After qualifying in Liverpool in 1969, spending a short time in General Practice in Cwmbran, I moved into general practice in Kidderminster in 1974. In 1980 I became very interested in pre-hospital emergency medicine and  set up (words of the Kidderminster Shuttle, not mine) the flying doctor service. With Graeme Wilcox (ex Linden Avenue Surgery), organised one of the first ‘out of hours service GP Service’ in the country covering the Wyre Forest Area. In 1985 my involvement with BASICS stimulated interest in international repatriation which led me to participating with the St John medical repatriation service operating in Lear jets out of Coventry (as did my wife Isobel who was a practice nurse in Bewdley). Finally in 1997, both of us dropped out of General Practice and became heavily involved in commercial international medical repatriation

For the next seven  years both of us travelled some 500,000 miles a year repatriating sick and injured Brits from all over the world – there are few countries we have not travelled to and the rare occasions we got together was in the business class lounge at Heathrow airport!

In 2006 we retired from a very time consuming and tiring  (but much better paid than General Practice) occupation, and decided to spend 16 relaxing years in the sunny climes of Cyprus. There is no question that, although a long way from family, we had a superb time and experience and made many new friends. However, age and potential medical problems reared their unavoidable heads and we decided to come back to the UK in 2021.

We now live in Maidenhead and taking cardiac, hepatic, prostatic, and arthritic hurdles into account it was a good decision. We live close to our daughter and, with medical problems well controlled, are living a very happy retirement.