Saddleworth Voices have recorded almost 70 interviews to preserve fond memories and anecdotes of all things local.
With the support of Saddleworth Parish Council, Delph Community Association, Delph library, Saddleworth Museum, and the North West Sound Archive in Clitheroe, the team of volunteers has created an oral record of our times, with the added advantage of capturing accent and dialect.
Here, Terry Richmond looks at the life of john McCombs.
John McCombs is a well-known artist with a studio in Delph and has been painting scenes in Saddleworth for nearly 50 years.
John was born in 1943 and brought up in Harpurhey, Manchester. His parents’ house was mid-terrace “which was excellent because we needed less heating!” They were “very supportive parents” and his father was always fair even after John’s mother had told John when he was naughty, “Wait till your father gets home!”
Money was scarce so on the rare occasion when his mother bought chocolate biscuits she would say, “Don’t touch those; they’re not for eating!”
John’s father recognised John’s artistic ability at an early age. Every year, he would take John to Manchester Academy of Fine Arts. When still very young, John asked him, “Do you think I’ll ever have a picture in here?” and his father replied, “One day you’ll be the President”. And in 2009 John was elected President of the Academy.
At the age of nine, John was drawing a picture of a galleon and his father said, “Eee, that’s good!” and bought him a proper sketch pad and a box of Lakeland pencil crayons. John remembers, “It was like opening a lid on to a rainbow. I didn’t want to disturb them.”
Later, his father bought him watercolours and filled the walls of the house with prints by John Constable. John pestered his dad for oil paints and his dad finally bought some.
John says, “The first time I took a cap off a tube, and smelled the paint, I knew this was a posh smell! It was malleable and you could play with the colours.”
At 11 years old, John completed a drawing of an interior of Exeter Cathedral and showed it to his art teacher, James Callaghan who later became MP for Middleton and Heywood (but not Prime Minister).
He was so impressed that he came to the house. John’s mother’s only concern was she hadn’t cleared the tea table! He said he would take John under his wing.
John gained a place at Manchester High School of Art. Before the entry exam, Jim said to him, “Paint what you know and what you love”.
“I painted a corner shop and the invigilator looked over my shoulder and said, “That’s good!” which I don’t think he should have said during an exam!
“I owe my career to Jim Callaghan for his constant support in those early years.”
In 1962, aged 18, John was accepted at St Martin’s School of Art, London. “For me, it was a new found freedom. I was like a spring uncoiling. I had a fantastic five years which included a post graduate year.”
John’s exam marks were the highest on record for 25 years. He was offered a job at the college by the Head of Painting, Frederick Gore, but by then, John had discovered Saddleworth and had other plans.
To be continued…
