Ref. 71876-4Artist Ron Harper is painting himself a new career restoring pub signs after computers ended his traditional work

COMPUTERS seemed to have put an end to the career of a Swindon signwriter but he found a future in the past.

Ron Harper, 59, is now fully employed renewing old pub signs for Arkell's brewery.

Ron, who lives in Park South, said: "I was a railway man until 1985 when the railway works closed. Then I worked for myself until 'sticky letters' took over. When vinyls came along traditional signwriting was virtually finished.

"A friend from my railway days offered me some work here and I've been at Arkell's now for five years. It's lovely here."

Ron's friend and fellow signwriter at GWR was Ken White, who left for art college and has achieved fame creating the Scarlet Lady emblem on Richard Branson's Virgin aircraft as well as painting many murals around Swindon.

Ron is very modest about his own work.

He said: "I don't have an artistic streak and I am not an illustrator. This is number-painting. I just have to tidy up what's there.

"Everything I know I've had to learn by watching other people. Some say I'm gifted but I just had to learn it.

"I remember watching the older boys on the railways. I used to hope I would be as good as them. I think I can do a tidy job otherwise they wouldn't employ me."

James Arkell, managing director of the brewery based at Kingsdown, Swindon, said: "With modern materials and production techniques, such as computer cut vinyl lettering, the traditional art of signwriting is becoming a marginal skill for many businesses. But pub signs have a long and rich history all of their own which go hand in hand with the pub and Ron is a wonderfully creative interpreter of pub names."

He is currently working on the sign for the Victoria Tavern at Shrivenham, and recent work includes the Flag (formerly the Lamb and Flag) in Fleet Street and The Crown Inn at Stratton St Margaret.

He said: "I get a lot of satisfaction from the work. All the pub signs are interesting because there are no two the same."

Perhaps his most unusual job was when he was self-employed. The advertising hoardings disappeared from around the football ground in Lodz days before a World Cup qualifying match and Ron and a friend travelled to Poland to write new signs. He even remembers the score Poland 1 San Marino 0.

Editor