Former Telford art master takes Celebrity Coach Trip class

Former Telford art teacher John Skelcher gave comedy duo Cannon & Ball and ex-royal aide Paul Burrell a crash-course in life-drawing on a TV programme due to air next week.

Mr Skelcher used to teach at Charlton School in Wellington and now lives in the Le Marche region of Italy

He has set up an 'art retreat' with his partner Jana, whom he met while the pair were both teachers in Telford.

The retreat was a stop-off for contestants on Channel 4′s Celebrity Coach Trip, who had a crack at drawing model Lydia under the guidance of Mr Skelcher.

He said: "We received an invite in July last year to hold a surprise life-drawing session for contestants of the show.

Traditional

“We filmed at Senigallia’s Palazzo Baviera, where I taught a traditional life-drawing class with the help of model Lydia who regularly models for us.

"The day was light-hearted and full of humour - and many of the guests promised to return to The Retreat for extra classes in the future as they had enjoyed their day so much.

"It was a wonderful experience teaching such well-known celebrities. They were all excellent students and we had great fun."

The show will air on Wednesday at 5pm.

Mr Skelcher and his German partner Jana met at Charlton School in 1996.

He was teaching art and Jana was a language assistant from Germany who later on went to teach German at Thomas Telford CTC.

After leaving Telford for Italy, they spent years restoring an old farmhouse to accommodate and educate artists and tourists.

Details on the retreat can be found by logging on to www.lemarcheretreat.com