My interests

My main leisure interest is the weather. Other interests include walking, gardening and a general interest in nature.

Weather and Computers

For a number of years I have been collecting basic weather data. Although my weather station site location is not ideal, it provides interesting data. I also have a remote sensing weather station on the roof. This can feed information into a computer. For more about my weather collection and data please visit my Weather pages.

I am currently managing, with Angella, an educational web site called Weather for Schools. It includes instructions on how to take readings, along with weather data from south Staffordshire.

Career

I used to be a part time senior lecturer at Newman University College, where I helped to deliver the Broad Curriculum aspects of Initial Teacher Training. The main areas I was concerned with were Design and Technology and ICT.
My career has included co-authoring a set of children's books on the weather for Heinemann Education. The series is called 'Measuring the Weather' and can be seen on Heinemann's UK and USA websites. I have also co-authored a Geography and ICT Teacher's handbook for Nelson Thornes. Another interesting project was co-authoring a book about Scotland. These build on my years of experience as a primary school teacher.

Open University

In 1996 I graduated from the Open University as a Master of Arts in Education. This was the culmination of five years hard work whilst in full time employment (as a primary school teacher). I particularly enjoyed the courses related to computers and child development.