I have lived in Gravesend, Kent all my life. I’m a Customer Services Manager for the oldest printers in the World (apart from Guttenburg and Caxton, that is!) and also dabble in photography (available for weddings, portraits etc – only joking!). My interest in archaeology is very much non-professional. I have never taken a course in the subject, but just have a love of history and, largely, the way it has affected the lives of Mr & Mrs Ordinary, whether they happened to be living under the rule of Rome, or trying to avoid living under the rule of Berlin. The rich history of my own home town really interests me. I got the ‘bug’ for it after reading a book called ‘A History of Gravesend’ whilst still at school. It really opened my eyes to the area I live in, and more importantly, what lies hidden beneath what you see today. On the personal front, I’ve been with my partner, Linda, for nearly 12 years and we have two children (James and Lewis). James is now at MY old junior school, and as a result I became a Governor there a few months ago. Unless anyone can prove otherwise, I’m apparently the first ex-pupil in nearly 40 years to do this. When the current pupils found this out, I got the distinct impression ‘I’ was being viewed as something of a historical curiosity!
And if you’re wondering about the special interest in architecture above, when I left school I vanely tried to be an Architectural Technician for five years, so looking at old buildings, or their remains, and sussing out what was going on is almost second nature – still.
Special Interest Areas
WW2 and architecture