ABOUT ME
As a young Geordie lad, I left Whitley Bay Grammar School in 1971, went to Liverpool to study for a degree in Applied Biology, got it, then moved down south to work. I got married to Lesley and we raised our family. Sadly, during this time, Lesley became ill and died tragically aged 35. As a single parent, I continued to work, and look after my family. Some years later, I was blessed by meeting the lovely Annie and we got married. I continued to work for a further 20 years, self-employed, but now I am retired (but not retiring).
WORK
My first job was to work as a biologist for the Agricultural Development and Advisory Service (ADAS) in London and then in a government laboratory in Slough. After doing that for a while, I re-educated myself by doing an O Level in Computer Science and applied for a job as an Analyst / Programmer in The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and then The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) in Harwell. Finally, I set up my own IT business creating websites.
I retired in April 2021. The day I switched off my business email address, after a lifetime of working, things took on an exciting and new perspective.
INTERESTS
MUSIC I taught myself to play the guitar when I was about 11 years old. As a teenager I played music with my friends, but was never in a band. Then life look over and it wan’t until I married Annie that music came back into my life. I learned bass and played in the worship band in church. Then I joined a local folk dance group, playing guitar. Then I taught myself mandolin, banjo and ukulele and joined more bands. More recently, I’ve joined a couple of bands playing the stuff I enjoyed as a teenager. Pop, rock, country blues and that sort of thing.
PHOTOGRAPHY I got my first camera when I was 12. It was an Halina which I bought second hand from Bonsers in Newcastle. I used Kodachrome 64 at first, but then became more adventurous and set up my own dark room in my bedroom in Whitley Bay. I’ve had many cameras since then. All good fun. So much so, I thought I’d show off a portfolio of some of my favourite shots on this website.
RETIREMENT
Retirement has given me more time to spend with my wife, my extended family, my music and my photography. And time to do nothing at all. Being a family man, my roles as husband, Dad and Grandad are the best things in my life.
FAITH
I am an active Christian and enjoy being part of Wantage Community Church. Over the years I have been involved in room setup and sound engineering for Sunday services, lead several Alpha Courses, and ran Marriage and Marriage Preparation Courses with Annie. I started and ran our church’s very first website and served as a Street Pastor in Wantage. These days I stick to playing in the Worship Band, which I really love doing.
FAMILY TRAGEDY
My first wife Lesley suffered from a depressive illness with personality problems since adolescence and had a long and difficult psychiatric history. Her behavioural problems and depression meant that in total, she spent extended periods in psychiatric care. It was 11 years after her first admission that she took her own life while under detention in Littlemore Hospital.
During those 11 years, despite treatment, Lesley’s mental state deteriorated, and we often felt helpless. On the one hand, when Lesley was at home, I had to deal with extreme, unexpected (and sometimes dangerous) situations, and on the other, when Lesley was in psychiatric hospital (sometimes up to six months at a time), I functioned as a single working parent, so when not actually at work (early morning, evenings and weekends), I fitted in school runs, shopping, cooking, cleaning, sewing, laundry, hairdressers, cubs, brownies, holidays etc with no family nearby to support me. Single working parents reading this will understand how complex, stressful and relentless this lifestyle is. In addition, I would visit Lesley in hospital every few days and attend regular Case Conferences to discuss Lesley’s mental health. Eventually, there was a County Court ruling to prevent Lesley being left alone with our four children. Clearly, our children were too young to be exposed to any of this stuff, and Lesley and I made it a priority to shield them. To this day, most of my family remain unaware of the kind of stress that Lesley and I endured for years.
Looking back, living through and dealing with the trauma as it unfolded, and then Lesley’s tragic death, took a significant toll on my own mental health. Far more than I realised at the time.
It is nearly 30 years on and my now grown-up children and I are only just working out how to come to terms with it.
Howard Hill 2024