliefs are unique and exceptional works of art.