About Me

At some stage I intend to write a more detailed biography about my life, albeit somewhat mundane. I believe anyone who becomes interested in family history should do this. All family historians at some stage say " I wish I had asked them that" when thinking of their loved ones. A biography therefore leaves that legacy for those who come after who may be interested in the lives of their forbears.

I was born in Perivale Maternity Hospital, Perivale, Middlesex, a part of the London Borough of Ealing, in 1950. I spent my first 8 years living in Westfield Road, Ealing. This family home being occupied by three generations and basically being a two up and two down property with small kitchen/scullery. No bathroom and the toilet at the bottom of the garden. The house was rented as home ownership back then was a rarity for the ordinary working people. My parents and grandparents had positive work ethic so the rent was always paid.

I went to the local school, Oaklands Road Primary, in those days there was little traffic and no fear for the safety of children, so from the age of 5 I walked to school on my own joining up with other children en route. Never having been good at remembering names I rely on the school website to tell me that the Headmistress was Miss Barker and the headmaster was Mr Dowling.

My sister was born in 1958 and that was also the year that we became upwardly mobile when my parents bought their first house in Avalon Road, Ealing for the princely sum of about £3000. We now had the luxury of more rooms and a bathroom and toilet. My grandmother moved with us and we continued to have the three generational family. Life was pretty, my parents worked hard, my father developed his own business and there was always an annual family holiday.

At 16years of age I joined the Metropolitan Police Cadets, leaving home for the residential delights of a dormitory full of young men at Hendon. I spent almost 3 years in the cadets at Hendon, Ashford in Kent and then for the last three months on attachments in Hackney, East London.

On 3rd March 1969 I joined the Metropolitan Police as a constable. I went back to Hendon for my initial 12 weeks training before being posted as a probationary constable to H District. Initially I was based at Commercial Street Police Station, an outdated old building with lots of character and a large multi occupation cell known as the drunk tank. On the opening of the newly built Leman Street the whole complement of Commercial Street re-located.

In 1977 I was promoted to Sergeant and transferred to West Ham Police Station, K District, where I undertook roles as a relief sergeant, custody sergeant, duties sergeant and also police complaints investigation.

Family wise during this time I married my first wife in 1972 and my daughters were born in 1974 and 1976. I separated from my wife in 1984.

I was promoted to the Rank of Inspector in 1983 and posted to N District which covered Holloway and Kings Cross. Initially at Holloway I met Belinda, then Gail Ivey, who was a special constable at that time. After my separation our relationship began and we married in 1986. In 1986 I was posted to the Metropolitan Police Information Room where I ran a shift dealing with all 999 calls and ensuring response to them. After some 18 months I went to Dagenham until being promoted to Chief Inspector in 1988.

I went back to H District but this time to Limehouse. London Docklands was being regenerated at this time including the construction of Canary Wharf. This was probably one of the most interesting, varied and challenging periods of my career, being involved in this massive project which included emergency planning, major events and resourcing of a new city area. In 1991 I became Staff Officer to the Deputy Assistant Commissioner 3 Area and became involved in many aspects of strategic planning, this culminated in my heading a major re-structuring project. My last posting was back in Newham where I led all aspects of Community Policing and the Youth Crime Unit. I retired in 1998.

Belinda and I then moved to New Milton in the beautiful New Forest, where we still live today. I run a small training business mainly concentrating on providing strategies to groups such as social workers on safe working in difficult situations. My course have titles such as conflict management and challenging behaviour.

Known to have a low boredom threshold and needing to keep busy I was elected to the Town Council in 2007 and then to both the Town Council and New Forest District Council in 2011.

Back to family I am fortunate to now have 3 beautiful granddaughters Elana, Kaleigh and Imogen.

When I write the promised biography I will put all the detail on this skeleton with what will I hope include the humour and enjoyment of my life.