This is only me second day as a member of 'Nelson and His World' so apologies if this topic has already been mentioned. On a recent cruise on Cunard's Queen Victoria I was fortunate to see three lectures by Ian G Brennan a self-taught sculptor. He is, and has been for several years 'Sculptor to the Most Noble Order of the Garter and the Most Honourable Order of the Bath' i.e he spends a lot of his time on sculptures for St Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle especially those in connection with The Knights of the Garter. I managed to have a quick word with him in the ship's swimming pool and mentioned that before the cruise, as I did every year, I had visited HMS Victory just down the road in Portsmouth. He then informed me that he had worked on restoring HMS Victory including carving the replacement starboard side entrance port. He has also just completed, I think it is now complete anyway, a fantastic carving of HMS Victory from a large piece of original Victory oak. It has took him over 5000 hours and includes fantastic detail such as open sails carved from the oak, it looks remarkable. He may also be commissioned to carve the new figurehead, you may have noticed it is missing at the moment? For further information on the sculpture and information on a very talented and genuingly nice, unassuming man please go to
http://www.sculptor-iangb.com/hms-victory.htmJohn