Most villages have hidden talent, not always easy to find, and Thames Ditton is no exception.
I discovered Lisa Tolley - the subject of our Cover Story - not far from the Vera Fletcher Hall and as we sat in her delightful sun room she showed me some of her work. Quite a lot of it is Thames Ditton based, and her Notelets depicting rows of our houses will be familiar to many of us who have seen and bought them from the Stitchery in the village. Some of her lovely Christmas cards will be on sale there too.
Lisa has held a pencil in her hand almost since she could walk. She studied textile design at Manchester Polytechnic and went on to purchase textiles for The Conran Shop. After her son Beren was born four years ago, she reverted to painting as a career, producing postcards and notelets, and taking commissions for pictures of individual family houses, showing some of their occupants.
Lisa's husband, Richard, is a Marketing Director at Dairy Crest in Claygate and, together with Beren, they await a new arrival - due even before this goes to print. So we will wish the family well and look forward to seeing and enjoying more and more of Lisa's work in the New Year.
Margaret Briggs
Portrait of Lisa Tolley
à la mode du Modigliani