I came to the School from the Chichester Central Boys School which was next to the City Walls in the St. Pancras area. Most of the boys in my form also came to the School. Uniform including school caps had to be worn. I think it was the prefects who checked for compliance as you arrived each day. Dr. Bishop was the Headmaster. He appeared to know the name of every boy in the school. He seemed to a new boy like me a fairly fierce man. He would ask what we thought Abeunt Studia in Mores meant. I cannot recall what I said but it was clearly wrong!
I enjoyed my years at the School and could write a good few pages about it which I may add at a later date.
I left in 1955 having been school Captain in 1954-1955. I had gained a place at Brasenose College, Oxford but the college said I had to do my National Service first. My uncle was then a major in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps and suggested I should ask to go there, so I went to Hilsea Barracks on the north side of Portsmouth for my basic training. This was a rude awakening to the realities of life where someone with one stripe on his sleeve determined every moment of my waking time. In due course, I went to the Officer Cadet unit at Eaton Hall just outside Chester and became a National Service subaltern early in 1956. I went to various places in the UK and ended up at Blackdown near Aldershot. I spent a lot of time at shooting and athletics. My requests for a posting to Germany were unsuccessful.
I went up to Oxford in September 1957 to read Jurisprudence and I obtained a 2.1. degree. I was then articled to the Clerk of West Sussex County Council at County Hall Chichester and attended law school at Guildford. I enrolled as a solicitor in 1963. I served on the staff of the council until 1972 becoming Second Deputy Clerk of the Council and a Clerk of the Peace.
In 1972 I moved to Norwich as Deputy Clerk of Norfolk County Council and became Clerk in 1973 on the unhappy death of my boss from cancer. Also in 1973, I was made Chief Executive of the new shadow authority for Norfolk County Council as a result of the reorganisation of Local Government in England and Wales. I had many subsidiary rôles being involved with the Magistrates, Income Tax Commissioners, the Lord Lieutenancy and others. I retired after 23 years in this post in 1996.
Thereafter I became in many varied voluntary occupations:
- 1997-1998 Chairman of the Anglian Harbours National Health Service Trust.
- 1997 part-time Commissioner of the Criminal Cases Review Commission in Birmingham. A fascinating task which I left that post in 2005.
- 2002-2014 Non-Executive Director of Norfolk Mental Health Care Trust
- 1992 I was awarded the honour of – Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
- 1996 Became a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk
I am married to Christine. We have four sons and six grandchildren between us. We live in Norwich – a lovely city.