And so we move on in time…. the Decade of the Dragon came and went, and Welsh rugby struggled in the 1980’s to reach the standards set by the Giants of the 1970s. At the Groggshop we were still making the classics…. Gareth, JPR, Mervyn, Gerald and co. but the process had changed somewhat. In the late 70’s we moved from hand modelling each face from scratch, on a slip cast body, (namely…. Lewis the Leap) which was used for every character. This meant, although the faces were recognisable, the body’s all looked the same.
Dad realised it would be better if we moulded each person individually which would help us keep up with demand. The process of making each figure was very time consuming…..each piece hand modelled, fired, glazed, fired again and hand painted. By moulding a 9” figure of Gareth Edwards, for instance, it would take one process out of the making of each piece, which in turn, freed me up to make more new figures. I also benefited by being able to make these figures with bodies that reflected their character and not just relying on the faces.
And so, a new era of Groggs was born. The 9” collection is what most people would now recognise as a classic Grogg. I loved the freedom and opportunities this gave me as a modeller, and I also loved making our own moulds. We had previously had our moulds made professionally by our good friend Frank, of Ceramic ‘77, but making our own moulds gave us the freedom to experiment and take chances with all sorts of crazy things which may or may not sell.
In the early 90’s Wales were in another stage of redevelopment and despite coming third in the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 the selectors decided it was time to shake things up by introducing some new blood. Wales were still producing great players, but the draw of rugby league was draining that pool of talent which proved a problem for us too. New talent was always coming through though. I distinctly remember my father coming home after a great night at Sardis Road and saying to me… “you’ve got to come and see this Ginger kid playing Rich…he’s amazing!”
Pontypridd had also struggled in the 80’s after doing well in the late seventies winning the unofficial league championship three times and making the Cup Final in 1979. But the nineties was to become their greatest period and the catalyst for this success had a lot to do with that young flame haired fly half from Church Village.
Neil Jenkins made his Pontypridd debut in 1990 but a year later he was representing his country at the tender age of 19. Obviously…being a local talent, he caught my eye, and it wasn’t long before I had made the first of many different versions of this rugby enigma. Little did we realise that ‘Jinks’ was destined to become the first player in the history of rugby union to score 1,000 test points as well as playing a crucial role in the victorious British and Irish Lions test series in South Africa in 1997.
By then Neil’s appearance had changed a lot so I had remodelled him twice since that initial figure but we are lucky enough to have an example of that “First Generation” Neil Jenkins figures in our museum. Neil became my favourite subject from this period, and I made many different types of Grogg of him which reflected his popularity, but it was his modesty and dedication that impressed me the most.
I can remember a journalist was interested in doing a piece on us for a national newspaper in his regular column entitled “My favourite shop”. He loved the shop but was keen to involve someone well known to make that claim about the Groggshop. As we knew Neil quite well, I asked him if he would help us out. When I nervously explained, he may have to “embellish “his connection with the shop a little he said “Why…..I’ve been coming here since I was seven years old ….and what’s more you used to chuck me out and tell me to come back with my parents!” Apparently, Neil’s favourite player was Phillips Sella and he used to bombard us with requests to make him.
Since then, we’ve always been a lot more welcoming to our younger collectors… after all… you never know who they’re going to grow to be do you?
