Lot Essay
'L.S. Lowry often went on sketching trips into Wales with Brian and Pat Cooke. He loved the slate quarries and medieval castles and abbeys of North Wales. He took great pleasure in revisiting the places he had sketched in his youth. After a gruelling morning with their pencils Mr. Lowry would shout 'Now let's have lunch in dear old Corwen'. On Welsh sundays you couldn't get an alcoholic drink (which delighted Mr. Lowry who was teetotal). The three of them would sit in the icy cold Corwen restaurant with three glasses of orange squash and sad plates garnished with grey cabbage. Mr. Lowry would beam 'Stop looking like Wearie Willie and Tired Tim and tuck in'! In later years whenever the three of them were dining in splendid hotels in cities like Dublin and Chester Mr. Lowry would lean across the pink linen table cloth and say 'Yes, but wouldn't you rather be dining in Corwen?'.
(Private Correspondence, October 1996).
(Private Correspondence, October 1996).