I did it my way !

After a brief episode at Grammar school where I learned about square pegs in round holes I had the good fortune to be rescued by a family trust to send me to a progressive boarding school, for the last three years of my Secondary school education,  just before I was kicked out !

At Abbotsholme I failed Woodwork 0 level with the rest of the class. The teacher was sacked (for other reasons) and then Howard Orme came to teach and I was the school's first GCE A level candidate (Guthrie Pickering was the second).

If anybody could make 'drawing an exploded view of a smoothing plane' fun, Howard could. He had that rare magical teaching quality called inspiration and I followed in his footsteps and trained as a Handicrafts Teacher at the then famous Shoreditch College.

Howard went on to teach at Eton College and retired recently and I ended my school teaching days as the youngest teacher  at Millfield where I also bluffed my way as a trampoline coach for a short period.

However, one particular memory stood out regarding Howard Orme at Abbotsholme. One day when I was in the Sixth form Howard and I were firing a handmade cross bow from one end of the workshop to the other to see who could pinpoint a poster of Edward Barnsley, the great Arts & Crafts designer. The headmaster walked in showing some parents around the school and was literally speechless.

I tell this story because there is a saying 'great institutions are built on
great characters' and as Education has been my foremost passion I feel grateful at the good fortune of having such a brilliant woodwork teacher whilst still at school and firing my lifelong passion.

I threw my cards to the wind on leaving Millfield in the Seventies and became a freelance designer maker. I wouldn't have swapped the experiences for anything and in my travels have won numerous awards, made furniture for Royalty, met a Prime minister and lectured in Australia and Finland.

Wood is a fantastic material and one never ceases to learn. I suppose my philosophy is very simple. The "stick" of a good education was handed to me and I am trying to hand that stick on through the furniture I design and make, my books and DVDs, to inspire future generations in a culture that has been marginalised in our schools.

In 2006 I completed a two year DVD project called Furniture Today highlighting an underground and little known movement in Britain that probably leads the world, setting the work of the past thirty years or so against a historical context. It is probably my 'PHD in life' and whereas I hope to continue woodworking in all its rich aspects, I increasingly spend my time making music on the guitars I make.

Life has an ironic twist. Last year I was voted Professional woodworker of the year 2005 by The Woodworker magazine and won £2,000 of Ryobi power tools ! When I first set up a workshop I could not borrow fifty quid from the bank and waited for four years before I could afford any power tools. Now I am spoiled for choice !