Born to parents Gerald and Joan, I attended Calton Road Infants and Junior schools before getting a place at Sir Thomas Richs Grammar school in Longlevens. I left with a few "O" Levels, then got an engineering apprenticeship at the Wall's Ice Cream factory in Gloucester. Four happy (and some not so happy) years later, I found himself out of a job in a very difficult political climate of the time. Jobs were few and far between and unemployment was high under the Margaret Thatcher rule. However, perseverance paid off and after a year drawing unemployment benefit (of £12.50 a fortnight!) I eventually found a job on a farm in Taynton, working as a milkman. 4 am starts and a distinct lack of being paid on time (if at all) forced the job-hunting yet again - and six months later I found a job working at the much closer-to-home Moreland's Match Factory (now an industrial estate) working as a service/restoration engineer on industrial cleaning equipment. The company was small, but it was back in engineering (of sorts) again. Six (happy) months later I was shocked to get the sack! Very suddenly one morning, I managed to get told not to come back for no readily apparent reason - so I didn't!

Not wishing to go back to drawing unemployment benefit, a friend advised that there are employment agencies out there that would find temporary work quickly. Knowing nothing of this, I scuttled along to an employment agency, who found some work for me as a machine operator in a shower factory in Cheltenham - starting the very next week! Turning up on the Monday morning, papers in hand, I wasn't quite sure what to expect....but what greeted me was to amuse for the rest of my time there!! Basically, a machine operator's role is to place components in a machine of some sort, press a few buttons (or twiddle a few handles) and extract the finished component a few seconds/minutes later. Then repeat it. And again and again and again. Not only that, you had to do a set amount of components in an hour - every hour! Well. I was not at all happy with this - went for lunch and didn't go back! (Whether I was missed or not I never did find out...or ask!). I went back to the Agency instead and was told to give it another go. So I did.

Fourteen years later I was still there! However, things had changed rather a lot over that fourteen years. But that's a digression - back to the beginning of that fourteen years, then. Perhaps it was the machine I was working on at the time, but I still wasn't keen - although the work did get better. It was still repetative and boring - but friends were made and fun was had whilst doing this boring repetetive work. Then one day it all changed! An internal vacancy arose that was to be the first of a few different roles within the Factory. The first step was to get a permanent job - as the permanent workers got paid a lot more and you were assured of work - whereas as an Agency worker, you got paid a cut of the Agent's fee and it was (in some cases very) temporary! I was fortunate to be successful and I was taken on permanently. And so started a few internal jobs with the Factory.

The first role was in the Short Order Shop - and we have to mention this first role as it was a pivotal period for me in the 1980's. I was working as a short order machinist - that meant that I was to make individual parts to order and there were (hardly) any time limits! So the variety appeared and kept my attention. That - and a very good and funny bunch of guys that worked there - Ken Holtom (the boss), Johnny Millin, Tony Legg (Shinners) to name a few. But far and away the biggest influence was my chargehand, Brian Ursell, who not only trained me in the fine arts of specialist machining but also provided a few cigarettes when times were hard! Then on to another type of specialist machining - this time as a machine setter on the dirtiest and most complicated of machines - Didomats and AM2's. Under the watchful eye of Colin Cheal (?), I spent a couple of years setting and maintaining these huge hydraulic monsters. Then onto Quality Control - and nights - for twelve years!

Quality Control - my biggest influences here were (the late) John Bennett, Doug Little and Mike Hawtin, along with the biggest amusements (who shall remain nameless). Nights was a great place - got to know a lot of good people - and sometimes did a bit of quality control thrown in! From Quality Control and nights came days and Production Engineering. Here were people like Clive Hughes, Derek Bradley and many other people providing an enjoyable time on days! Not so enjoyable was the daily drive to Wolverhampton to Meynell - but once there - a good crew too.

Moving on - and a huge change of career. Knowing people in the IT Department at Mira sparked an interest in IT and so I decided it was time to change careers and go for a job in the burgeoning area of computers and IT. Luckily one such job arose at Gloucestershire Health Authority, starting as a support technician supporting 100 users on a small isolated network. Twelve years later and I am the head of an eight-strong team of senior technicians looking after a Countywide set of major servers, running such things as Patient Systems, Clinical Systems, Email File & Print Services - to name but a few of the 400 strong server estate.

Hobbies are mainly to do with Doctor Who, Sci-Fi or computers! I've written a couple of websites (on the links page) and I continue to write them for pleasure - for the time being, anyway. I also enjoys many Science-Fiction programmes, such as Battlestar Galactica, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and the Stargate series, however has been a life-long fan (44 years) of Doctor Who.

I have a healthy interest in everything electrical and mechanical (preferably electro-mechanical!) which probably stemmed from his early career aspirations to be a maintenance engineer. Having discovered an aptitude for anything electrical or mechanical, I like the machines of a bygone era (without all those nasty electronics) and would have been very happy as Charles Babbage's assistant.

My musical tastes are somewhat eclectic and wide ranging, from classical music to the drum and bass (or whatever it's called!) of the present time despite not being able to play anote on anything! My choice of films is also diverse - from musical classics like Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang and Oliver! to present day CGI wonder films, such as The Matrix, Blade and Underworld. It has to be said that my favourites are probably the Sci-Fi/Vampire themed ones. I'm not averse to a few comedies (like the Carry-On's) and the programmes of the 70's and 80's (Reggie Perrin, Morecambe & Wise and so on). Naturally a fan of Douglas Adams, Harry Harrison, Terry Pratchett and countless other authors covering several genres.

Currently based at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital (in Gloucester, believe it or not) I share an office and attempt to look after my brilliant staff. I suppose I look after the servers too, but that's just a nasty rumour.

A frequent Twitter user (@AlanJWoodward) a sometimes Facebook User and a part-time web designer\web writer\hobbyist mainly specialising in Joomla! CMS-based sites.