Forge Gallery Walberton

ld Malt House, the Old Stores. For more historical information on the village, go to www.walbertonag.org.uk/johneyre_1.html

The Forge was known to be already active by 1811. The last working blacksmith was John Robinson Atkins who died in 1952. His granddaughter still lives in the village. In the 1970s to 1990 the Forge became the workshop of Roy Alker, who made furniture, using wood from local trees. Mike and Mel purchased the Forge in May 2000, along with a loft full of timber from his widow, Maude. They set to work, renewing walls and floors, clearing out sawdust and soot, working with the found timber, to create the gallery space, without giving up the day jobs. Now the Gallery is up and running Mike Copley is working there full-time, while being relieved from sales and admin duties occasionally so that he can pursue his interests in pottery and woodturning. Melanie Penycate teaches psychology, and exercises her creativity in writing, having many published poems, and two published collections. Breaking the Arch, Guildford Poets Press 1998 and Feeding Humming Birds, Oversteps Books 2009, are available from the Gallery