![\"Tower](\"https:\/\/www.spirit-of-orkney.com\/contents1a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/woods2.jpg\" "\\"Tower")
<\/a>Since then the AR Woods mural has attracted attention from historical researchers around the world.<\/p>\n
Global search<\/strong><\/p>\n In July, thanks to an article on\u00a0this website<\/a>, Julian Branscombe, Scapa Flow Landscape Partnership Scheme<\/a> (SFLPS) manager, was amazed to be contacted by Joan Hollander<\/a>, of Toronto, Canada.<\/p>\n She had found a charming picture by AR Woods, and soon\u00a0realised that this painting might be a vital clue to a very special story.<\/p>\n “I’d gotten the painting in a box lot and was first attracted to the frame poking out of the box,” she said.<\/p>\n “I saw it was solid, bird’s eye maple and that made my curiosity jump.<\/p>\n “Someone, obviously put thought and care into a painting, to frame it so solidly.\u00a0 And I was also intrigued by the subject matter. The oil painting features Tower Bridge, London and is thought to be by Gravesend-born artist, Albert John Rycraft Woods, who signed all his paintings \u2018AR Woods\u2019.<\/p>\n Joan has gifted the painting found in Canada to the people of Orkney.<\/p>\n Julian\u00a0said: “When the package arrived from Joan, I was just overcome with emotion.\u00a0It feels so precious to be able to hold it.<\/p>\n “Now that we’ve got it, we are really hoping that it will spur someone to come forward with\u00a0recollections of AR Woods, so we can find out exactly why he came to\u00a0Orkney in WWII.<\/p>\n “However, we still need to establish the link between this artist and Orkney.”<\/p>\n Mr Branscombe added that the generous gift of this painting encourages his team to take the search to London, to see if there are any living relatives, or archive records, which indicate why this piermaster in his sixties might have come to Orkney in World War II.<\/p>\n Second painting found<\/strong><\/p>\n The painting found in Canada is one of two that have come to light since the search was launched earlier this year.<\/p>\n A Brighton-based television script-writer, James Payne, also took up the challenge to find AR Woods.<\/p>\n He discovered a number of records of an AR Woods amateur painter, including a description of his painting at the 1932 Port of London Authority staff show as being \u201cparticularly noteworthy\u201d (published that year in an edition of art magazine,\u00a0The Studio<\/em>).<\/p>\n James went on to find that an AR Woods painting of the Pool of London, his workplace as piermaster, was available and soon it was also on its way to Orkney.<\/p>\n AR Woods\u00a0on display in Orkney<\/strong><\/p>\n AR Woods was born in Gravesend in 1876 or 1877, and after a life at sea he worked for the Port of London Authority in the 1930s, through until his retirement in 1947.<\/p>\n Both of the known AR Woods paintings will be on public display at the Public Talk on Ness Battery, Past, Present & Future, which is being held in the Lecture Theatre of Stromness Academy on Thursday 8 December.<\/p>\n The talk starts at 7.30pm with military historian Geoffrey Stell speaking on Ness Battery: Defending Hoy Sound in Two World Wars<\/em>.<\/p>\n The evening is free, and all are welcome \u2013 but come early to see the paintings.<\/p>\n The lecture theatre will be open from 7pm.<\/p>\n
\n[pullquote]We are really hoping that it [the painting] will spur someone to come forward with\u00a0recollections of AR Woods
\nJulian Branscombe SFLPS<\/strong>[\/pullquote]<\/strong>
\n“The painting and frame were filthy, but ah, so are lots of beautiful things, until you look past the dirt.”<\/p>\nAR Woods in Orkney<\/h2>\n
<\/a>