The Theatre

PC World

Back to School Days

I should confess at the outset that I have enjoyed (that is the word) several careers (perhaps that is not the word) and yet each phase has enabled me to meet many people and, as important, to learn things and be useful in some ways to others. Generally I have always been able to make a living - although when I was an actor there were periods when I had to rely upon the state for sustenance.  Even then, now looking back, I realise that I was fortunate to able to indulge my self - albeit modestly - at someone else's expense.  To throw myself upon the state now, I think, would be a monstrous notion and I pity those who, for no fault of their own, find themselves in such dire straights.

 

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The Theatre

 

Upon leaving Loughborough I was somewhat catapulted onto the stage again as Romeo in Wendy's new production that took place that Summer at Forty Hall, near Enfield, London.

Following upon this production, via a stint in a pub in West Hampstead and one in Bognor Regis (where, amongst other adventures I was arrested (wrongfully - of course)) and a sojourn in Italy as a choreographer,  I entered the acting profession - replete with Equity card (thanks to Wendy Mac Fees' Theatre Set-Up at the second time of asking!) and worked fairly steadily for over ten years.

 

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PC World

 

Having really enjoyed the practice of play writing using rudimentary word-processing systems I was intrigued to learn more of this new technology.  The Amstrad PCW 8512 (and later the 9512) had just emerged and I had been playing with the Dragon, Spectrum and the Atari before obtaining my first Amstrad PC - a 640Kb machine (having been up-graded from 512Kb of RAM) and sporting a Weston Digital 40Mb Hard Card!  Mind you this was soon replaced by a real IBM AT (we're talking 286 here - what was it 6Mhz) and OK only a 20Mb hard disk but Wow! What speed! I had a lovely colour EGA screen by Packard Bell - all in all the DBs of its day!  A dubious 386SX followed (I was never happy with this - I flirted with Apple Macs for a few years - still love 'em) and eventually the inevitable 486 DX ( mit co-pro) running at  50MHz.  Well, we all know what happened then - Pentium technology arrived and, well, with everything having gone Windows by then the pioneers of CPM and DOS were a dying breed and even though our skills are still useful (what is HTML but a yet another way to write code with a keyboard) it is information processing that is all the rage now.

I had been working as a barman-cum-bar food chef at the Three Ways Hotel, Mickleton (I was staying with the Emissaries at the time) and was offered a job in Broadway with my good friends and computer pioneers Barry and Jane Rubin as a support analyst and PC applications trainer. Great fun for a couple of years and went freelance for a few years working at various places up and down the UK.  I enjoyed it, met lots of good people and learned a great deal - most of all that I wanted to work with others - back to school then ...

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Back to School Days

I have spent many happy days working as a teacher of Drama most especially teaching some English, then, for a year (until July 2002) as Head of Drama at Baverstock School, Druids Heath, Birmingham.  I joined the staff in 1999, having qualified as a teacher from Worcester College of Higher Education in1993 - my first job working for four years at Bordesley Green Girls' School as teacher of English and Drama, and Head of IT - with Miss Joan Sandland - wonderful Head.

Thence to Baverstock which was a wonderful school.  A great Headmaster (Roger Perks, alas soon to retire, Easter 2001, and then, all too soon, to pass-away) a fine teaching, managerial, secretarial and ancillary staff and super pupils and students - I taught eleven to eighteen year olds.  I have been asked to make special mention of my final year 12 A'level Drama group - there I've mentioned them (to be frank they were a very enjoyable and rewarding group to work with and I count my self fortunate to have taught them ... whether they actually learned anything is a matter of conjecture ...).  I was responsible for organizing the Drama to be taught in the school and, again count my self lucky to have been given the opportunity.  The highlight -  preparing for a presentation for Remembrance week and planning our Christmas Concert - a first time collaboration twixt Music, Dance and Drama - we and the audience had a wonderful time! yet at this place I began to discover that Drama teachers are a strange bunch and almost consistently have been less than supportive or absent all together.

From Baverstock I took some time out for a trip to see Brother Paul in New Zealand (who was soon to play THE KING OF THE DEAD in Lord of the Rings; The Return of the King) and then to Waverley School as Head of Drama again.  Four years later and feeling that I had achieved very little (except that my departure heralded the end of drama there), a move away from Birmingham (at last - never really liked the city) to the Peterborough area (no better a place in my view) where I was Head of Drama at Stanground College. Not, ultimately a happy time there either, colleague wise; then to Casterton College - out of the frying pan... disaster - in spades. Left under extremely unhappy circumstances with the now ubiquitous "compromise agreement" and gagging clauses, to boot.

Had to admit to myself that my attempts to flourish in the state education system were flagging - or rather had perished with my self-esteem and self-confidence along with it.

I am sad that with all I thought I had to offer, the state school leadership and system of management in all but my first school completely failed to get the best out of me...

... and then to Oakham - to the School and to meet and marry my University sweetheart!

Busy times have followed...

 

 

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