HEBDEN and Grassington friends are remembering landscape artist Martyn Fretwell who died on May 3 as a result of cancer diagnosed in 2019, writes Colin Hargreaves.

Martyn was born in Sheffield in August 1944 and spent the first 40 years of his life near Doncaster, South Yorkshire. He was educated at Barnburgh Primary School and at Mexborough Grammar School.

His interest and ability in art was apparent from a very early age and on completion of his A-levels he took up art studies at Shenstone College in Worcestershire and at Birmingham University where he obtained a BA in Fine Art.

He went on to teach art and design at schools in the West Riding of Yorkshire and in north Nottinghamshire and for a period of time in Venice. During 25 years as an art teacher, he painted and exhibited his oil paintings throughout the north of England and in Venice. In 1990 Martyn decided to finish his teaching career to further his artistic ambitions.

In 1991 Martyn purchased a cottage in Hebden although he had been producing paintings of the Dales for ten years, he now dedicated himself to Dales landscape paintings. In 1993 he established a base at Shenstone Gallery in Grassington naming it after the small village of Shenstone near Kidderminster in Worcestershire where he had enjoyed college life in the 1960’s.

His reputation grew as an artist of note; his style and technique became instantly recognisable, with his oil paintings of the Dales and of Wharfedale in particular being sold worldwide. Martyn was a very modest man and would be slightly embarrassed when told that the quality of his work gave enormous pleasure to the many lovers of the Dales who made numerous visits to his gallery in Grassington.

Throughout his life Martyn was a great cricket enthusiast and a member of the Yorkshire County Cricket Club. In his teens and early 20s he played in the Doncaster and District Cricket League and found his ‘15 minutes of fame’ by bowling to an up and coming Yorkshire Colt by the name of Geoffrey Boycott, sadly an appeal to the umpire for an LBW decision was turned down.

In about 1987 in company with Ian Douglass, the late Alan Dawson and Peter Wilson he founded Hebden Village Cricket Club, known alliteratively as “Hebden Hedgehogs” because they were normally flattened. Martyn played for many years, using his round-arm leg breaks to good effect and after retiring from playing served for several years as chairman.

During the summer Martyn was a regular traveller to Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, where he enjoyed both the scenery and customs and the trip across to the islands by helicopter.

Whilst working in Grassington, Martyn served as chairman of the Grassington and District Chamber of Trade and helped with the annual ‘Grassington in Bloom’ project by regularly watering the many flower tubs and baskets situated around the village. In December he played an active part in organising and contributing to the success of Grassington Dickensian Festival and he would be a familiar sight dressed in his Victorian style green suit with top hat on Main Street and in his gallery over the Dickensian Festival weekends.

Martyn enjoyed a pub quiz and would join his friends for the Monday night quiz at the Foresters Arms in Grassington; he was also a regular attendee at the Sunday evening Clarendon Hotel quiz in Hebden both as a participant and as quizmaster.

Following his retirement in 2012 Martyn continued to paint the occasional canvas but his main pleasure was gardening and he took great pride in the transformation of the garden at Rose Cottage into the thing of beauty that he leaves behind. At this time he also enjoyed using his newly acquired skills on his laptop computer to research the ancestry and family trees of friends and neighbours. About five years ago Martyn redesigned Hebden Sports’ Treasure Map game and with Sandra his partner was a colourful presence on the sports field at Hebden’s annual Sports Day.

Martyn was a kind, witty and a well respected member of both the Hebden and Grassington communities and he will be sadly missed by all those who had the privilege of knowing him.

The funeral service will be held at Skipton Crematorium on Friday, May 15 at 3.20pm. It will be attended by just five people due to the Covid-19 restrictions.