History

West Street Potters originated in the part-time classes started soon after the second world war by what was then the Farnham School of Art. These were actively encouraged by Henry Hammond and Paul Barron. In 1975 there was an attempt by Surrey County Council to hand the classes over to Adult Education but this was thwarted and the classes continued under the aegis of what had become the Surrey Institute of Art and Design for another 23 years in premises in West Street in Farnham. The tutors were employed by SIAD and the students benefitted from the close contact which this gave them with such an active and prestigious establishment. Over the years the tutors have included such well-known potters as John Chalke, Sebastian Blackie, Siddiq el Nigoumi, Duncan Ross and Rupert Spira. In 1984 the potters decided to stage their first exhibition and, needing a name, christened themselves West Street Potters.

In 1998 SIAD, by then a university, found it necessary to sell the premises in West Street and were no longer able to support the part-time classes. The students were given a few months notice and were left with nowhere to go. Unwilling to abandon ceramics the students decided to strike out on their own. By coincidence, it was at this time that the Farnham Pottery, founded in 1873, was forced to close. The premises, dilapidated and hardly habitable, were acquired by the Farnham (Building Preservation) Trust and West Street Potters, now a company limited by guarantee, were able to rent space there. SIAD generously sld cheaply to West Street Potters the equipment they had been using at West Street and paid for the removal and certain legal expenses. Two tutors were willing to work with West Street Potters and in September 1999 classes restarted.

Since then there has been a steady increase in the membership and we now have some 90 active potters. There are currently 8 tutored classes each week and there are four tutors.

Over the summer of 2005 the Farnham Trust refurbished part of the pottery building and West Street Potters now rents these upgraded premises on a long-term basis, a great improvement on the previous arrangements. The new workshop has been designed around our equipment and kilns have been moved from one end of the building to the other and installed. There were of course a few teething troubles but everything is now in place and working smoothly. We add to and improve our stock of equipment as required..