Educated at the Nautical College Pangbourne, I joined the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth in 1959 just before my eighteenth birthday. Early sea appointments included the 9th Minesweeping Squadron in the Middle East, the Destroyer HMS Decoy in the West Indies and the frigates HMS Naiad and Relentless before specializing in Navigation in 1968. Sea appointments then included HMS Torquay in the Dartmouth Training Squadron, HMS Diomede deployed to the Far East and South America, and as First Lieutenant (Second in Command) of the Frigate HMS Ashanti in the West Indies.
Shore appointments included being a Flag Lieutenant/ADC, Dartmouth, Director of the Junior Officers Staff Course at Greenwich, two years at the NATO HQ in Norfolk Virginia at the same time as Past Master James Carine, Defence Policy Staff at the MOD and finally as the Operations Officer at Plymouth.. I was promoted Commander in 1979
On leaving the Navy in 1990 I became Bursar and Clerk to the Governors at Trinity School in Teignmouth and then Bursar and Company Secretary of Abingdon School (reendowed by a Mercer in 1563) in 1995.
I was elected a member of the Independent Schools Bursars’ Association Executive Committee and Chairman of the Finance Committee before becoming Chairman of the Association in 2003. I was also Chairman of the Independent Schools Council Finance Committee.
I qualified as a Chartered Secretary and elected an Associate of the Institute in 1982 and a Fellow in 1989. I was Chairman of the BB&O Branch.
I was clothed with the Livery in 1997 and elected to the Court in 2001 and Master in 2010.
I retired in 2005 and was a Trustee of the Britannia Association, Master of the Britannia Beagles, Chairman of the Exeter Flotilla and a Governor of a local Primary School.
Now having reached the right old age of 80, my wife and I are winding down and enjoying the wonderful view of Torbay from our home in Torquay
