I grew up in Liverpool, one of the 'baby boom' generation born just after the end of World War II. I went to the local infant and junior schools in Anfield and then, having passed the 'eleven plus' exam, to the Liverpool Collegiate School, one of the city's oldest grammar schools.

I trained to be a teacher at Westminster College on the outskirts of Oxford and then taught for four terms in a primary school in the London Borough of Sutton. I was married in 1970 and my wife, Jackie, and I moved to South Wales the following year. I taught at two Newport schools and managed to combine deputy headship with studying part-time for a Bachelor of Education Degree at Cardiff University.  Ten years later, after becoming headteacher of a junior school in Caldicot, Monmouthshire,  I gained my Master's degree. Except for two occasions when I was acting headteacher at two other Monmouthshire schools I stayed at Caldicot until I retired shortly after my sixtieth birthday.

Jackie and I were married for just over thirty nine years. She had been a physical Education teacher and was also a gifted musician. She had suffered from a number of serious illnesses over the years but her determination to live life to the full meant that few people apart from her closest friends and her family were ever aware of her health problems. Sadly, Jackie died just two years after my retirement.

Our two children, Huw and Emma, are both married with children of their own, and live about forty miles from each other in Cheshire.

In retirement I am a Licensed Lay Minister (Reader) in the Diocese of Monmouth, secretary of my church's Parochial Church Council and Chairman of the Governing Body of the local primary school. I belong to two choirs, the Cwmbran Baroque Singers and The Flying Shepherds and I am a regular performer at the Lyceum Folk Club in Newport. I am also a keen photographer.