Background – do you have to be an engineer ….

Bit of a late entry to the blog .. but may help those wavering on the edge of ‘Should I’ .. ‘ Shouldn’t I ‘ buy …..

My background is not in engineering at all …. Spent my career in IT designing, coding and testing major banking systems to NatWest/Coutts and small/medium sized business systems. For those who know of mainframes …that was my forte .. Assembler 370 machine code (with my mentor Frank) .. A mans coding language !

Worked in the city for 10 years, learning to ‘fly’ on the Liverpool street to Colchester rail link, eventually taking my test in Ipswich, qualifying cross country Ipswich, Cambridge, Sywell, Ipswich… Fun days. Then took a promotion and moved to Jersey for 2 years (and never left !). Managed a myriad of Coutts offices IT worldwide from Cayman through Miami to Zurich, Hong Kong and Singapore. My year 2000 switchover was a very long two days to ensure all offices worldwide were ok.

Learned about mechanics when I bought my 1967 MGB Roadster … 7 years of being able to predict what needed repairing almost before it had stopped rolling from its latest breakdown Then with 3 sons all getting into motor biking we ended up being a 7 bike family .. Track days ensued in France, Magny Cours, Le Mans, Val de Vienne …. I learned exactly what a high side is .. And how much bruising you actually get when your Aprilia RSV decides to break its fall on you !

Was very fortunate to fly my very good friend (Captain John Graham) 1937 Stampe for around 5 years and fell in love with biplanes and their unique features. Annual air tests were always an exciting time.  Jersey Aero Club managed to secure a fantastic old Chipmunk on loan from a Jersey resident (Mike Collett – Owner of The Classic Collection) which plugged the gap for a while when the Stampe was sold.

Now do around 100 hours a year picking puppies up from the UK as no airlines fly them back from the UK now (the long boat journey is not much fun for a young pup – or an anxious owner). Fly to France most months with the odd nip into Paris (Toussus) and various other little strips. Built and flown models for years but stopped when I moved to Jersey… So the Sherwood is quite a step up…. Lots of new techniques learned and new disciplines to pick up.