By Andrew Warn
Meet Barry Gurbutt - another of those amiable, talented people who lives in our Benefice. Barry and Joan have lived in the Parish for 40 years, they have two daughters, both of whom went to AMVC, and one granddaughter. Barry is a cartoonist - one of those glorious individuals who does away with the need for words by producing pictures that make you laugh - like a burst of sunshine on a cloudy day.
Barry left secondary school at 15 to go to art school in Lincoln. His mum wasn’t best pleased - she wanted him to get a ‘proper’ trade - fearing that he might finish up as a pavement artist! Having had over a 1,000 cartoons published in the Sunday Telegraph, and several years with the Mail as a cartoonist, plus countless other pieces published, I think Barry might probably conclude that parents don’t always know best, its sometimes better to follow your own star.
Barry’s move to the Sunday Telegraph after 13 years as an illustrator at Perkins engines was a stroke of luck - a school friend had become Assistant News Editor of the Sunday Telegraph, and invited Barry to ‘have a go’, which he duly did and the rest is history.
Laterly, Barry wanted to get into colour work, which clearly did not suit the newspapers, so he moved into book illustration and then onto greetings cards and calendars.
It was at this point that my interview became difficult - Barry handed me some of his work to look at, and I spent the rest of the interview trying to look serious and not to laugh - impossible if you have a pile of Gurbutt cartoons in front of you.
What is the spark that creates a Gurbutt cartoon, does he sit looking at an empty sheet of paper, frowning and thinking great thoughts, does he do a tremendous amount of research? Nope - he gets on his bike and hopes that a cunning plan pops into his head.
Apart from a lifetime spent bringing a smile to millions of people, Barry has always been assiduous in his duty to our community - he taught pottery at AMVC Adult Institution for 31 years, and continues to do his bit for our community.
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