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Visitors will see Dave’s progression through his professional cartooning career from 1971 to 2003. Exhibition highlights include hundreds of selected original cartoons including, The Sunday Times ‘Creature Feature also syndicated in over thirty other newspapers throughout UK, Ireland, Germany and the Middle East, The Sentinels infamous ‘May un Mar Lady’, written in Potteries dialect, comic strips from The Buster and Whizzer and Chips and the very latest from Hungry Hamsters a new animated comedy series to be released on TV, computer, and mobile soon, created by TV producer Nicholas Sercombe and Dave Follows, Hungry Hamsters is currently in production as 26 x half hour CGI animation programmes, featuring a star principal cast including voices from Brian Blessed, Harry Hill, Jack Davenport, and rock legend Alice Cooper.
Dave’s beautifully crafted ‘May un Mar Lady’ characters will take centre stage of the exhibition, the much-loved pot-bellied slob and his long-suffering wife have been reproduced in three dimensions as life-size models, framed by a large cartoon background and suspended cartoon speech bubbles the viewer will literally feel as if their walking into their cartoon world, over sixty original ‘May un Mar Lady’ cartoons spanning 18 years will hang on the adjoining wall.
Dave’s family would like to thank everyone who has helped with the exhibition.
Special thanks:
Don, Helen, Ian and all the staff at The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery.
Mike Sassi, Martin Tideswell and all the staff and readers of the sentinel who have supported May un Mar Lady throughout.
Students and staff of Technical arts and special effects at Wimbledon College of Art Sophie Robinson, Philip Smith, Lilith Sanchez, Victoria Beaton, Joanna Brown, Llion Jones.
Inspired film and video – Daniel and Ryan
Cartoonists Terry, Ian, Rog, Andy, Ann and Noel and everyone at the Cartoonists at the Cartoonists Club of Great Britain
Dialect voice recordings - Joan Dobson and Charles Plant
“ We are all extremely proud of Dave and his work, it has been an exciting opportunity for his family to step back, explore and understand the enormity and brilliance of his humour and artistic talent. The difficulty in curating this show is deciding what not to include, just a small random clutch of cartoons from Dave’s archives held an multitude of gems that would instantly make us want to tell him how brilliant they are! Dad often asked Audrey (my mum) to road tests his gags, and over the thirty years that followed with a young family in tow, their relationship and her support proved fundamental to his success. We’ve all discover more about Dave’s thirty-year legacy and has re-confirmed to us, his work should continue to make people smile for a very along time yet. The potential possibilities for his legacy in the future is endless, from children’s picture books to animations or simply revisited as original cartoons, Dave’s work will live on for many generations yet to come and this exhibition shouts it from the roof tops!”
Dave's Family

17th May 2008 The Cartoonist Club of Great Britain visit weekend IMAGES |
‘May un Mar Lady’ First published - July 8, 1985 to October 3, 2003 - Re-printed – full (7,000 strips) daily as of April 19, 2004. Dave supplied cartoon strips for over twenty local newspapers, including the North Staffordshire Evening Sentinel where the iconic May un Mar Lady strip appeared daily for over 18 years and is currently enjoying a full re-run, republished in the Sentinel entitled ‘May Un Mar Lady Revisited’. |
Hungry Hamsters, a new animated comedy series created by TV producer Nicholas Sercombe and Dave Follows, Hungry Hamsters is currently in production, 13 x half hour CGI animation programmes, its aim for a Muppet Show like time slot on ITV or BBC is currently under negotiation … the programmes feature a star principal cast including voices from Brian Blessed, Harry Hill, Jack Davenport, and rock legend Alice Cooper and will also be released on computer and mobile. |