My Life Story So Far.........
Well as you can see thats me in the picture with a happy face. But as every picture tells a story here is mine...
Born in South Wales UK in a small valley town called Maesteg. My father was a collier and my mother a cook in the local hospital both of whom worked hard all their lives to support their family. I attended the local Catholic primary and Comprehensive School where I first met my wife Michelle.
After leaving Comprehensive School at 16 years I was lucky enough to gain an apprentiship as a Fitter / Turner in our local steelworks at Port Talbot. After 4 years of learning the trade I eventually qualified and was offered a position in the works where I stayed for 10 years working in various departments.
At the end of my apprentiship Michelle and I were married in our local Catholic Church and have been blessed with 2 fantatsic daughters , Stephanie and Danielle. Michelle stayed at home and looked after the family until the girls were able to start school. Michelle started a local playgroup with her friend where both of them and the children had a brilliant time. Michelle then studied part time at the local college to become a fully qualified counsellor but during this period Michelle was overcome with M.E. but bravely battled on to gain her degree ( very proud of her ! ).
Both Stephanie and Danielle are now qualified teachers and Stephanie is married to Gavin and we have 3 beautiful grand daughters. Danielle is still living at home and is involoved in charity work with Dolan Cymru that offers support to schools in Lesotho in Africa. Danielle has been to Swaziland and Lesotho to teach in schools and helping with different projects. I am so proud of all my family.
Thats the brief history . Sounds great huh ! Lets just go a liitle deeper ......
Born in South Wales UK in a small valley town called Maesteg. My father was a collier and my mother a cook in the local hospital both of whom worked hard all their lives to support their family. I attended the local Catholic primary and Comprehensive School where I first met my wife Michelle.
After leaving Comprehensive School at 16 years I was lucky enough to gain an apprentiship as a Fitter / Turner in our local steelworks at Port Talbot. After 4 years of learning the trade I eventually qualified and was offered a position in the works where I stayed for 10 years working in various departments.
At the end of my apprentiship Michelle and I were married in our local Catholic Church and have been blessed with 2 fantatsic daughters , Stephanie and Danielle. Michelle stayed at home and looked after the family until the girls were able to start school. Michelle started a local playgroup with her friend where both of them and the children had a brilliant time. Michelle then studied part time at the local college to become a fully qualified counsellor but during this period Michelle was overcome with M.E. but bravely battled on to gain her degree ( very proud of her ! ).
Both Stephanie and Danielle are now qualified teachers and Stephanie is married to Gavin and we have 3 beautiful grand daughters. Danielle is still living at home and is involoved in charity work with Dolan Cymru that offers support to schools in Lesotho in Africa. Danielle has been to Swaziland and Lesotho to teach in schools and helping with different projects. I am so proud of all my family.
Thats the brief history . Sounds great huh ! Lets just go a liitle deeper ......
Troubles Ahead.......
The story so far sounds great and believe me the family is great and without their support and help I do not know what I would have done.
After working continental shifts in the steelworks for 10 years I could see that my friends wages were much bigger than mine for working days regular at our local cosmetic factory , so always looking for opportunities to improve my standard of living I applied for a mechanical technicians position . I was offered a positon with a rate of pay which was on a par with what I was earning in the steelworks , so I rejected the offer and asked for more money if they wanted my skills ( what a cheek ! ) but do you know what ? There and then I was offered an increase in salary and better terms so I accepted the position.
I worked hard within the factory working long hours and spending loads of tIme away from my family, Don,t get me wrong the finacial rewards were great and my family had whatever they wanted but on reflection what they really wanted was a husband and dad that spent more time at home. Anyhow I progressed up the corporate ladder until eventually I was in a senior position within the company. Unfortunately this position brought on stress and pressure and more precious time away from my family.
During this period family life was none existant and it put a real strain on my marriage. I thought to myself I had to get out of this race to save my marriage and family. I searched around for a while and was offered another senior position in a South African based company with company car and a great salary, within 6 months I was given promotion and a nice increase in salary. But there was massive work to be accomplished and once again was falling into the trap of all work and no play. At this time both Stephanie and Danielle were atttending University and the financial strain was very hard as going to University involves loads of field trips , expenditure on books and of course the biggest thing of all socialising!!
Staying in this position for 5 years and earning good profits for the company , there was a spark inside me telling me that if I can make money for my boss then why not become your own boss and make money for yourself. Brilliant idea !! But what shall I do ? I searched and investigated many options until I found a company for sale packing goods for retail and local companies.
So after a long due dilligence and talking to the bank, Michelle and I bought the company and off we went for 3 years . Don,t get me wrong it was still hard work and long hours but this time we was making money for ourselves and not for anyone else!!! The company was growing and employing more and more people, we moved to a more modern premises and things were good. I was looking to reduce my hours and Michelle was looking forward to working part time to be with our grandchildren then it hit us , the "creidt crunch" , companies were taking longer to pay their bills our suppliers and employees had to be paid on time, stress and pressure were now immense as our cash flow was drying up until eventually were forced to place the company into liquidation. It was devasting for us both as now there was no income and the personal bills were building up. The future we had planned and worked for was crumbling beneath us , personal debt was building up ( thank God for family ) and both Michelle and I started to become depressed and stressed .......
After working continental shifts in the steelworks for 10 years I could see that my friends wages were much bigger than mine for working days regular at our local cosmetic factory , so always looking for opportunities to improve my standard of living I applied for a mechanical technicians position . I was offered a positon with a rate of pay which was on a par with what I was earning in the steelworks , so I rejected the offer and asked for more money if they wanted my skills ( what a cheek ! ) but do you know what ? There and then I was offered an increase in salary and better terms so I accepted the position.
I worked hard within the factory working long hours and spending loads of tIme away from my family, Don,t get me wrong the finacial rewards were great and my family had whatever they wanted but on reflection what they really wanted was a husband and dad that spent more time at home. Anyhow I progressed up the corporate ladder until eventually I was in a senior position within the company. Unfortunately this position brought on stress and pressure and more precious time away from my family.
During this period family life was none existant and it put a real strain on my marriage. I thought to myself I had to get out of this race to save my marriage and family. I searched around for a while and was offered another senior position in a South African based company with company car and a great salary, within 6 months I was given promotion and a nice increase in salary. But there was massive work to be accomplished and once again was falling into the trap of all work and no play. At this time both Stephanie and Danielle were atttending University and the financial strain was very hard as going to University involves loads of field trips , expenditure on books and of course the biggest thing of all socialising!!
Staying in this position for 5 years and earning good profits for the company , there was a spark inside me telling me that if I can make money for my boss then why not become your own boss and make money for yourself. Brilliant idea !! But what shall I do ? I searched and investigated many options until I found a company for sale packing goods for retail and local companies.
So after a long due dilligence and talking to the bank, Michelle and I bought the company and off we went for 3 years . Don,t get me wrong it was still hard work and long hours but this time we was making money for ourselves and not for anyone else!!! The company was growing and employing more and more people, we moved to a more modern premises and things were good. I was looking to reduce my hours and Michelle was looking forward to working part time to be with our grandchildren then it hit us , the "creidt crunch" , companies were taking longer to pay their bills our suppliers and employees had to be paid on time, stress and pressure were now immense as our cash flow was drying up until eventually were forced to place the company into liquidation. It was devasting for us both as now there was no income and the personal bills were building up. The future we had planned and worked for was crumbling beneath us , personal debt was building up ( thank God for family ) and both Michelle and I started to become depressed and stressed .......
