The early years
- Born and raised in Newport Pagnell, which is now part of Milton Keynes.
- Keen sailing dinghy racer and made my own GP14 racing dinghy. Best result: 14th of 200 in National Champs.
- Beaten to England U19 hockey team selection as goalkeeper by eventual Olympic gold medal winner.
- In my post-school gap-year, spent 2 terms teaching science subjects at a boys Prep School prior to its closure.
- Graduated from Hatfield Polytechnic (now University of Hertfordshire) with 2:2 Hons Mechanical Engineering.
- Periodically played hockey (the mug in goal!) for East of England.
Early working life
- After 7 years post-graduate work at the "De Havilland Propellors" site in Hatfield, learning all about the design of Aerospace and the embryonic wind turbine industry, I moved to TPD in Holland where I spent 2 years testing and reporting on results for the Hipparcos satellite optical refocussing assembly.
- Married Anne and moved to Nuernberg & subsequently Heidelberg where I worked on European aerospace projects while Anne raised our two baby girls (Helen & Joanna). While I was learning technical german Anne was learning shopping german. We experienced the joy of ordinary German people first hand at the re-unification of Germany, and the flood of Trabants on the autobahns.
- We returned to Mid-Wales, where I started my career in gearbox transmissions engineering under the guidance of epicyclic guru Ray Hicks at COG. Our son (Tony) was born at the same time.
- With the temporary demise of COG, I worked with JCB at Wrexham for two years before moving to a career in gearbox design contracting/consultancy, starting up WTC Transmissions Ltd.
WTC Transmissions Ltd
- For the curious, WTC does not stand for World Trade Center, but Welsh Technical Centre. I started renting a unit at a Powys Council owned Business & Conference Centre where I continue my work.
- Since 2000, I have had numerous contracts with a number of companies across a wide range of gearbox applications. The requirements for me have ranged from concept designs, detail designs, stress & FEA analysis, detail drawings, manufacturing, assembly & test responsibility.
- I still enjoy sailing - these days from Porthmadog with my brother-in-law in his yacht, when we can. Anne pampers the dogs and the "kids" have moved on with their own careers.