Colin Telfer

Colin Telfer was born in Fothergil near Flimby, the youngest of six children. His father died when he was only eighteen months old, leaving his mother to bring up the family. Colin left school at the age of fifteen and went to work at Risehow Colliery. He was employed as a winder/engine man working on the pit top. When Risehow pit closed in 1963, Colin was transferred to Lowca pit and then Solway pit, but these eventually also closed. Colin went to work for the steelworks at Workington until he was made redundant, along with hundreds of other workers in the early 1980s. After being made redundant, he enrolled on a course at Carlisle College of Arts, originally to retrain as a signwriter. It was here Colin was introduced to sculpting which to his delight found he had a real flair for and he started to play around with clay and soon developed his own ideas, making small mining sculptures using coal dust. Colin made his sculptures from a wire frame and a mix of plaster of Paris and clay to form the mould. The final sculpture is cast in coal dust and slate and polishes up to a gleaming finish. Colin’s first commission was a memorial at County Down in Northern Ireland, to fisherman who have lost their lives at sea, featuring a man in oilskins at a ship’s wheel. He also has works displayed in St. Bees, Millon and Barrow. His work in Maryport includes A fishy tale by the harbour, and the old lamplighter by the library.