Totnes Sculptor, potter and campaigner Rose Ellis has been living in the town for more than 40 years.

The 77-year-old originally came from Letchworth in Hertfordshire where she went to an alternative school doing a lot of art there as well as music

She then went to teacher training college before moving to Hammersmith in West London, then to Marrakesh in Morocco with a friend.

She says: “I just loved it. I loved the whole culture there, the music, the outside life and all that.

“It was different in those days. We could rent a beautiful house for not very much money and I played the guitar although I didn’t make money out of it.’’

Returning to London, Rose didn’t have any money so busked in Hammersmith subway.

She decided that she wanted to leave London and the next move was Bristol by which time she had a couple of children and there she carried on with her sculpture and pottery. While there she joined a punk band and a theatre group which performed on the back of a lorry at Bristol Carnival.

Her children were enrolled at the Steiner School but she wanted to leave the city.

She heard there was a Steiner School at in Dartington.

Rose told us: “We stayed in a caravan for a few months in the summer and then it started to rain so we got a winter let and then eventually I got a council house, which was brilliant.

“We lived there until my mother died aged 101 in 2015 at which point I was able to buy my house.’’

We then spoke about Totnes and Rose said: “I think Dartington had a huge influence on Totnes. It had an art school and there were a lot of students There was also a very big school that closed after a number of scandals.

“Totnes has always had a lovely market. It’s never had an arts centre. I don’t know why. There’s always been a lot of health food and a kind of free spirit.’’

Rose said that Totnes had become more and more expensive, attracting many wealthy people but this made prices unaffordable for many people. She said that living on a council estate showed her the other side of the local community.

More recently Rose trained as an art psychotherapist and worked for 15 years for the NHS before retiring. She said: ‘‘I found many people really responded to the therapy especially when it came to mental health issues.’’

Rose has always been drawn to protest movements. Her father was a conscientious objector in the First World War and went to the front with the Friends Ambulance Brigade. She was brought up in a left-wing atmosphere where things were always questioned.

She says: “In the sixties there was the threat of the nuclear bomb and I joined the Aldermaston Marches, which was around 60 miles, and I did that for three years.

‘‘We ended up demonstrating in Trafalgar Square. I also went to Greenham Common to protest against the US cruise missiles being sited there. People made a huge dragon around the whole perimeter. Some people used wire cutters to get through the fence and rampage around but I just stayed on the outside, lit a candle and helped make the dragon.’’

“I went on the miners’ strike demos in 1984 which was memorable and now I go busking with my guitar every Friday at Totnes Market between 10.30am and 12.30pm and I have raised £1.385 so far for Medical Aid to Palestine.’’

For more information about Rose’s artwork visit: swsculptors.co.uk