All through my school years I was always regarded as being the best drawer in the class by my compatriots and always did my best to live up to my reputation. And so it went through infants, junior school and secondary education. As I got older and began to think in terms of what I was going to do with my life as an adult there was only one thing that really appealed to me, the idea of going to art college and learning more about drawing painting and anything else to do with art.
I left school in the summer of 1970 at the age of 15 having managed to get into Batley Art College (it was actually known as D.A.B.T.A.C. or Dewsbury & Batley Technical and Art College, but most people shortened it to Batley Art College) which was renowned in the area for the number of students who managed to get taken on within the design industry, so I thought I had made a good choice. I didn’t have any G.C.E. ‘O’ Levels at all and had got in purely on the strength of my drawing work.
I spent 4 wonderful years at Batley Art College and enjoyed every minute of it, from throwing clay at one another in the pottery classes to those evenings spent around the fire at the New Inn in Batley waiting for the night class to start! And the meat & potato pies the landlord used to sell, wonderful, the laughter and general bonhomie, poking fun at the lecturers, every one of which was an eccentric, and moreover a decent bunch! (And I enjoyed the lectures as well by the way!) I decided to follow a career in graphic design as there seemed to be a lot more to learn and therefore a broader career path. I gained a few qualifications while I was there, G.C.E. Art 'A' Level, and passed the Yorkshire Certificate of Further Education in Advertising Design & Display with a Distinction pass at certificate level and a Credit pass at Diploma level. I also passed as a Licenciate for the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers.
My first job after leaving Batley was at a place in Bradford called 'the Northern Shade Card Company', they were a company allied to the textile industry and made pattern books for carpets and other trivia, the job wasn't up to much and I only stayed there a year before landing a job as an artist at Rustcraft Greeting Cards UK in Dewsbury.
