User:Paulws1953

I was born in Enfield, Middlesex in 1953 and grew up first in Winchmore Hill and at the age of 3 moved to Bush Hill Park in 1957. We lived there until 1967 and spent many school holidays at one of my Father's 3 Photographic Studios in the West End of London where I learned the basics of Photography which has stood me in good stead for many years until the present day. Over the years I have operated casual photographic businesses doing all sorts of work from Weddings all the way to Press and Commercial work. During the years I spent in London to age 13, I was educated at St Andrews CofE Primary School in Cecil Road, Enfield and went on from there to Enfield Grammar School for 2 years until we moved to Wickhambrook, near Newmarket in Suffolk in 1967. I attended King Edward VI Grammar School for 3 years until 1970 but early in my career there, I think it was the 1st day, I discovered the Library was the biggest room in the school and being a practical person confronted with the task of single-handedly 'catching up' on the 2 years of Latin I had missed out on, I pretty much gave up and left with the grand total of 3 GCE O-levels in Maths, English and Art. My first job after leaving school was on a turkey and arable farm at Lidgate, Suffolk which was owned by Robert Boyce. I was only there for 3 months as I had been working for them during all my school holidays for the past 2 years and only wanted to see what was involved with the run-up to Christmas. Having passed my motorcycle test in 1969 and become more mobile, I went from there to Clayton-Clase, a firm of glassblowers in Haverhill where I learned how to make scientific glassware. From there, in 1971, I went to The Ministry of Defence Land Agent Department in Falmouth Avenue, Newmarket where I worked as a Cartographic Draughtsman mostly preparing plans for the selling off of the hundreds of military sites and airfields throughout East Anglia, Essex and Lincolnshire left from World War II. From there, in 1974, I went to work for our family business which made Children's Clothing using homeworkers to produce the articles. From there I spent a few years doing all sorts and largely acheiving nothing. I worked as a Garage Mechanic, Photographer, Chauffeur and General Duties Person until I went to work in the Photographic Department of the Bury Free Press in Bury St EDmunds. I was responsible for printiong all the photographs that went into the paper. That led to a job at Studio Five in Thetford doing similar work and from there, in 1976, I went to work for the Automoblie Association as a Roadside Patrolman. I attended various AA traing courses at their training centre at Widmerpool Hall, near Nottingham. In 1985 I left to become a Driving Instructor with BSM and in 1986 bought my own car and continued in this career with the highest pass rate in the area to 1993. A short period of unemployment followed, during which time I tried to establish a Landscape Gardening business, until in 1996 I passed my HGV CLass 1 test and went to work for Roy Baker at Prodrive Driving Agency in Bury St Edmunds. 18 months later I took a job at Kirtling Garage, Kirtling, near Newmarket as Manager for nine years until 2006 and since then I have been working as a Lorry Driver for Commercial Drivers Driving Agency, Whepstead, Bury St Edmunds. I also run a small photographic business and my main hobby is Home Brewing being an active contributor to the Brew UK forum. Over the years I have taken an interst in Archaeology and Local History, studying the village of Silverly, near Newmarket which largely disappeared between 1500 and 1694, and my other main interest is Motor Racing, mainly Formula 1.