Born 27. May 1942. Married.
Qualifications
City of Stoke-on-Trent, Directorate of Corporate Resources, Swift House, Glebe Street, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 1HP. Until end of May 2007.
However, I wished to keep active professionally and continue to make a contribution using the skills, knowledge and experience I had acquired while in formal employment.
From January 2007 I have been working towards developing an independent research consultancy starting with the development of this website www.kvmresearch.co.uk. It has been revised and updated during the spring and early summer of 2015 and is currently undergoing further changes.
The work of the consultancy is focussed on the following areas:
This work has resulted in assignments for local retailers, assessing their local markets based on published statistics including Census information and surveys of their current customers.
This work is aimed at giving guidance for new areas of expansion and new products and services customers wish to see.
In addition I have developed a large database of advertised property prices. Analyses of extracts from this database have appeared in local media including ‘The Sentinel’, ‘Congleton Chronicle’, ‘Focus’, mouthpiece of the North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Odd Rode Parish Magazine.
The property research seeks out information that is of benefit to operators in the property industry and their business plans.
Over the years I have also done a lot of research into other areas as the issues became a concern for me. This included some studies into migration and commuter patterns based on the 2001 Census within and around Stoke-on-Trent, completed just before I left the City Council; a 5 year study into the life of slugs within my garden where they had become something of a menace (I was told that the study was very good and comprehensive, but did not reveal anything, that was not already known); an anglo-danish (dansk-engelsk) dictionary of nouns; the attendance at football matches; working conditions of researchers who at the time were seen to be somewhat overlooked; Town Reports.
Much of my research is based on information extracted from successive censuses. I am a very firm believer in the value of the censuses as an unparalleled source of information for market research purposes. Over time each census may become somewhat outdated, but it remains true that there is no other source with such a wealth of socio-economic information. No amount of estimation or partial surveys locally, regionally or nationally will be able to match the censuses for comprehensiveness or accuracy. I am therefore particularly pleased that planning for the 2021 Census is now underway.
Despite a disagreement with the Royal Town Planning Institute which caused me to resign from that organisation I have maintained an interest in town and country planning issues. I keep this interest alive through my membership of Odd Rode Parish Council and CPRE.
I am a firm believer in local democracy and therefore applied for membership of and was co-opted to Odd Rode Parish Council in November 2002. I was elected chair of the full council a year later until May 2004. I chaired its Planning Committee from 2006 to 2012 and is still a member of that committee.
Following the completion of the Parish Plan (published 2006) I chaired a working party which eventually completed a Village Design Statement in 2011.
Currently I am a member of a team of residents and councillors who are working towards a Neighbourhood Plan for Odd Rode.
An analysis of the residents' survey is included in the website.
Through my membership of the Odd Rode Parish Council and as a long standing member (since 1975) of the Liberal Democrats and its predecessor the Liberal Party I have maintained an interest in political issues as an observer as well as a participants.
A personal account of the ‘Brexit’-phenomenon is included in the website.
I do believe in the benefits of greater cooperation within Europe at all levels, but I have never been a great believer in the EU project. However, at the same time I do also believe that after more than 40 years as a member of the EEC, now the EU, it was a great mistake to leave the union. The referendum was the worst possible shambolic and confused political act with perceived and disregarded unintended consequences. It was possible as the UK's unwritten constitution have no rules for holding a referendum, who can call a referendum about what and when.
I was formally diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in June 2008, but the symptoms probably began to emerge in the autumn of 2006. I have since become a member of Parkinson’s UK and is taking an active interest in their research activities. I am also an active supporter of the American ‘Michael J. Fox Foundation’ and take part in their activities where possible.
As a Research Volunteer with Parkinson’s UK I have for the last two years been a member of a panel of lay reviewers of research projects and have to date reviewed nearly 30 projects.
In April 2019 I was elected a Lay member of the Cohort Studies Council panel and attended its first meeting shortly after.
My personal interest is in the concept of self-monitoring, alternative treatments and therapies such as acupuncture, and what lifestyle one can adopt that will or may halt or at least slow down the progress of the disease.
Writing has been my principal skill and passion since I first learnt to write as evidenced by numerous editorial letters over the years.
In recent years this has developed into writings of formal or informal essays on many different subjects, but often with a political or community wide undertones.
I take great pride in ensuring that my words express exactly what I want to say and I am frequently getting annoyed by people who do not seem to think or reflect on their own words.
There is a the difference between a ‘principle’ and a ‘principal’, between ‘oral’ and ‘verbal’, between ‘there’ and ‘their’ (eg “I wish to go there” and “I am their friend”), but people do not seem to realise that using one or the other of these words might totally alter the meaning of what they wish to say.
Why substitute new words for old with the same meaning such as ‘sarni’ instead of ‘sandwich’ or “I am sat on the chair” instead of “I am sitting on the chair”