Sign Of The Old Times

Artist Fiona Davies has long been fascinated by Norfolk folklore and heritage – and now her work is ensuring a community’s history can live on for another generation

 

WHEN Fiona Davies was asked to help restore a crumbling village sign it was the start of a fascinating journey into a new world of arts, crafts and culture.

She has now worked on dozens of village and town signs across Norfolk and Suffolk, breathing new life into these much taken for granted symbols of a community’s history.

Contemporary artist Fiona, who lives in East Runton, says her influence has always been the landscape which surrounds her and that she has long had an interest in heritage and local history.

“My friend was on the parish council at Gimingham and she asked me whether I could do some work on the village sign, restoring the picture in the middle panel and some carving. It was in a pretty bad state but I really enjoyed bringing it back to life. Although I had always paid a passing interest to village signs when I was out and about, the restoration project sparked a real interest in me to find out more. I am not a wood worker as such, I am an artist, but I have done sculpture and I like to repair old things and I am also really interested in Norfolk folklore. The Gimingham sign led to me being asked to do a full refurbishment of the Edingthorpe sign and it has just continued from there. Now I get quite upset when I see them falling apart or left in disrepair. They are things of beauty.”