Education (I think that's what it was)
I went to eight schools (lucky ol' me!) and performed abysmally at all of them, partly due to wartime evacuation, and partly to my parents' belief that my pathetic performance was always the school's fault, and so moved me on in the vain hope that the next one would knock some sense into me.
It never did.
My secondary education was at Kings College School, Wimbledon and finally Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Kingston-upon-Thames, (better known as Kingston Grammar School) where I not only gained the distinction of achieving General Certificates of Education 'O' Level in only two subjects, French and English, but receiving a caning ("six of the best") from the Headmaster on my very last day at school. (I and two accomplices had made an impressive pyramid of chairs and desks reaching to the classroom ceiling; OK - we used another wretched classmate as part of the "foundations"!)
(I later managed to add Mathematics and Chemistry to these by attending evening classes after I left school.)
Time Line
- 1955-56: Junior Clerk, Thames Conservancy, London
- 1956-58: National Service in the British Army, serving in the RASC, Willems Barracks, Aldershot. Trained as an Army Typist and Clerk, but finished the remainder of my service as a Drill Instructor (how to win friends and influence people!) reaching the giddy rank of Sergeant. (NB: Never put three stripes on the arm of a nineteen-year old!)
- 1958-61: General Clerk, Thames Conservancy Head Office, London
- 1962: I married my beautiful Pauline.
- 1961-65: Assistant River Purification Inspector, Thames Conservancy, responsible for parts of Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
At this point, knowing that Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology were my worst subjects, I decided to pursue a career in which Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology were the most important subjects (thus guaranteeing a life of unrelieved stress). I studied for, and passed, the membership examination of the Institute of Sewage Purification. (Later the Institute of Water Pollution Control, then the Institution of Water & Environmental Management).
- 1965-66: River Purification Inspector, Thames Conservancy, responsible for parts of north Sussex, Surrey and Middlesex.
- 1966: We "emigrated" to North Yorkshire (or as it was then called, the North Riding of Yorkshire).
- 1966-73: Pollution Prevention Officer, Yorkshire Ouse & Hull River Authority, responsible for the eastern half of North Yorkshire.
- 1973-74: Northern Division Pollution Prevention Officer, Yorkshire River Authority, responsible for a small team of officers covering North Yorkshire.
- 1974-83: N.E. Division Pollution Prevention Officer, Yorkshire Water Authority, responsible for a team of pollution prevention and trade effluent officers covering York and the eastern half of North Yorkshire. Now controlling effluent discharges to both rivers and public sewers.
- 1983-87: Northern Division Pollution Prevention Officer, Yorkshire Water Authority, responsible for a team of pollution prevention and trade effluent officers covering York and North Yorkshire. Controlling discharges to rivers and public sewers.
- 1987-89: Co-ordinating Manager (River Quality), Yorkshire Water Head Office, Leeds. Co-ordinating Divisional staff, advising on regional and national policy matters, and attending various national committees dealing with the control of waste matter to rivers and sewers. (NB: These functions are now the responsibility of the Environment Agency)
Professional Qualification:
Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management.
An Unplanned Life Change
March 1989: Two years after the sudden death of my daughter (aged 19) (see Losing Jackie) I found myself unable to cope with the stress of pursuing my career and accepted voluntary redundancy, at the age of 51, which fortuitously coincided with the privatisation of the water industry and the creation of the National River Authority (later the Environment Agency), and the typical "downsizing" philosophy that attends this kind of reorganisation .
My "Second Life"
Since 1989 I have been in part-time employment as a private hire car and school transport driver with Botterills of Thornton-le-Dale.
From 1989 to the end of 2002 I was also a volunteer administration worker with the Scarborough & District Citizens Advice Bureau, developing and maintaining computer software to suit the Bureau's needs, and providing group and one-to-one computer training. I still retain responsibility for the design and maintenance of the Bureau's website.
Hobbies & Interests
- Personal computing and the Internet
- Writing
- Music
- Books - fact and fiction
- Inland waterways cruising
- Walking
- Cycling
- Footnote ... 2006: I am still married to my beatiful Pauline! How she puts up with me I do not know.
