my parents originate from Hull and Scunthorpe, moving over to Bubwith during the early 60's to live in a caravan in the White Swan car park
we then moved to a rented farm called Mount Pleasant on the outskirts of Barlby, where I was born, and finally moved into our own house in Osgodby not long after
childhood was great, there were a number of children around the sames age so plenty to do and with my sister being just a few years older I always had a guardian angel!
the innocence of growing up was great, being part of what I think was the best decade the 1980s. am sure some of the nasties that exist nowadays were around then, but not as bad!
you could get away with staying out until it got dark, riding motorbikes on the fields, and hanging around on street corners - we all had respect back then, and never abused it!
attending local schools, I was successful in gaining a good secondary education - 3 GCE's and 2 CSE's
I went on to study further during my early career, successfully gaining 3 'A' Levels and a HND in Business and Finance
wanting to be an electrical engineer didn't prove too successful, so I started off in retail at a woodturning and woodcarving centre at the Land of Nod near Holme upon Spalding Moor
I learned how to turn and carve wood, which is a skill in itself!, but also gave me some good working principals
moving on to more retail, I ventured out to a hair and beauty wholesaler! quite a change, but grew with the business to succeed in senior sales management
an interesting mix covering the early years, and I got to see and gain a lot of experience in sales and communication
made the move to IT in 1998 full time, having taught myself how to design and build databases (or so I thought!)
initially, working down in London on contract work, predominently in MS Access design and development, I soon went on and up to start working in SQL and Oracle
I enjoy working in the field I do, for some reason data is something I get on with! it's nice to solve problems when people think it is impossible
personally, I have moved around a bit!, living down south during the week but retaining a base in the north so I could see my son was fun and I spent a lot of time on the road
even after becoming single, I have tried to keep to wanting to live in the country, although I had a little excursion to living just north of Newcastle at one point
strangely settled in the Yorkshire Dales in a house I built myself and was originally going to sell; I like it here though, plenty of fresh air and a nice sense of community
there have been many, and this isn't the full list!
my little lad is a large part of my world, I enjoy being a dad and the rewards for being at least one persons hero is irreplaceable
settling with Lucy is another... we have a nice life, get on well, and have something special
diving has brought many special moments - toddling around wrecks in the worlds oceans through to diving with hammerheads and manta rays all have their special place in my memories
cars have been a passion - have been very lucky to own many things from an RS6 through to more exotic ones such as TVR and Lamborghini, oh and driving at over 200mph is very memorable!
all in all, my life is full of memories, and there are many more to come!
