What else can I tell you about me?

I was born in Kent in 1957 and I went to school there until I was 15. I completed my secondary education in Scotland a year later. While at school I was a Sea Scout and I practiced Judo. I later went on to become a leader in the Scouts and in Judo I represented my club at county level and won a bronze at the Scottish National Judo championships.

My life in industry.

I served an apprenticeship as an engineering draughtsman with Humphries and Glasgow, an engineering company based in London and I survived 5 years of college where I earned a HNC in Mechanical Engineering. After my apprenticeship, I joined the Instrumentation section and worked on many large petrochemical engineering projects for them. Later I changed employer and began designing control systems for the North Sea oil and gas platforms and then oil and gas installations in Norway , Russia , the Middle East and Africa.

Over the years my employment has given me the opportunity to live and work in the UK , The Sultanate of Oman, The USA, Doha in Qatar and in Olso and Stavanger in Norway.

I have been very lucky and worked for companies that understand the benefit of training and have therefore received training in; time management, leadership skills, mentoring, presentation, facilitation and many more. I love to learn.

One of my favourite employment rolls has been training my fellow workers, particularly the young apprentices and graduates and company employees from overseas.

A dubious decision.

In the early days at work in London , I remember a particularly bad week on the trains, late, cancelled and broken down and that was just me, the trains were no better. I think I was being a bit vocal about this when one of my more senior friends suggested that I buy a motorbike. Up until then (age around 23) I hadn't even ridden a bike but somehow the idea of the freedom a bike would give me appealed, it had nothing to do with being a bit reckless. About 20 years later I gave up motorcycling after I fell off in a rather spectacular and painful way.

Adventure

As a Sea Scout and later as a Scout Leader I have learnt and taught; sailing, rowing, canoeing and scouting skills, I can still tie a mean reef knot.

Now that I'm older my hobbies are just as adventurous. I have learned to fly a glider and achieved a silver "C" certificate and I have a private pilot licence (PPL) to fly fixed wing powered airplanes. On a slightly safer footing, I enjoy the geeky side of computing and taking the dog for a walk.

After becoming single for the second time, I decided to enrol on a gliding course at the Kent Gliding Club. At the beginning of the course on a sunny Sunday afternoon a young woman walked into the club and eventually into my life. We married a few years later and we now share our live and our coaching business together.

My family.

My first marriage gave me two children, a boy and a girl, who are now grown up and living their own independant lives. My Son is working in computers in engineering and my Daughter is a nurse in the A&E department of a busy Surrey hospital. My son and his partner have given us 2 lovely grandchildren, a girl and a boy.