Gladders' golden greats!

'VE always maintained that it is the volunteers who drive the tourism industry in Stoke-on-Trent.

- HISTORIAN MERVYN EDWARDS

What I like about them is their genuine love for what they are doing to say nothing of the fact that their working status allows their tongue liberties that cannot always be taken by council employees.

Whichever Stoke-on-Trent tourism attraction you care to mention, it's a fair bet that I've interviewed or photographed someone who has given their time gratis to that venue.

My visits to the Gladstone Pottery Museum in Uttoxeter Road, Longton, over the years have seen me chat to many vivacious and memorable folk. They include volunteers/demonstrators such as Peter Graves I took a photograph of him in 1994 and another one 19 years later, which tells you everything about his loyalty to the museum - Carol Everall, Rita Floyd, Longton historian and occasional Gladstone Museum Santa Claus Phil Rowley, and more.

In the museum's 50th anniversary year, we should take time out to acknowledge all those who have thrown pots, made flowers, painted ware, served in the café, erected Christmas trees, fallen off ladders and whatever else it has taken to make 'Gladders' - as I affectionately call it the special tourist attraction it is.

One of those stalwarts has been the tireless Paul Niblett. Loyal to the pottery industry? Oh, yes. That's slip running through his veins, you know. He's a man of many parts, most of them still working even though he's well into his 70s.