It was often said that the attitude to Dennis Potter amongst the people of his native Forest of Dean was, at best, ambivalent. With the local festival celebrating his life and work in 2004, a series of subsequent exhibitions and screenings, and perhaps most significantly of all the archiving of his papers at the Dean Heritage Centre, that assertion has become increasingly difficult to support. And perhaps now it can finally be put to bed, with his depiction in a new piece of public art in his home-town of Coleford. A new mural by prolific local artist Tom Cousins shows Potter alongside two fellow Forest authors, the popular poet, performer and memoirist Joyce Latham, and first world war poet, solicitor to the poor and later BBC broadcaster F . W Harvey. The mural was inaugurated on Saturday (November 3rd) with a gathering at nearby Cafe 16 of friends, family and fans of the three late writers, as well as local dignitaries. The new artwork is part of the Reading the Forest project run by the University of Gloucestershire and funded through the Foresters' Forest HLF Landscape Partnership programme. Historian and Reading the Forest's co-director Dr Roger Deeks said, "This mural is all about inspiring the next generation of writers. If they see this mural depicting people who grew up near-by, and realise that they too could be successful writers, then that's job done!" The mural has generated a great deal of interest and, supported by an information campaign, is bringing new people to the work of all three writers. Co-chair of Reading the Forest, University of Gloucestershire's Jason Griffiths said, "It's been a joy of the past few years to discover the breadth and depth of the Forest's literary heritage. To a certain generation Dennis Potter is perhaps the most recognisable writer on our two murals, but he's just one of dozens of local writers that have been writing about and setting stories in the area for hundreds of years."
The mural showing Potter is sister to the project's other local writers mural in near-by Cinderford representing writers from West Dean. The Cinderford mural shows Leonard Clark, Winifred Foley, and Harry Beddington.
The mural showing Potter is sister to the project's other local writers mural in near-by Cinderford representing writers from West Dean. The Cinderford mural shows Leonard Clark, Winifred Foley, and Harry Beddington.
