At APD we felt if you wanted to do business with us; it would be a good thing to get to know me as a person as well as a business prospect. Therefore every other blog on here will be about me as a person alternating with Business blogs. Hope you are all comfortable with that.

BLOG 1 – THE FOUNDATION YEARS.

I was born in West Wales in 1953. Dad was a cowman for a local farmer; Mum a housewife. Aged 18 months; the family moved to Carmarthenshire where I became the eldest of six kids. Aged 3 I started school as Mum was expecting the third child. At the end of the first day (according to Mum legend) I said I was not going back to school as I had been playing on my own in the corner all day – if that was the case I may as well stay at home and play with my little brother.

A letter to the school the next day ensured I was put in a ‘class’. So two things come to light about me at a very young age – my love of learning; education and knowledge (thanks Mum) and my determination to get things done!
The school was in a tiny village in Carmarthenshire – 30 children attended the school in total. By the age of 8 therefore I was in the ‘top class’ (there were only 2 classes in the school!). Here something else that has become a passion came to light – my hatred of bullies. Unfortunately I became a target as I somehow managed to get more marks in the Christmas tests that year than older children [we didn’t have exams and SATs as we do these days; just simple spelling; writing and arithmetic tests]; it didn’t go down well. I refused to let the bullying tactics stop me doing well in class and tests for the next couple of years; and I continued to score well [there is that determination again].

Another incident when I was 8 might also show you the type of person I am – every Sunday I would love to walk to our chapel with my Dad as he was the Sunday School teacher. One Sunday on the way home I was told “Next week Hywel you will tell the children the story and ask the questions”. I asked him why – the response was “Because you don’t give anyone else a chance to speak; so if you ask the questions the other children have a chance to answer”. There is that love of learning and education again and the start of me transferring knowledge to others and helping improving everyone.

During my final year at primary; on a very important day in March 1964 I had chickenpox! It was 11+ day. I was gutted to miss it. However, the school managed to get me to complete a ‘private’ paper in May and all was well. So well in fact that I was invited as someone from a poor family in Carmarthenshire to go through an interview and entrance examination for the public school in the county; an amazing honour. Most amazing is that I was awarded a place (we were known as the ‘Carmarthen Six’) on the Thomas Phillips Scholarship for the school starting in September.

My formative years have given me my love of education; learning and knowledge and showed me that I am a very determined character who loves to help others.

More on all that in future blogs.