Colin Millington

Colin Millington is a retired sailor living by the sea on the Norfolk coast. He served in the Royal Navy as well as the Merchant Navy and as a Coastguard.

"I was born in Hull in 1936, my father a river pilot and I went to Hull Trinity House Nautical College before apprenticing on a tramp steamer at 16. This is where I first learn to use a needle, hand sewing the canvas hatch covers to keep out the weather. One day I saw a traditional 19th-century sailor's wool-work in a posh antique shop - I couldn't afford it so decided to have a go a making one. I work with two-ply pure wool, using mostly simple long and short stitch, sometimes chain stitch, adding in details with silk and occasionally glass beads. My motifs are always nautical, with coastlines, compasses and flags - and there's at least one ship in very picture. I draw on memories of my time in the merchant navy - sailing the world from North and South America to Panama, Africa, India, Japan and Australia and as a coastguard, watching how the sea meets the shore.! (from Homes and Gardens)