Ref. 29017-20Cartoonist Osmond Clements was a great favourite with readers for many years. As part of the Evening Advertiser's 150th birthday celebrations, MARTIN VINCENT looks back at his life and times

One former employee who will be fondly remembered by many of our readers is the late Osmond Clements who started working for the paper at the age of 13 as a compositor and went on to become cartoonist for both the Evening Advertiser and the Football Pink.

Today, thanks to his grandson Des Cook, who lives at Purton, we are able to reproduce some of the cartoons that made Osmond a favourite with our readers.

Said Des: "For several years I have been researching his past and have been given many originals by family and friends."

But Des really struck lucky when an aunt who lived in Drove Road put him in touch with a niece who lived in Bristol. She told him that while cleaning out an attic she had found an old box which, among other things, contained one of Osmond's scrap books of his cuttings from 1950 to 1954 and several sketches.

The sketches included a self-portrait drawn by the artist in 1937.

Said Des: "My grandfather died in 1962 when I was just a twelve-year-old boy. He used to live at 128 Victoria Road on the corner with Prospect Place, which has now been knocked down because it was blocking the view of the road. I have worked out that the wooden seat that now stands on that open plot of land would have been in the middle of his lounge.

"He lived there for many years and I remember when I was small the Swindon Town football game finished at 4.40pm. My grandfather would listen to the radio and very quickly sketch something about the match," said Des, who is married to Sue.

"When he had finished, my grandmother would then run it across the road to the Evening Advertiser offices and it would be put in the Football Pink which was printed there in those days."

Osmond, who was born in 1885 and remained with the Adver until the mid-1940s, was well known over a wide area and counted the late Malcolm Muggeridge, the well-known columnist and political pundit, among his friends.

Said Des: "He always wore a dicky-bow tie, smoked a thin cigar and often wore a wide brimmed hat like artists used to wear.

"Most of his cartoons were based on local issues and I can clearly remember visiting him for tea on a Sunday with my parents.

"On birthdays I would sit on his knee and he would draw me a birthday card while I sat there with a little caption on it."

Des, who was born in Dean Street, Swindon, believes there are hundreds of Osmond's sketches still around and he would love to hear from anyone who knows where they might be.

He would also be prepared to show the cartoons and sketches he has to anyone who is interested and can be contacted at 5 Locks Lane, Purton.

Martin Vincent