Roy and Cornelia at Fasil and Sally’s wedding

Roy came to live here at The Park in 2010 when he moved in with me and my then 14 year old son, Kevin. He brought so much of his creativity, care and skills to our own home as well as to the life and work of the Community.

Roy was originally from London and proud of being a Cockney. He loved to recall his youth, playing in the streets of London, which are today busy thoroughfares. His family lived ‘above the shop’ of his father’s engraving business. He shared his father’s love for football and was an active footballer at very high level in his youth, and at community level all his life, including Sunday Morning Football in Findhorn village.

He went to art college and developed the skills that served him both to earn a living with graphic design and his passion for fine art.

In the late 60s he came up to Scotland, drawn by a project where a group of young people renovated a big house outside Macduff. Thereafter Roy, his wife and 4 children lived in a beautiful old farmhouse in King Edward, a few miles outside Macduff, for many years. He enjoyed community living and was an active member of a dedicated community of friends, be that in the school community or in the group of artists around Banff and Buchan. He turned his many skills to remodelling houses (both design and practical work), graphic design, working on exhibitions, creating displays for museums and event management. His love for the arts was expressed both in his teaching and most passionately in his prolific artwork. There he expressed himself not only in oil and watercolour, but also through sculpture, photography and other media.

When I met him in 2009, he had the use of a disused farmhouse, which was an Aladdin’s cave of art, materials, and projects in all stages of completion.

His other big love was sailing, both on bigger yachts of wealthy friends and on fast racing boats. He brought his 470 Dinghy with him and enjoyed sailing on the Findhorn Bay. He also went out with Jonathan Caddy for some mackerel fishing, and just for the sheer joy of being on the water.

Whilst living in the Community, Roy worked with Duneland Ltd, creating artist’s impressions, brochures, presentations etc. throughout the development phase of East and West Whins, and for the Welcome Centre/New Phoenix project.

Artist’s impression of the New Phoenix/Welcome Centre 2015

He created beautiful Park maps and did graphic design for many individuals and companies. He also taught Art in the Drumduan School.

Park North map outside the Big Sky building

Roy was a regular at the Open Mic sessions in the then Blue Angel Café which took place most Wednesday nights for several years. He loved sitting there with his sketchbook and capturing the atmosphere, movements and impressions of the performers.

He shaped our home in so many ways. Together we set up a Holiday Cottage in the wee flat next door, and Roy’s love for sailing found its expression in the rigging on the loft platform. His art graced the walls, and his many skills created up-cycled furniture which gave the flat a unique charm.

Roy’s art and up-cycled furniture in Caledonia Holiday Cottage

He also loved animals and the garden; our chickens were a delight to many, until one too adventurous one learned to go to the Café next door and pester customers. That and the avian flu put an end to our co-existence with these feathered garden dwellers. He built himself a workshop and designed and built his studio which remains a colourful gem.

Eventually our paths parted and he left in 2016 to live again in Macduff, where he sadly got very ill and died in January 2019.

Cornelia Featherstone