Jean and her late husband, Rhys, were among the first of North Wales's legion of struggling potters. Back in the Fifties they made "Polynesian coconut" pot ashtrays for the Beachcomber restaurant in the Mayfair Hotel, London. They were so popular that diners regularly walked off with an ashtray in their pocket.

Orders for more and more replacement coconut ashtrays were sent to the Powell workshops, then in Llangollen. Rhys and Jean even had to stop making their bestselling piggy banks and salt and pepper pots just to keep up with the demand for baked-clay coconuts. But the ashtrays paid the rent.

On each we had to scratch "Mayfair Hotel London".

Dear Johann

Yes you have tracked us down! In the late 50’s early 60’s we did produce hundreds of these half coconut shell ashtrays and the primitive mugs, I remember a holiday maker watching me working and doing the scratching’s and remarking “oh how nice to be so artistic!”

Another Polynesian innovation we made was for Butlins holiday camp in South Wales, they wanted big lamp bases for their bar. We were living at Wern Mill, Nanerch near Denbigh at this time (1960ish) and we didn’t have a very big kiln. There was a pipe and brick making factory in Pont Y Bodkin near Mold making salt glazed drain pipes and bricks, so we picked up unglazed unfired drain pipes of various sizes, some quite big 1-2 meters in height, we carved them into Polynesian Easter Island faces and Totem poles and then took them back to the pipe factory to be salt glazed and fired. The factory men were very helpful but thought we were quite mad. The lamp bases had exotic drum like raffia shades fixed on them afterwards. I am sure you won’t find any of those in your hunt!

After my husband “Taffy” died in 1994, I have carried on with two of our sons, Nick and Shon. We design and make Ceramic Murals and Swimming Pools in our Denbigh factory. Our customers come from, Saudi Arabia, Emirates, far East, Russia, USA and the UK.

It is very interesting to have your enquiry, best wishes to you.

Jean Powell