When Colaton Raleigh Artist Alan Cotton arrived in Devon in the late 1960’s, he fell in love with the lush landscape of the Otter Valley, near his home, and his early paintings depicted this idyllic part of East Devon. Later, looking for new challenges, he discovered the wild north Devon coastline of Hartland and still returns there to find inspiration …
Alan Cotton at Buckingham Palace – International Artist 09/25
British Artist, Alan Cotton MBE, has been with his London Gallery, David Messum Fine Art for over thirty years and has had twenty-seven one man shows in their West End Galleries. This summer, however, Alan’s work will appear in an even more prestigious London venue. His Majesty King Charles has, for many years, taken a tour artist with him when …
Alan Cotton Royal Tour Artist – Leisure Painter & the Artist 06/25
Devon based artist Alan Cotton is always looking for new locations to inspire his work. He has travelled to Provence, Tuscany, Morocco, Ireland, Piemonte, Venice and with Sir David Hempleman-Adams as expedition artist to Mount Everest in Tibet on two occasions. He had never, however, visited the southern Hemisphere. So, when an invitation came from St James’s Palace asking him …
Will a new Labour Government give the Official Apology that the Conservatives failed to do?
Despite pressure but on the Tory Government throughout its term of office, to issue a formal apology for the hundreds of thousands of forced adoptions over many decades, they refused to do so. Will Labour do what the Conservatives were reluctant to do. If not – shame on both your houses! The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 9th May 2023 Harriet Sherwood …
The Scandal of Forced Adoption
Since starting to write Heartbreak Baby, I’ve done a lot of research into forced adoptions, with many thousands of young unmarried mothers, having their babies taken away and given up for adoption. In fact it is believed that half a million, British women were persuaded to give up their babies for adoption in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s – that …
In the name of Religion
I have just been reading of cases where the babies of unmarried Mothers in religious institutions, were not even allowed to see or hold their babies when they were born. They would hear their baby cry, the umbilical cord would be cut and then they were immediately taken away for adoption. The girls were considered to have been sinful, and …
Committee of Human Rights
Hundred’s of women came forward to give evidence to the joint committee of Human Rights about their own forced adoptions and the stories that emerge about their treatment are unbelievably cruel. Here are just a few snippets from the lengthy descriptions they gave to the committee. The Mothers Jane I got pregnant in 1968 and attended an ante-natal clinic As …
Movement for an Adoption Apology
It seems unbelievable to me, that despite a long campaign and protests by the MAA (Movement for an Adoption Apology) and a report and recommendations from the Joint Committee of Human Rights, who called on the Government to issue a formal apology to unmarried mothers who had their babies taken for adoption in the late 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s, …