67-year-old Roy Broadley lives in a small rural village in Hampshire called Cliddesden where he has one of only a handful of shops called Kites up.

After starting out making kites as a teenager at weekends and enjoying flying them Roy originally a car mechanic decided at the age of 30 to make kite making his business and hasn’t looked back after initially securing the rights to supply all other kite makers in the UK with their rip stock material which was seconds from the ballon market.
Initially Roy started selling his kites at weekends at various festivals around the UK which he really enjoyed slowly incorporating his own unique designs giving him a complete range of kites which have since become collectable to other kite flyers around the world often seeking him out to sign their prized kite.
As Roy’s business grew, he was being increasingly asked to give both individual lessons and workshops both locally and across the pond in the USA to both make kites and fly them.

Roy went thru a phase of making power kites which are akin to a sailboat but used on sandy beaches or grassy areas where you would tack up and down gaining considerable speed. Roy designed the well-known Apache which was a vented and valved high-powered kite which would typically take around a week to make.
Most of the kites have names with two octopus kites named Ian and Olivia with his main inspiration coming from symetrical plants and another series of Kites that look like huge totem poles with most designs originally being stitched on whereas now they tend to be more printed designs that adorn the kites.
Also influences come from other kite makers as far away as Tasmania where one fellow kite maker who also still purchase their fabric from Roy uses superb colour combinations and shades to make the kite look like a stained-glass window often seen in churches.

Talking to Roy about highlights in his kite making career a couple spring to mind
The most notable being the 2012 opening and closing ceremonies with the group Take That , whilst in 2016 Coldplay played the Superbowl half time ceremony with Roy suppling the props based around kites. Others mention casually by Roy include The London Lord Mayors show and the rock festival held at Glastonbury.
I wrapped up by asking Roy what a typical day as an artist in his life was like to which he replied “Thats the beauty of it, I never know every day is different, I work still because I love what I do for example today I received a large order from a TV company making a high profile advert that they want to re-create from years gone by although at 4 pm most days I do like to make my way to the pub for a pint or two of ale.






















VII photography agency, Arles, France
I was asked by VII documentary photographers Ed Khasi and Ilvy Njiokiktjien when I attended a 3 day VII Summer Workshops in Arles, Southern France.
After seeing my project on Dementia Ed approached me and asked if I would like to contribute a story to a project they were running called Work or Retire where 1 in 6 people in the world will be over 60. A couple of photographers from each country have been asked to submit a panel.
When I bumbed into Roy I knew he would be a perfect candidate for this project.