BBC North West Tonight reporter Peter Marshall interviewed Graham Short at the gallery prior to his first collection of installations going on public show which included 'Cutting Edge' and 'The Lord's Prayer' - his legacy pieces (magnified photo's of these are shown in View Images below along with the Football Stud entitled 'Unattainable Goal').

In The Lords Prayer piece, Graham managed to engrave all 70 words (278 letters) of the Lord's Prayer onto a pin head, barely 2mm in diameter in 1841 moves. A feat which took 300 hours work. Cutting Edge has been Graham's greatest challenge to date, engraving the words, 'NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE' on the sharp edge of a Wilkinson Sword razor blade. It is also a challenge he will never attempt to repeat as the 19 letters and about 80 moves took eight months of pain-staking work, he literally has the scars to prove it!

After the BBC interview a VIP evening was held at the gallery with Graham and his agent in attendence along with some of his engraved pieces. Guests were intrigued and amazed to learn how Graham achieved his dream to be recognised as the world's smallest engraver. Cutting Edge along with a piece entitled Unattainable Goal ( which featured all 38 World Cup goal scorers for England from 1950 to 2010 plus the famous 'Three Lions' emblem engraved on a silver football stud) were just two pieces purchased on the evening. The stud is now currently on loan to the National Football Museum.

The magnified photo shown above is entitled '2nd Shot' and shows the full Bill of Rights, 2nd Amendment (35 words and 161 letters) engraved on the end of a silver bullet within the small area where the firing pin strikes.

After the interview was aired on BBC North West Tonight the gallery was inundated with visitors from all over England and even Wales to marvel at these miniature masterpieces. Since then Graham has appeared on the Discovery Channel and the BBC One Show on Canadian and New Zealand radio and has been covered in numerous newspapers and publications including The Times, the Daily Mail and Der Spiegel German magazine.

View Event Images

This was Trevor's fourth exhibition at the gallery which was again, as always, a tremendous success and attended by so many. Trevor took a lot of inspiration for this exhibition from Rome's architecture, history and atmosphere, a city which he visited once again, during the summer. A selection of his paintings that were chosen for exhibition were those that he painted whilst on location in Rome, 'en plein air', alongside other nostalgic architectural and figurative scenes from bygone times up to the present day.

Trevor's database of collectors continues to grow far and wide and he has many avid fans. The following is just one accolade of many that he has received and I think it poignant to put it here on the website for all to read.

Jottings of a fan

"I started painting in 1998 as a raw novice when my daughter bought me some art materials for Christmas. I thought watercolours would be easiest because everyone starts with watercolours. I bought Ron Ranson's book, 'Water Colour Impressionists' and discovered English artists such as Edward Seago, William Russell Flint, John Yardley, Trevor Chamberlain and others.

Amazon proved to be a great source of books profiling these great artists and I devoured them. Then I joined an art clas in Wigan where the teacher based his lessons on these artists and we attempted to emulate their work. I was in awe of their mastery of this most difficult medium but this was reverance at a distance. I never expected to get nearer than a book or a video to these paragons of art. Then in September 1999 I was flicking through the pages of Lancashire Life and as I turned a page these unbelievable watercolour paintings hit me between the eyes. They were by a local artist from Sabden called Trevor Lingard. Although I now live in Atherton near Bolton, in my youth I lived in Padiham and went to Clitheroe Royal Grammar School so I knew Sabden well. I was gob-smacked at the quality of the paintings which, even in a magazine article, appeared to me to be at least the equal of the masters which I'd been admiring and studying.

According to the article Trevor's creations were available for sale at a Whalley art gallery for modest sums. I phoned the gallery immediately to ensure that they had some Lingards' in stock and visited them the following day when I bought my first two Lingards. As a business man I like to think that the things I buy for pleasure will also prove to be a sound investment and I've never been more sure of anything than the potential for appreciation in value of these paintings. I now own eighteen Lingard watercolours which are proudly hanging in my home alongside my paintings by Turner, Seago, Russell-Flint, Yardley, and Campbell-Smith".
Bill Parkinson, Chairman of Moorhouse's Brewery (Burnley) Ltd.