BROADCASTER and musician Jools Holland took time out last week to drop off in Ross-on-Wye to look for the Dennis Potter Memorial Wall, which he unveiled in 1997.

The tribute is a public artwork located outside the town's swimming pool area and was designed and built by staff and students from John Kyrle High School to honour the acclaimed British television screenwriter and playwright, who grew up in Berry Hill.

Jools Holland had been a last-minute booking for the Ross International Festival in 1997, following the death of another musician, having played at the event the previous year in 1996.

The festival organisers wasted no time in asking the musician if he would formally open and unveil the wall, featuring carvings from many of Potter’s plays, which he duly agreed. to

Jools told the crowd at the unveiling ceremony that he was a big fan of Potter’s work and added: “I am glad to be able to reveal this wall in the playwright’s memory. I met him on a couple of occasions and he was rather grumpy – which made me like him even more!

“It is a privilege to cut the ribbon today at this ceremony.”

In the Ross Gazette edition of August 28, 1997, the article describes the wall as being made from 1,300 bricks donated by the Coleford Brick and Tile Company and that the team of local artists were working under the direction of international sculptor Mo Jupp.

The artists from John Kyrle High included Alex Hill, Matthew Yemm, Philip Lineker, Helen Footitt, Laura Garfield, Tom Mullin and Penny Spivey numbered each brick before it was assembled by a team from Melvin Teague and Sons.

The proprietor Melvin Teague, a former mayor of Ross, had particular links with the playwright, known for The Singing Detective and Pennies from Heaven, as his first job as a builder was to decorate Dennis Potter’s house.

Potter was so inspired by Mr Teague’s workmanship he used his name for one of the characters in his play ‘The Bear with Two Backs’.

Jim Smith, festival organiser remarked at the wall unveiling ceremony that Dennis would have been amused at the spectacle of the unveiling of wall swathed in black plastic and a large ribbon.

Potter, who died in 1994, spent his final years living the Ross area, having spent much of it in the Forest of Dean and London.

The memorial is not a grand monument, but rather a simple, but affecting tribute, where you’ll find quotes from his work etched into the brickwork, reminders of his talent for finding beauty in darkness and hope in despair.

While diehard fans of Potter's television work will appreciate the pilgrimage to Ross, the wall however, is not a major tourist draw. The memorial takes around 15 minutes to read in full.

Dennis Potter left a legacy as being one of the most innovative and influential television dramatists of the 20th century.

He transformed British television through non-naturalistic storytelling and deeply personal, autobiographical themes.