I was born in Sussex, England in 1950. At the age of eight, I was sent to the British Seamens’ Boys’ Home at Brixham in South Devon, where I remained until I left school in 1966. This was a home for the sons of British sailors, where boys in difficult circumstances were offered a safe haven. It was run along military lines, but enabled boys to receive a normal education in ordinary schools.

I was fortunate enough to gain admission to Homelands Technical High School in nearby Torquay. I found that English was the subject I enjoyed the most, and I will always be grateful to have been tutored by some very dedicated teachers during my five years at Homelands.

When I left Brixham, I trained to become a diesel engine fuel injection specialist, a trade which I still continue today here in New Zealand, the country to which I emigrated in 1991. I like to think of myself as unpretentious, and consider myself to be just another ordinary working man.

I also like to think I am open-minded and fair. I have an intense dislike of all cruelty, especially to children and animals, and find that I become increasingly depressed by man’s inhumanity to his fellow man, as depicted daily on television news.

My interests, apart from reading and writing, are quite varied, and are very time dependant. I like to spend as much time as possible with my family. My son Ryan, is now aged 14 and I love to play soccer with him and his friends, when I can drag him away from his Nintendo games. I enjoy a game of chess and take a keen interest in sport – motorsport in particular.

Computers are a more recent and compelling interest for me, and I am largely self-taught. Working on the theory that the best way to learn is by your mistakes, I must surely be approaching “expert” status by now.

Writing poetry is also a relatively new experience for me, and I find it is something that I really enjoy. I feel it is a unique way of communicating with people of like-minded spirit. It is an opportunity for expression of thought and feeling within the framework of the writer’s own choosing.

It allows the reader freedom to empathize or criticize, in much the same way as an art lover would study an artist’s canvas. In many ways, I think a poem is similar to a painting. Unlike a novel, it usually takes only minutes to read, yet the impressions conveyed can linger in the memory like a vision.

I admire the styles of Byron and Kipling, and feel very honoured to be selected for publication amongst such distinguished company here on Webstatic.

If you enjoy reading my work, you may order my first published collection in paperback. Check here for details.

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