Grant Batty discovered at last!

Having made a great contact in Don Skidmore of Mount Manganui, New Zealand, a few years ago, I was able to get several All Black legends to sign figures for the collection, including Ian Kirkpatrick, Graham Mourie and Sid Going.

But one individual proved as elusive as his running - former winger, Grant Batty.

Word had it that he was in Australia, but Don was unable to find out where. As a result he got in touch with me to say that he was sending the figures back to me!

In the meantime, I got in touch with fellow Rugby Memorabilia Society member Ron Palenski, a notable Kiwi rugby journalist who responded immediately with Grant's contact details.

As a result, I made contact with Grant, who was delighted to help.

Days later, the figures arrived back from New Zealand, which I had painted three years ago.

I realised that I could probably do better now, so had another go...

This image shows two the figures the one on the left was painted in January 2021, the other in 2018.