One of the strangest commissions in a long time is a pair of gatepost piers in the shape of mills bombs, otherwise known as hand grenades. They are 600mm high and were carved in Portland limestone by Chris Daniels who, following changes to the courses involving stonemasonry at Weymouth College, is no longer working there full time, although he is still contributing to the Applied Architectural Stonework & Conservation course and lectures at Plymouth School of Architecture. The hand grenade carvings are for gateposts outside Bourton Foundry, where the casings for 3million of the bombs, which were used in the World Wars, were made. The foundry site is being redeveloped.

Chris, a qualified mason as well as an accredited conservator, is now available for consultancy and conservation work. His range of expertise is wide - he has lately been involved in the conservation, repair, cleaning and repainting of the statues on Weymouth seafront, the interior cleaning and refurbishment of Wakefield Cathedral, and conserving graveyard structures (he wrote the chapter on the subject for the new Stone Conservation book by Donhead reviewed in the previous issue of NSS). To contact him Tel: 01935 83302 or email: chrisdaniels@btinternet.com.