It was a great privilege to be a friend of the late Phil Hodges for over 60 years, and it was so sad to have to write an obituary to him earlier in the year. Phil was an inspiring art teacher to so many students, but he also practised his art and contributed so much to the village and to Chester during his lifetime. He had the ability to come up with very creative designs for so many projects, especially for the theatre, the former Cheshire County Council, Christleton Players and Chester Cathedral. He was the go to man for programme and stage design, and I also invited him to contribute to art for the Parish Magazine, St James Church and for schools and Village projects I was responsible for. Phil just delivered on every occasion, and just recently I’ve been honoured by his family to curate and store a design portfolio of his work. I’m sharing some of this on line on our christleton4 website, and ultimately, I’m proposing that it is stored for posterity at the new Cheshire Archives, currently being built at Hoole.

Phils work is unique, and relevant to theatre, art and design projects in the area over 60 years. The work displayed in this article covers a period in his life when he was at his most productive, and covers a wide range of subjects. In addition to his work in designs for school plays, you can see his contribution to the work locally of Christleton Players, at that time directed by Peter Dornford May, and through him to the wider Chester Community, for projects at Eaton Hall, Chester Castle, the Cathedral, including the Chester Mystery Plays. A section of his work shown illustrates many of the Cheshire County Council Theatre Courses at the Menai Centre of Anglesey, productions which were then brought for performance back in the County, usually in Chester. These courses gave an incredible start to many young actors and actresses, who were later to go on to make a name for themselves in the theatre nationally.

The first section of the designs shown, involve his work for the village including the Fete and the History Group. I then include many of his designs for the Parish Magazine and St James Church around Christmas time. These were usually produced as pen and ink drawings, and further illustrated using his immaculate calligraphy. The next section involves many of his designs for school productions, often works by William Shakespeare, which lead themselves to wonderful creativity. I think my favourite is the one for The Tempest, which has wonderful depth to it. Finally, the last section shown illustrates his work for the County Drama Courses at Menai. There is also a simple design for the programme for Christmas at Tatton. The last picture is a pencil drawing to be used on the cover for a production of the Wakefield Mystery Plays, and event being performed by Christleton Players at Eaton Hall in 1972.