I was born in Abergavenny in Wales. My formative years were spent in Nant-y-glo where I attended the Infants school on the Garn and then Nantyglo Junior School which has since been demolished - a shame as the building was 110 years old at the time.

 My subsequent attendance at Nantyglo Comprehensive School was disrupted by my decision to learn a brass instrument and begin composition. I think I was 11 when in the middle of a general music lesson decided that I wanted to learn something. At the time I had thought that the flute would be a good instrument but as it happened, the brass peripatetic teacher, Lawrence Davies, was at the school that day. The following week he brought in an old cornet and from then on I joined a succession of brass bands. At the time I didn't realise the importance of the instrument within the social  makeup of the community. Lessons with Lawrence Davies were free through the school - something that has since sadly changed - and the Brass Band community provided free instrumental and musical tuition. Often the Brass Band beginners classes are run by dedicated individuals that provide a wealth of knowledge to their students. I can clearly remember going to Abertillery twice a week to play in a small group of beginners under the tutelage of  Joyce Morgan - I think there are many people from the local area who owe a debt to her tireless efforts. 

 Before long I had decided that I could probably write music as well as the stuff we had been playing so I put pen to paper. I wrote a large amount of pieces for Brass Band and two 'symphonies' for orchestra. The County Council provided a youth orchestra on Saturday mornings which accounted for a great deal more playing and listening experiences which took place at Nantyglo Comprehensive School. The school did not teach music composition but I carried on coming out with melodies and putting one note after the other. Not surprisingly, my early efforts were not great works of art.

 The music staff at the school were supportive and they contacted the late Glyn Jones who was Music Director of Gwent. He decided that it would be in my interest to go to Charterhouse School, which was the only school in the country to have a composer-in-residence: Ralph Vaughan Williams had attended the school and the RVW Trust provided the funds for a composer-in-residence. Gwent County Council had sent others before me, including James Webb who was one year my senior.

 I started on my Harry-Potter-esque trip with a great amount of excitement. The school had a vast amount of musical activities that I was thrust into. There were several choirs, a couple of orchestras, smaller ensembles, and of course the local town band Godalming Brass Band. This kept me immensely busy but I had the more important task of  learning to write music. The music staff couldn't understand how I had written so much with knowing so little. I had been using my own technique to write down the sounds that I imagined, but here I would begin the long road of learning harmony and counterpoint: as one beak (Carthusian for teacher) Mr Russell said 'you have to know the rules before you can break the rules'.

 Over time I learned enough to start writing some average pieces, but it was difficult dealing with a large learning curve over those three years. I had to learn other things very quickly such as French. The exam was six months after I joined the school, I had previously dropped French for German, which meant re-learning the language almost from scratch. Maths came year early and was awkward because the syllabus was completely different from the Welsh board. I managed to scramble through and quickly learned the schools odd customs and nomenclature.

 When I left the school I headed back for the border and found myself under the tutelage of Anthony Powers at Cardiff University, were I stayed for four years. I then went on for four years at Bristol with Wyndham Thomas and Robert Saxton.

 I moved to London after I left Bristol with the intention of making a go of all of my studying. Unfortunately I was involved in a Car Crash which cracked two ribs and damaged my sternum. This followed by another several weeks later.

 I am have recently picked up the baton and I am currently conducting Bream Silver, after just four weeks we achieved third place in the Pontins National Competition.