Born in 1944 I qualified as a 2nd Mate after completing a Merchant Navy apprenticeship with Alfred Holt & Co sailing out of Liverpool. I joined the Royal Air Force in 1966 as a navigator and flew Hercules, Basset, Britannia, and VC10 aircraft as well as serving at the RAF College Cranwell, British Embassy Washington, Ministry of Defence and Royal College of Defence Studies reaching the rank of Wing Commander. In 1993 I took early retirement and became a GP practice manager in Highgate, North London before moving to Norfolk in 1999 and doing a similar job at the Campingland Surgery in Swaffham before finally retiring in 2006. In 2007 I was invited to join the Home Hospice Management Committee, which I was very happy to do and became Chairman in May 2008.