I was born in 1960. My father was a chef in the Royal Navy then a production controller in the textile industry. My mother was an administrator in the local Civil Service.
I grew up in North Lincolnshire and did quite well at school, leaving with a clutch of qualifications.
I left school to join the local Civil Service in the Social Security department, where I interviewed 10 welfare claimants per day for a couple of years, and assessed their benefits entitlement. This was a crash course for me in the problems and disasters of life which can beset many unfortunate people, often through no fault of their own. I saw first hand the effects of the decline of traditional industries and the challenges which face working people trying to adapt to new types of jobs as their old livelihoods disappear.
In my early twenties I attended Leeds University and studied politics, social sciences and business studies to gain a BA Hons degree. I then attended Leeds Metropolitan University Business School, where I became interested in business computing and obtained a PostGraduate Diploma. I also hold an MSc in Computer Systems from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh.
I have spent most of my working life in the IT sector of the economy for various organisations including local government, water supply, financial services, logistics, eCommerce, commercial property, transport, defence and industry. I have a broad range of experience in both the public and private sectors. Latterly I have become expert in the application of Internet technologies to solve business problems. I have held jobs as computer programmer, software developer, web developer, software development manager, team leader and director of a small software company. I currently work in the music streaming sector.
For the past 23 years I have lived in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Prior to that I lived in Derbyshire for 10 years, and central Yorkshire for several years.
During my time in Beverley I have been an avid follower of local news and events and think I have a good understanding of the local and national factors which influence our local government, politics, communities and economy.
My interests include guitars, reading, art and music. I also enjoy some video gaming.