My formative years were spent in the midlands of England where, I am reliably informed, I learned to read before the age of four and had a very healthy interest in books. We moved to Aberdeenshire when I was eight years old where we lived on a small croft and the library van appeared once a week at the small primary school I attended. Each week my mother and I would collect armfuls of books and read these each evening since we did not have a television in those days.

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At secondary school, my favourite aspect of the English lesson homework was to write a short story or essay, I was less interested in, and therefore struggled with interpretation, something I now wish I had paid more attention to. At lunchtime I would retreat to the school library to avoid having to play football in all weathers. I quickly worked my way through endless Biggles and similar boys’ adventures, and sci-fi books; Bradbury, Wells, Verne, Clarke, Asimov to mention but a few. The librarian once told me that I had read every sci-fi book on the school shelves and that she had therefore ordered more from the central library for me. I think we were both quite impressed by that.

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My student days turned my attention mainly to architecture related topics but for relaxation my indulgent interests still drifted to sci-fi and a good murder/mystery novel as well as comedy, history and natural history. Consequently, my bookshelves teem with a wide range of subject matter, both factual and fictional, gathered over many years. Somehow, I find the presence of these books, bending my shelves, both comforting and inspiring.

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In addition to design, much of my working life involves writing very dry subject matter, rooted in technicality, but in recent years I have picked up the pen once more and started to assemble words for pleasure. I am also a keen and hopefully capable photographer and have started putting photo-books together that bring together photographic subject matter and associated narrative. These are a kind of travel book that are becoming more complex and descriptive with each one I compose.

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I have also started writing some short stories, one of which, I was amazed to find, was published in an anthology created as part of a short story competition run by HighlandLIT before I became a member. Since then, I continue to read and occasionally scribble down various musings as my time allows. I have started reading some of the works of our published members and am amazed at the talent we have here in our midst. I hope that I can bring my wider skillset to the committee and be supportive and encouraging to this wonderful group of creative writers and authors.