About me - my life so far - 75 years condensed into less than a thousand words....
I'm now 75 years old. I am a Chartered Patent Attorney, with the qualifications which often go with that (European Patent Attorney, Trade Mark Agent etc). My early years in the profession were in the IP (Intellectual Property) departments of some of the industrial giants of the West Midlands - names largely history today ! BSA Group - the largest producer of cycles and motorcycles, with many other interests; Dunlop -UK's largest tyre manufacturer but I did work in the Aviation division, on Concorde hydraulics, and on the first anti-lock brakes , then IMI in the days when aero-space was the thing and "new metals" the buzz-word . But for almost 40 years I was in a Private Practice in Birmingham dividing my time between local clients - the SME's of the industrial Midlands - and a number of foreign clients ( mainly USA, Japan and Australia) for whom I or my firm provided the Intellectual Property advice and action.
I left school at the earliest allowed age, as both my parents had done before me, no doubt for the same kind of economic reasons. Any ideas of grammar school or university suggested by my teachers were dismissed out of hand, so I count myself fortunate in having been able to surmount those early obstacles and spend my life in an interesting and rewarding profession - which was never (well, hardly ever ) a drudgery. Maybe I'm looking back with rose-coloured spectacles !
Photography was an interest from childhood. I had a my first camera - a very simple affair - before my teens, and quickly learned to develop my films and make my contact prints - which were all of 6 x 9cm - in the kitchen, with shutters closed to make a dark-room. The natural world was also an interest from an early age and when I got my first 'bike, perhaps when I was 12 or 13 (needful to get to school, which was perhaps the only reason such a "major" item of expenditure could be considered by the family) I was off to escape from the urban area whenever I could.
As a married man, and with improving finances from advancement in my profession, I presently achieved my own house and my first garden, and the first orchids followed very soon afterwards - probably early 1961. My interest in photography was heightened by my orchids - I wanted to take better pictures of them, and so I got into more serious photography. I was awarded my LRPS soon after that grade of distinction was introduced by The Royal Photographic Society. At that time I was involved in Sutton Coldfield PS, then a leading club in the Midlands, and they ran the Midlands Area Exhibition for the Federation of Photo Clubs - a job (Organising Secretary for the Exhibition) which I did for 3 years, introducing many innovations such as an AV competition ( and remember, this was early 1970's), panels of themed prints by single workers, a landscape only section, etc.
In the early 1970s, much was happening in the wide world; UK "went into Europe". The UK Government decided that it was time to rationalise affairs, and hand over some Governmental responsibilities to European institutions, and part of the plan was to close the UK Patent Office. This could have had a major effect on my firm - our fear was that the 50% of the business which was for overseas Corporations/Universities etc., would go to firms who had an office close to the European Patent Office. So we - my partners and myself - decided that we must have an office in Munich. My private life was in a mess, as my marriage was on the rocks. I decided to start a new page as a divorced man living alone in a flat in Munich, running the new office. And so I sold my orchid collection.
At the 59th minute of the 11th hour - in fact on the day before I was due to fly to Munich to sign contracts for the leases of flat and office, the Government caved in to the representations of both business (CBI)and trade unions (TUC), and scrapped these plans. So I never went.
My present collection of orchids - and for that matter my present marriage (now approaching it's silver anniversary) date from the rebuilding of my life which followed those events.
I have 2 sons, both married, and with 3 grandchildren - a 4th on the way. My wife Joyce has 3 children and also has 4 grandchildren. All of the grandchildren have been born since Joyce and I were married, so that they have always known an extra Grandparent - but once past earliest childhood all call me by my name rather than any title - I prefer to be known as "Geoff".
Apart from my orchid and photography interests, I spend my time gardening, playing contract bridge with Joyce as my partner in two local clubs; I'm on the committee of one of them . I'm also, currently, treasurer of a local Probus club, where I/we have some further social life. Otherwise my time is spent visiting theatres, traveling (long-haul whenever possible), and walking in the countryside whenever I feel I can steal a day away, with any of several rambling clubs or alone if needs-be - I am good company for myself. ( Joyce does not walk far nowadays and we both plan our lives to be together as much as possible, or I think I'd do more walking than I actually manage.). The days are too short; so are the weeks, and the years go by too quickly. It's called growing old. Anyone who has a cure, don't delay - tell me now !