A long established Grantham author, designer and illustrator has published a new book that was 20 years in the making, to add to his growing collection.

Newark-born Richard Coppin, 63, grew up in Balderton, but after a spell working in Canada, he set up a graphic design business in Grantham before moving into the publishing world.

Looking back at a 50 year career, Richard told Nub News: "Not surprisingly my favourite subjects [at school] were Art and English, closely followed by physics. I had loved art since the age of seven when, inspired by the sight of HMS Victory in Portsmouth during a family holiday, I put an HB pencil to paper for the first time and discovered I could draw quite well.

"One of my pictures of the ship won first prize for my year group in 1964 in a multi-school competition. The picture went on display at the Town Hall.

After working for a Newark printing company and later an oil distribution firm, he had the chance to live on Vancouver Island in Canada.

Richard recalled: "This is where I began my life's meaningful education; learning to sell myself and gaining the confidence to attract commissions from many of the well-to-do figures in Victoria's high society.

"I was invited to join the Artists' Showcase; a hub of well-known Canadian painters and sculptors where I took part in the many of the exhibitions they held.

"I finally secured a job as a commercial artist with one of the city's design companies which became my ticket to emigrate."

Sadly, complications arose in the application process and his bid to stay failed and Richard had to return home.

He continued: "Never intent on simply getting a 'proper' job, I decided to launch out on my own as an illustrator. My portfolio grew steadily as I gained more and more commissions; people's homes, their pets, a set of ecclesiastical buildings for various members of the clergy.

"I then met up with Dr. Ray Ashley of Newtech who wanted a set of engineering drawings making for use in an advertisement. My offer to improve the design of it was met favourably; it was my first move into graphic design and a realisation that I could make a living with just my imagination. "

In 1983, Richard married his wife Andrea and with her unstinting and constant help, he was able to grow the graphic design business to a fully successful operation.

They have been together 37 years and have three grown-up children; a

daughter and two sons, along with six grandsons Richard recalled: "I designed a wide breadth of promotional material for banks, building societies, commercial enterprises of all kinds, district and county councils as well as design graphics for the media to help illustrate a particular story; even writing the copy for company brochures and various magazine articles that were needed. "Company logo designs became one of my specialities, in fact I was even given the job of designing a Corporate Identity Users' Manual for RHP Bearings in Newark so that each country could follow the same style of company stationary. " By this time, Richard had been elected as the president of the Grantham Chamber of Trade, a position he held for two years. He led the movement to bring CCTV to Grantham, liaising with the police, South Kesteven District Council and just about every business in the town to the point where the Home Office was able to fund their part of the project. He continued: "In 1996 I became Head of Design at a Mansfield design company for a number of years. It was whilst I was here that in 1997 I won the National Graphic Design Award presented to me at the NEC in Birmingham. "This was a vindication of my belief in my talents as I had never received any formal art and design or literary training but had developed my skills and abilities by myself." A selection of his graphic and literary work can be found on www.richardcoppin.co.uk. Richard recalled: "Commuting to Mansfield became as issue in the end so I used my selling skills to work closer to home with the Grantham Journal for a few years in their advertising department. "It was during this time that I began to write seriously for myself in my spare time, initially writing four comedy radio plays for Prioryfm in 2007 parodying the Goon Show, then a second series the following year. "In 1998 I penned my first attempt at a viable book called 'Albert Dudley Makes his Mark'; the tale of a bone idle character who inadvertently becomes an international super hero and has to lie all the time to escape getting into more bother which he ends up getting into anyway. "Late into 1999, I began work on a short story about lost identity. As a sketch it had promise, so I created a world in my mind where such a story could play itself out. I called this story 'The Cyclist'. It was this which evolved into 'The Curse of Beckett's Wood' written under the pseudonym of R. E. Witham." The story stemmed from a recurring dream where Richard would cycle into a village and be unable to leave. "Working late into the night carving out the story and early in the morning tidying up the work done the previous night, I ended up spending four years of my spare time this way whilst holding down a full time job. When it was done I submitted it to countless publishers. "In the end though I was able to successfully attract a publisher; 'The Curse of Beckett's Wood' is published by Strand Publishing UK Limited. "Another amusing book; 'The Deadlines of Archibald Crimm' followed in 2018 about a print worker who finds himself by several misadventures at the helm of the local newspaper causing all kinds of mayhem." Now, Richard is currently working on the strange tale of Jennifer Allsop in a book called 'The Girl at the Window' about lost childhood. He also has a raft of short stories and poetry in his private collection which Strand Publishing is considering publishing as a kind of anthology. Locally, however, he might be better known for launching a magazine Grantham Now with wife Andrea in 2007. Richard recalled: "This used all of our combined skills to create a much- loved, interesting and very readable publication. It ran for eleven years and became so successful that it won the Grantham Business Club Chairman's award in 2010 and the 'Services to the Community' award at the Grantham Business Awards in 2011. "As this was going on I was asked by the Grantham Civic Society to design and illustrate the signboards that are located around town; The Conduit, St. Wulframs on Swinegate, St. Peter's Hill and on the platform at Grantham railway station. "In 2016 I was appointed an Approved Illustrator for the National Trust for my work on a set of children's book illustrations. This has led to other commissions from other National Trust locations."

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But now, two years later after it was written, the aforementioned Curse of Beckett's Wood has finally been published. Richard describes the novel as "Sinister, disturbing, unsettling, strange and seductive" which is part love story, thriller and mystery. In three parts, the tale opens with a cyclist arriving at the fictitious Wiltshire village of Empton in the mid 1950s. where he is sucked into the beguiling and odd character of village life. He meets a key member of the brutal ruling family, making the book a study into power bullying in the extreme. There is also the meeting of a girl and a curse which Richard says runs through the book like a poison. Part 2 is written like an autobiography, looking at the life of the abused bully David Harper whose family rules the village. Part 3, then promises "a cataclysmic finale only to trip the reader up at the end with a set of twists that send the imagination into a spin, for all the clues were there but so devilishly hidden." Richard told Nub News: "This is a book not for the prude or the easily offended but rather a tale for those with the nerve to descend with David Harper into those frightening and desolate corners of the mind. "In its simplest form this is the story of a mental breakdown as seen from the inside, and its unsettling aspect comes from the fact that it highlights that none of us are immune to having the balance of our minds disturbed or our psyche's broken in such a way."

'The Curse of Beckett's Wood' can be bought by visiting www.strandpublishing.co.uk or on Amazon.

For anyone in Grantham wanting a personally signed copy, e-mail [email protected] and arrangements can be made for payment and delivery.

Richard added: "In time it will be available in all good bookshops but as they like to kick start their book introductions with a book signing they are waiting until things are more Covid free."