Welcome to my webpage.

What do I do?      Well, professionally I am a business Programme Manager.

For a number of years, I have been accountable for the delivery of very large national programmes under public sector National Curriculum Testing contracts, comprising service delivery, change and innovation. This work has come to an end, and so I am currently seeking my next position.

If you are interested in finding out more about my professional activities, please refer to my web CV.

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So, in between applying for jobs, attending interviews and chasing recruiters, and also transporting Alexander and William to their various activities, I have been renovating our house and constructing this website: not the easy way using website design software, but by learning about HTML and CSS, doing my own design and writing my own code. The JavaScripts and the family history pages generated by Second Site are not my own.

In the days before children, my principal hobby used to be bell ringing: attending practises, teaching new ringers, ringing peals and quarter-peals, attending ringing society meetings, going on ringing tours and, of course, participating in the associated social activities (usually involving real ale). Post-children, I have attended some ringing society reunion dinners, but haven't been ringing yet.

Football coaching
I had been taking William to Portsmouth Football in the Community and Portsmouth FC Advanced Training Centre (ATC) football sessions for over a year when Liphook United Football Club decided to set up an Under 8s team. William was eager to join and when the club asked for parents to volunteer to run the team, I thought, having watched months of coaching, that I would volunteer as a coach.

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Formal coaching training has yet to be arranged, but our Sunday morning training sessions have already transformed the squad from a bunch of kids that all chase the ball (like they do in the school playground) to a team that can, and do, win matches. Our early defeats in mini-soccer 'friendlies' against other teams in the North East Hampshire Youth League on Saturday mornings are now, more often than not, victories! Hurrah!

In addition to cultivating an enjoyment of the game, ball skills, teamwork and individual thinking in our players, I have enjoyed applying some of my professional skills to the task. A large part of coaching actually involves critical thinking, analysing situations, solving problems, devising strategies and plans, decision making, communicating, etc.

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Pub quizzes
For many years I have taken part in a monthly pub quiz at The Wheatsheaf, Grayswood in Surrey. Although many of the other teams are much larger, and we only do it for fun, our winnings usually keep us in beer and food.

The photo shows our team: Mick, Steve and me.

Family history research
Research on our family history was started by my brother, Cameron, in 1998; well before the BBC series 'Who do you think you are?'   started the national craze for researching your roots.

I joined in as someone with an interest and enough leave to take from work to be able to spend some time in archives in Scotland and Norfolk searching out documentary evidence. Have a look at the family history part of our site to see the fruits of thousands of hours of research.

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If you have any comments about our site, or indeed any suggestions, please contact me by using the 'Contact us' link below.