Z1205/263

Male. Community Forest Officer. b. 20.01.1962 SIDE A (00 mins)Born in Ghana, Africa. Father was a banker. Family has some cine films of he and his sister when they were infants there. Moved back to England when he was less than 2 years old. (05 mins)Family was "homeless" for a while, living with relatives. Father was ill with kidney problems. (10 mins)Father got a job with an American bank in Walsall, in the Midlands. Interviewee attended school in Sutton Coldfield. Was always interested in the natural world. Good at biology and English. (15 mins)Attended Hatfield College (now Hertfordshire University) where he took a sandwich course (academic course plus one-year work placement). Worked for Ministry of Agriculture in Guildford for a year at the Land Pest and Birds Research Unit. Dissecting rabbits. (20 mins)Details of various research projects. (25 mins)Completed degree but was unemployed for many months. Active as amateur musician - guitarist. (30 mins)Played in semi-professional band for a while. (32 mins)End of Side A Side B (00 mins)Liked playing rhythm and blues guitar. Musicians he knew. (05 mins)Got a job with the Manpower Services Commission in charge of a gang of men who were long-term unemployed, working on environmental projects. (10 mins)Moved on to job as a Ranger in North East Hertfordshire. After two years moved on to a countryside project around Luton and Dunstable. Met his wife-to-be, who was a volunteer. (15 mins)Bedfordshire County Council involvement with the application to establish a community forest in the county, funded primarily by central government. The setting up of the Forest of Marston Vale Trust. (20 mins)Long-term tree planting targets in the area. He was transferred from County Hall to the Forest Team as a rights of way officer for the Forest area. (25 mins)Personal career preferences. Community liaison work in relation to the Forest project. Recent initiatives. (30 mins)Future Parish Plan projects in rural communities may involve wild life and landscape surveys of the area. (32 mins)End of Side B ORIGINAL INTERVIEW 60 mins.

25 February 2004

From: 1960 To: 2004

item

banker, films, kidney stones, health, homelessness issues, Americans, biology curriculum, Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries, land surveyor, musicians, ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES, Country Side Ranger, forestry worker, forests, Marston Vale Trust, rights of way, planners, trees, Ampthill Rural District Councils, Ghana, Walsall, Sutton Coldfield, Guildford, MARSTON MORETAINE, STEWARTBY