Biography
Not a usual curriculum vitae for a stained glass artist . . .
Born into a well-known building family at Newton St Loe, Somerset, John Yeo was educated at Kingswood School, Bath. He went on to study at Bulmershe College, Reading graduating with a B.Ed (Hons). A teaching career followed in several West Country schools but time in the classroom was always punctuated with frequent travel exploits and overseas adventures.
A year was spent hitch-hiking around North America and a further three months on
an archaeological dig in the Israeli desert. His love of railways saw him spend
four months photographing steam locomotives in Africa and a further six months
recording, driving and photographing steam in India before its demise in the
early 1990s.
This love of trains has also taken him to the sugar plantations of
Java, the Philippines and Cuba, the jungles of Burma, the mountains of northern
Pakistan and the forests of Latvia and Russia. In war-torn Zimbabwe whilst
foot-plating the giant Garrett locomotives, he carried a semi-automatic rifle
for the only time in his life.
On another occasion two years was spent travelling around the world with a back
pack, visiting 21 different countries. That experience led him to write a book
“All Trains go Somewhere” and several pieces taken from this have formed the
basis of magazine articles. On the subject of writing, John is a regular
community correspondent for the Mid-Somerset series of newspapers
He taught British History at the University of Maine and in the mid 1980s,
worked in an American High School. Six months was also spent employed as a car
delivery driver coast to coast in the U.S.A. To date he has visited China
sixteen times and the Indian sub-continent on more than ten occasions. He once
worked in a lighthouse on the California coast.
A keen cyclist, John has cycled unsupported 3,664 miles across Australia,
completed the Land’s End to John O’Groats route and cycled north to south
Ireland. He has also cycled extensively in Kenya – a country he has been
visiting and working in for more than twenty-five years. He has run in
the London and New York Marathons several times.
An enthusiastic local historian and proud of his Somerset farming ancestry, he has taught dry-stone walling and traditional hedge-laying for the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers. He has also been involved in numerous tree-planting and environmental projects.
John is a life-long supporter and season ticket holder of Bristol City Football Club since he saw their 3 – 0 win against Carlisle United as a twelve year old schoolboy.
So where does stained glass fit in?
Coming from a practical building background, John first became involved with
glass in the early 1990s. What began as a casual interest rapidly grew into
something of an obsession.
He studied with Paul San Casciani in Oxford and Laura & John
Gilroy in Bristol and within a couple of years was teaching the subject at
Strode College, Street, Somerset. The formation of the business followed in
1998. In 2005 John Yeo Limited was established, of which John Yeo Stained Glass
is a trading name. In the past few years John has worked extensively with
several respected stained glass artists including Roy Coomber, Patrick Costeloe
and Michael Larsen.
John Yeo is a full craft member of the Somerset Guild of Craftsmen, being elected to the Board in 2004.