Preston ceramicist Christine Cherry makes it through to next round of TV show The Great Pottery Throwdown

Just over a week ago the role of the mill owning Horrocks family and the city's mills were the inspiration behind her "Homage to my Hometown" ceramics which featured on the Channel 4 show.

Last Sunday it was time for the competing potters to showcase their skills at raku, a technique popular with studio potters, to create a Japanese tea set.

The firing and cooling process means it is hard to predict what the final finish of the ceramics will look like, but former teacher Christine was delighted with her results - which helped win her a coveted place in the next round of the popular TV series.

However the potter from Penwortham, near Preston, revealed her disappointment at missing out "again" on the prestigious Potter of The Week title.

Christine ,57, took to Facebook to congratulate the competitor who pipped her to the accolade, saying: "So I just missed being 'Potter of the Week' AGAIN! But massive congratulations to @tom_demeranville your set was so well thought out and the execution was perfect."

The mother of two grown up children had admitted she was very nervous at the start of filming the show, but noted: "As you've probably noticed by now, I'm always fully researched and well planned, (it's the teacher in me), but the joy of pottery is that even though you have planned every little thing you are doing, unexpected things can happen during the process, especially with raku! I love my set ... I'm actually beginning to relax and enjoy the whole kaboodle!"

The previous week youth worker Christine, who rekindled to her love of pottery just a few years ago, had explained more about her "Homage" collection which celebrated Preston's renowned textile and mill heritage.

She wrote: "It's a still life group which was inspired by my love of history, in particular my enjoyment of local social history. In recent years, especially since I left teaching, (but before the pandemic hit and closed many places down), I have visited a few of the old mills in and around Lancashire.

"The bobbins were inspired by a visit to a mill, (now a working museum). This mill crafted a range of wooden bobbins that were so common during the height of the cotton industry.The design on the swatch of 'fabric' that I included was inspired by Horrocks fashions from the 1950s. The Horrocks family were one of the major figures in the industry in Lancashire during the 18th and 19th century. I also included a thimble and needle to make the connection from the mill to the individual sewer."

She added: My piece is a journey from the wooden bobbins, (turned into shape in the mill), to the fabric (woven in another mill), to the workers who would beautifully craft (the fabric) into dresses before they went on sale to the public."

The Great Pottery Throwdown with judges Keith Brymer Jones and Rich Miller continues on Channel 4 on Sunday evenings. The next episode is on Sunday January 30 at 7.45pm.

* For more about Christine and her passion for pottery see here* For more about a previous Lancashire competitor in The Great Pottery Throwdown see here* For details of how to subscribe to the Lancashire Post and our subscription offer see here