Born in Nantwich (Cheshire) in 1963, I spent most of my earlier years with my parents (Bill and Eileen) and sister (Susan) in Rhayader - a small village in mid Wales.

After leaving school, I studied for a Computer Science degree at the then Polytechnic of Wales, Pontypridd (now the University of Glamorgan). I eventually escaped with a 2:1 Honors degree and joined West Glamorgan County Council's Treasurer's Department as an Analyst / Programmer. I remained there for 5 years before moving to the University of Wales Swansea, again as an Analyst / Programmer and Database Administrator, working predominantly on the Administrative Computing Systems.

Ten years later in 1997, I decided to try my hand at contracting and set up my own Limited company - AuvergneITC. Although I expected to move from company to company, I have spent the majority of my time contracting with a single company as an Ingres / Oracle Database Administrator. I also have a number of smaller clients whose web sites I have developed and continue to support.

I am married to Beverley and have two children - Natalie and Daniel. We live in Pennard on the Gower peninsula - the UK's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - with our black Labrador (Max).

Although I have spent a lot of time working in the North of England, I am presently contracting in Kingswinford - SW of Birmingham. Being a little too far to commute on a daily basis, and being fed up of 'living out of a suitcase' in B&Bs and hotels, I decided to buy a 52' narrow boat, and live on that during the week. It certainly makes a change from those sterile, impersonal hotel chains, and is an excellent talking point!

I became a member of the IAM in June 2001, with Bev and I passing our tests on the same day! Since then, I have been an active member of the IAM and SBGAM and have been an Observer with the Group since then, and more recently the Web Master.