It is good to have such a prestigious award as it gives you some credibility as an artist and my father accepted all of this attention quite graciously as he had come to realize that it would not have to alter who he was, it would not be betraying his working class background or his socialist beliefs, it was merely some people in high office giving him some recognition as someone who has dedicated their entire life to Art. When you think of van gogh you immediately think of his sunflowers. In the town of Warrington when you think of Reginald Waywell you think of a picture of a back street or of a back yard. Art even for art's sake is all relative to the artists upbringing and their immediate surroundings. My father never painted back streets to copy L.S.Lowry as their styles were very different and they were both unknown artists when they started out, he was merely painting what he saw and not for political reasons. As time went on and buildings evolved so did my fathers art. In many ways my fathers collection is an historical reflection of the town of Warrington in it's various stages of development. A lot of artists are instantly identifiable by their style, whereas my father is instantly identifiable by his subject material. Unlike Lowry my father was never that interested in the painting people, like Alfred Wainwright he would be happy if he did not come across anyone on his travels, for fear of them interfering with what he was doing. When you become engrossed in your art the last thing that you want are any distractions to hold you back. I attach a picture that absolutely epitomizes who my father is, it depicts what he paints and it captures what he saw every day of his life for almost 70 years before moving house as back to back house stairs are hard to climb. This ladies and gentlemen is ' My Fathers Back Yard' Although the old terraced house was never a palace to anyone but us the Waywell family, I made the gate and painted it in my fathers favourite colour 'Buckingham Green'.