Early in my 39-year career with the Bank of England I was very fortunate to be awarded a three-month Fellowship to travel to the USA to study banking services. I jumped at the opportunity to organise visits to banks in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Denver, where I was able to explore the differences between states, and between the USA and the UK in the range of services they offered their customers. Extensive programmes of internal visits were arranged and I met so many interesting people who, with my Churchill banner, were very forthcoming in answering my questions.

On my return, written reports on each visit were disseminated to my employer and to all the UK commercial banks to inform them of the US systems and to contribute to the development of new ideas and services they might adopt.

For some 50 years I've directed my energies to further the aims of the Churchill Fellowship by getting involved in developing and, until recently, actively supporting the network of local associations in London and the East Pennines. This led to an active role on the charity's council between 1996-1999, contributing to council meetings and selection panels to elect new Fellows.