2002
Exhibition entitled "Toil, Sweat, Water and Dust" in the Hutchinson Gallery, Bishop Aukland, County Durham was officially opened by Mr David Guy, President, DMA & NUM, North East Area.

In 2000 Olley had briefly returned to the subject of coal mining with his large oil painting "Off the Way" this current body of work reflected his rekindled interest for which he produced fifteen large canvasses and sculptures based on his personal experiences in the industry.  Durham was the heart of the mining industry for more than a century.  He said " Apart from returning to my roots as a miner I am also returning to my family roots, both my great grandfathers Robert Smith, an illiterate pitman was born near here in Coundon and Peter Greenwell lived in Croxdale managing several public houses in the area including the Britannia Inn in the City"

Exhibition "Olley on Aesop" the Customs House, South Shields. 

Following the tragic death of his youngest brother fifteen months earlier Olley experienced a fallow period lacking inspiration, motivation and concentration, something new to the usually industrious artist.   In June after completing the mural for Noisy-le-Sec, France, he visited an exhibition of Marc Chagall in Paris and saw his abstract works on the fables of Jean de la Fontaine, his inspiration suddenly returned. "It was like a pilot light igniting a boiler or dam bursting.  Fifteen months of artistic energy eager to be turned into a tangible form"
He reflects, "I was ready for a change of subject and medium and style. The subject was the fables of Aesop, the medium, gouache and the style semi abstract. It was like a breath of fresh air"
The date for an exhibition had been programmed for early December.  During July and August he took time out visit Greece, the birthplace of Aesop and researched almost six hundred fables from which he produced many sketches, in the space of twelve weeks he completed the forty works to be exhibited.
"I have never experienced such an intense hunger for my work, it is quite unparalleled"
The exhibition was opened by Member of Parliament for South Shields, David Milliband and was the most successful of Olley's to date.

2005
Exhibition "Les Fables d'Aesop et La Fontaine" Centre Gerard-Philipe, Noisy-le-sec, France, opened by Madam le Maire, Nicole RIVOIRE.  Olley produced twenty new paintings based on the fables of Jean De La Fontaine the 17^th century French poet especially for this exhibition and to compliment twenty of the original Aesop works.