 Born
in Accrington in 1942, lived in Bury 1964 - 1985 and retired in
Preston in 1992, I don't know how I ever found time to go to work as
I don't have a moment to spare with hobbies like Traditional Jazz,
Photography, Computing (Desktop Publishing & Midi), Gardening,
Amateur Radio (G3RSM), etc., and some of them (like amateur radio)
are currently having to take a back seat. I spent most of my work
time with BT initially as a telephone engineer, then a Television
Broadcast Link Engineer, then as a Data Communications Technical Support Manager. When early
retirement came at 50, I had even more time for computing and as
well as doing a course in C programming on 10th May 1994, I then went to the local University of Central Lancashire
and did a beginner's course on the Internet. From there I decided to
teach myself the web language (html) so I went out and spent £6.99
on one of the best valued books I have ever bought - "Teach
Yourself html" by Mac Bride. For the finishing touches I spent
£13.99 on the "Instant HTML Programmer's Reference" by Steve Wright.
Nowadays I tend to use Microsoft Front Page Editor, it's much
quicker.
I guess it's my love of New Orleans Jazz, which
started as a young man visiting the Bodega Jazz Club in Manchester, and the loan of reels and
reels of Ken Colyer, Alex Welsh & Chris
Barber tapes lent by an old friend of mine, Sam
Lord from Greenmount, Bury, that eventually led me
to create what began as my "Traditional Jazz
in Lancashire" Web Page. During the period
that "trad" became overplayed in the
50's, I moved on to other interests, and it
wasn't until the mid 80's that a visit to Kendal
unearthed the first of a series of Ken Colyer
reissues on Lake
Records and once again I was
"hooked". I still didn't appreciate
that live jazz was on the doorstep, until Tony Davis
started his programme "Tony's Trad" on
JazzFM
in September 1994 and
various local venues were mentioned on the programme. A visit to these locations and the
friendly musicians who played there opened up a
whole new delightful world of Traditional Jazz
nights at pubs and clubs across Lancashire, and I
want to share them with you. My wife Barbara, and
myself, started our own Jazz Venue in 1999, which we
ran for three years to
generate interest in Traditional Jazz in Preston.
Your comments on these pages would be appreciated
via email to jazznorthwest.co.uk@gmail.com.
If you wish to see what I was up to in my formative years,
check out this page
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Please visit my Home Page at
www.jazznorthwest.co.uk