A FORMER schoolboy painter has been reunited with his “highly imaginative” art that has graced the walls of a school for three decades.

James Wilson attended Pocklington School from 1983 to 1990 and was delighted to again see his paintings of the fair at West Green, Pocklington.

He said: “Getting my art back after 26 years transported me back to a mindset of how I was as a 16 year-old-boy. It was rather strange but a great thing.”

James has happy memories of the art department with his mentor, the late Nigel Billington. He said: “He was my first art teacher. He instilled in me a way of seeing the world differently and expressing my thoughts through art. Teacher Pete Edwards carried this on through GCSE and A-level.”  Retired head of art, Mr Edwards retrieved the paintings from the art department where they were still hanging on the wall and remarked how the work looked “refreshing and highly imaginative, ahead of its time.” He added: “They were so good I had them framed.”

After leaving Pocklington School in 1990, Mr Wilson studied civil engineering at Leeds University. He is now a senior geotechnical engineer at Leeds City Council.

He has continued to enjoy his love of art through sketching, printing and painting in his free time, life drawing classes whilst at university and evening classes in stained glass at York College.

He has also completed part-time classes in creative writing at York College and York University and recently finished his first novel, set in York, illustrated with drawings and prints.