We were all saddened to hear of the recent death of Derek Stanley Green. He died peacefully at home with his family on 12 June, shortly after his 77th birthday.
Derek’s Great Grandfather, Thomas Goodwin Green, founded the family pottery in Church Gresley, Derbyshire, where cornishware was first produced. When Derek left school in 1950 he went straight into the family business, aged only 17, to learn the trade from the bottom up. A year later his apprenticeship was cut short by National Service, and after two years in the Navy Derek returned briefly to the firm before joining the Fleet Air Arm for a career as a pilot. Derek was a stalwart champion of the pottery produced by TG Green, particularly cornishware, and an avid collector. His collection included rare pieces in prototype colours that we never put into production, including the elusive red Cornishware. When he and his wife opened an antiques business in Hampshire in 1968, they created The Cornishware Cafe. Here they displayed many of the family’s interesting pieces of vintage Cornishware, together with fascinating archive photos of the production of the pottery, leaflets and other promotional literature. His other passions included collecting and smoking pipes, and restoring and racing vintage motor cars. Every collector of vintage Cornishware will be familiar with this charismatic, pipesmoking figure, and he will be sadly missed.
Our thoughts are with Derek’s wife Sally, son Tim and the rest of his family.
