Husband and wife, Howard Turner and Sheila Turner, both became self-taught professional artists after taking retirement from the health service.
Howard, christened Charles Howard Turner, was born in Keighley in 1934. His first career was as a hospital administrator and met Sheila whilst she was training to be a nurse and the couple married in 1957. Both of them enjoyed art for leisure and painted in their own time.
Howard and Sheila had moved around the country in the course of their careers, but in the 1980s both took early retirement and started to paint professionally in their new home and joint art studio, Squirrel Cottage, at Ickornshaw, near Cowling.
They developed their own very different painting styles. Howard gained popularity and a following for his paintings of Keighley street scenes and characters of the 1920s and 1930s.
He exhibited his work widely and it became very popular; many of his paintings are now in private collections, including a work produced work for Austin Mitchell, television presenter and former MP for Grimsby. Howard was also member of the Yorkshire Itinerants Group of artists who raise money for charity by auctioning their work.
Howard died in 2017 and the Keighley & District Local History Society now hold an online archive of paintings by Howard, accessible at Flickr -Howard Turner.
Sheila Turner was born at Bingley in 1937. She painted landscapes and exhibited her work locally. One of her commissioned works was a Bronte landscape scene for Sir Cliff Richard. Sheila was also actively involved with advocacy, campaigning, publicity and fund-raising for the Thyroid Patient Advocacy Scheme, and set up an website for fellow-sufferers. She also contributed her paintings to raise money for the Scheme. Sheila died in June 2019.