Alec finds the weathering of stone sometimes has benefits: 'I occasionally get phone calls from clients for whom I made a headstone some 20 years ago, saying they can't read it any more. It usually turns out to be perfectly readable; it just doesn't look new any longer and they were unprepared for the weathering process. So it was gratifying recently to come across this ledger stone I made several years ago in Purbeck Thornback for Burford cemetery, Oxfordshire. I don't have any good shots of it when new; it looked rather blend when I fixed it on a rainy November day, but now the weathering has enhanced the carving marvellously! It commemorates Brian Brolly, who will eventually be joined by his wife Gillian, hence their intertwined initials. Brian was one-time manager of Paul McCartney. They bought and restored the wonderful house nearby, built by Christopher Kempster, Wren's chief stonemason.'
- This article was first published in Letter Exchange FORUM Magazine 2013