Gwen and Laurence Foulger, Gansey pottery Isle Of Man

The south bids farewell to another prized cultural institution with the closure of Gansey Pottery.
The bijou business, nestled just off the beach at Gansey Point, has closed following the deaths of Gwendoline in March and Laurence Foulger earlier this month.
For 55 years the couple ran the pottery business together from Gansey.
’It was a joint effort,’ said their daughter Natalie Atherton.
’Mummy did the throwing and turning (wheel work). They both decorated and daddy did the moulds, glazing and packing the kiln.’
The couple met in the island when Gwendoline ( nee Callister), aged 19, and Laurie, aged 21, was here on national service.
They married in 1953.
In early married life they lived in London, Laurie worked in merchant banking and Gwen at the Corn Exchange.
After 10 years, they made the brave decision to give up their careers for a creative life and moved back to the Isle of Man.
They found the house at Gansey and set up the pottery business.
Gwen, who was largely self-taught, produced hundreds of ceramic mugs, plates, bowls and jugs that became staple gifts or quirky items to treasure.
Homes across the island will contain at least one item that have been hand-crafted by the couple.
Natalie said that her parents were ’artistic, determined’, with even the tools they used to produce the pieces being hand-made.
’They were eccentric,’ she said.
Natalie, who lives in Toulouse, France, running a small hotel said that there was no chance of her taking up the reins of the business so closure was the only workable solution.
She is letting out her parents’ house.
’It’s the end of an era,’ she said.
’They had fun and they loved each other.’