I was at Barrow Hills from 1991 until 1997, and we had three headmasters during that time. Firstly, there was Father Roger, and then, in 1994, I believe Mr Good served as interim headmaster, until Mr Connolly became the permanent headmaster in 1995.
I attended Reed’s School in Cobham after Barrow Hills, and, in all honesty, it was a bit of a culture shock for me. At Barrow Hills, many of the children were from the countryside or small towns like me, but at Reed’s, there were a lot of pupils from big cities, so the attitude and culture were quite different.
My parents separated only a few months after I started at Barrow Hills in Year 1, and my teacher, Mrs Evans, showed me a lot of sympathy. When it came to prize night in June, she decided I should receive the effort prize, and this meant a lot to me at what was a difficult time. Unfortunately, she left the school shortly after, and I would like to find her one day to thank her for her kindness and support. Everyone in my year adored Mrs Evans.
I wasn’t a boarder, although I did board for a week when my parents went to Cyprus. I was particularly nervous about it, but I enjoyed it.
The friendships I made at Barrow Hills were, quite simply, what I enjoyed the most. Our class was quite small, and we were a pretty tight-knit group in the last couple of years. I have many treasured memories with my friends, mostly playing outside and just being boys.
I distinctly remember some of the plays we performed in, particularly a comedy version of Treasure Island, where I played an undertaker. Part of the humour was that I was the tallest boy in the year, while the other undertaker was my good friend James Melia, who was among the shortest, and we wore each other’s suits. The audience was in stitches each time we had a scene — or at least, that’s how I remember it!
I didn’t realise it at the time, but being educated in a place with so much space and greenery was special, and what that does for a child’s development is immeasurable. I believe Barrow Hills also gave me an appreciation of higher culture. I fondly remember Paul Dzwig, our French teacher, playing Jean de Florette in class one day, and I think that’s where my appreciation of arthouse cinema began.
After school, I studied in Salamanca, Spain, and received a Spanish language diploma, which has since benefited me with some translation work along the way. I also studied ‘Documentary Film and Television’ at the University of South Wales in Newport and worked briefly in the industry before obtaining a teaching certificate, which led me to work in Sardinia and Rome. I also worked for a travel company for a year in Valencia before moving to Poland. I have now lived in Warsaw for seven years with my Polish wife and my son, Julian, who is almost five. I run my own small business offering business English training to companies, and I also work as the head specialist in the editing team for a Polish think tank that conducts research on Central and Eastern Europe. At the moment, much of our work focuses on the war in Ukraine.