I live in Dover, with a beautiful view of the castle, the docks and the sea. I keep myself busy with plenty of clifftop and countryside walks, music, film, poetry, radio drama and comedy, yoga, cryptic crosswords, regular games of badminton, and more music.

I play a few different instruments; my strongest being Irish tin whistle, guitar, mandolin, tenor banjo and flute. I’ve been self-employed since 2005, teaching, composing and performing. I enjoy playing solo classical guitar, as well as traditional jigs, reels, polkas and airs on the mandolin and the tin whistle. As a lifelong musician, I’ve  had the pleasure of working with hundreds of great musicians over the years.

My previous work has been very varied, including the role of head of music at a special school, lecturer in music and maths at an international college, secondary school teacher of music and maths, sound engineer, assistant examiner, stage manager, entertainments representative, student union president, labourer, tractor driver, night-bus driver and exams invigilator. In my younger days I performed as a juggler and unicyclist in various circus groups all over the UK, including Covent Garden, and also in France, Italy and The Netherlands.

I am a great believer that our choices in life are the things that make us who we are. My life has been filled with many adventures, and there are hopefully plenty more to come. I have been an atheist for my whole life and a vegetarian since my teens.

Before qualifying as a fully accredited celebrant, I was once asked to produce and deliver a non-religious funeral ceremony for a very close friend. I was a little nervous about taking on the role, but naturally, I couldn’t say no. I threw myself wholeheartedly into the task of creating the tribute and writing a fitting and bespoke ceremony around it. On the day of the funeral, I presented the ceremony to a crowded chapel, and co-ordinated the readings from contributors. Of all the funerals I’d attended, this was the first one where I truly felt that we had all been part of a wonderful farewell with a proper celebration of his life. At the gathering afterwards, I met many of his relatives for the first time. Their comments about the ceremony were all enthusiastically positive, with a lot of them assuming that I had been a funeral celebrant for many years. This is the point where I decided to learn more about the role of  celebrant. I completed the Humanists UK celebrant training course, and I now feel honoured to be in a position to help grieving families through what is naturally a very difficult time.