Gary's trade is a sign of the times

Gary Tilyard has never moved away from his home town of Lower Gornal, but his work has travelled across the country.

"I was born and bred in Lower Gornal and I paint canal narrowboats, so I guess you could say my work has travelled more than I have," says Gary, aged 50, of Redhall Road.

"Over the last 23 years I have painted dozens of narrowboats, fairground rides, vintage lorries and vans, steam traction engines, shop fronts and pub signs. The piece of work I am most proud of is the sign outside the Old Bulls Head in Lower Gornal, which is at the bottom of my road.

"The owners practically gave me free rein with the design and I really enjoyed being let loose on a project."

Gary was a pupil at Ellowes Hall Secondary School in Lower Gornal where he developed a love for art. "I struggled with other subjects but I really enjoyed art and was always drawing cartoons and science fiction characters," says Gary. "No one in my family was artistic and growing up in Lower Gornal you were expected to get an apprenticeship, not become an artist," he added.

So Gary started working as a trainee pipefitter and welder for W Dickens in Dudley, but in his spare time painted landscapes and created plaques and signs for local factories. "People started to ask me to do illustrations for them and in 1985 the company I was working for went into liquidation.

"That was when I decided to use my skills to become a self-employed artist and traditional signwriter."

"There is not as much demand for signwriting now as there was when I first started," says Gary. When he started working as a signwriter he had 12 haulage companies on his books but now he just has one.

"And years ago all the pubs wanted their signs painting but now it is just the traditional ale pubs that tend to do it because they still want that original look – modern wine bars are not interested. I really enjoy painting the signs on the narrowboats, but it is very reliant on the weather.

"Most people want their narrowboats to look authentic and so I always do a lot of research to find photos and speak to historians about colours and lettering. At the moment I'm doing work for the New Inn in Coseley, which was recently closed due to a fire. It is great to be involved in the refurbishment of a traditional Black Country pub," he added

By Cathy Spencer.