The life, events and history of our family and relations
About Us
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Following his childhood in Kennington, London George undertook an electrical apprenticeship with the Mullard Radio Valve Company (Philips). He migrated into electronic design, supervision and then into management. After moving to East Grinstead he became the proud father of Kevin, Alan and Susie by his first marriage and then subsequently blessed with six lovely grandchildren. After 26 years at Mullard Mitcham, he was transferred to Philips DAP Hastings becoming the Works Manager. During the final years of his career, he was Plant Director, managing the domestic appliance factory.
Upon retirement and after 38-year service with Philips Electronics, George & Valerie toured the USA, Mexico and Canada for three years in a recreational vehicle. Interests included golf, electronics, DIY, bowling, computing, genealogy and cooking.
Valerie was born in Godstone, Surrey. Throughout her childhood, she lived in East Grinstead, Sussex along with her two brothers and sister Lesley. She attended Chequer Mead primary school and then Sackville. Her first employment was with AEI which involved long journeys to London by antiquated trains. Her next position was with APV in Crawley, and then for a time, she was employed by Radio Rentals in East Grinstead. Following the death of her first husband, she travelled to Hong Kong to visit friends and also to South Africa to stay with her eldest brother.
She and George met and after marrying in 1983 moved to Bexhill. Upon George’s retirement, they toured North America for 3 years and for many years has enjoyed cruising, swimming and bowling.
Susan (Susie) was born in East Grinstead, Sussex joining two brothers Kevin and Alan. She obtained a BA in Honours Silversmithing & Metalwork in 1997 and with a strong artistic flare has set up her own studio, making bespoke depictions of flowers out of precious metals. She is married to Ian and has two lovely daughters, Freya and Lauren. (tbf) 
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Alan is originally from Sussex and after his travels, decided to make the Netherlands his home. Technical challenges of all kinds, both creating and resolving them, and electronic music fill his spare time.
Anna is a native Finn and has been residing in the Netherlands for the past twenty years happily with her husband and two children. She enjoys the great outdoors, reading and crafting.
Oliver is fluent in English, Finish and Dutch. He is a space engineer in the making and enjoys school very much. For him, if it is not about Star Wars, it just is not worth it.
Like her elder brother, Ella is also fluent in English, Dutch and Finish. Ella wakes up early in the morning radiating positive energy that keeps her going all day. She spends her day rollerblading, cycling and conquering the world with her friends.
Kevin was born in Cuckfield and grew up in East Grinstead. He could not remember a time when not fascinated by computers so really couldn’t believe his luck upon discovering there was a professional lucrative living to be had from doing what he enjoyed most in something called Information Technology.
His career started operating main frame computers that batch-processed and number-crunched the output from seismic oil discovery surveys. When that became old (and he had programmed the computers to do the job for himself) he started working for an AAA-rated bank during the ‘Big Bang’ of the financial markets – following massive deregulation, a move for the first time to electronic, screen-based trading. When that became old, he moved into media for the development of the UK’s first Digital Terrestrial Broadcast systems, initially a subscription service, but what eventually became known as Freeview. He remained thereafter, in Information Technology, though as a manager of large technical departments after learning he enjoyed telling people as much as computers what to do.
Kevin became the father of Claire-Marie and Robert, of whom he could not be prouder. He now looks to grow old disgracefully with his (why are we whispering) wife Sarah, in their computer-controlled home, and get to permanently retire to his garden.
Sarah was born in Hampshire and raised in Surrey. She spent her university years and another 10 in London. Sarah’s work life took her into public service, first to the BBC and then into Policing, Central Government and Local Government.
Eventually, the countryside called and Sarah returned to her South East roots, this time in the heart of the Garner family in East Sussex. This is where she set up Green Room Development Ltd, a consultancy dedicated to helping public sector leaders build safer, more sustainable communities.
She finds her inspiration at home with Kevin, who brings out the best of her potential. Kevin shares the space in Sarah’s heart with their two dogs, who provide large doses of joy. Sarah loves simple pleasures, and her happiest moments are always with her family.
Claire grew up in Sussex, is a keen baker, and loves adventure. Growing up with a desire to become Sherlock Holmes, she studied Criminology and Psychology at university.
At university, she met Duncan – another adventuresome soul. Together they moved to London to pursue their dreams and even went travelling around SE Asia and Australasia for a few months.
More recently they’ve decided to move to Manchester and give the ‘grown-up’ lifestyle a shot. Claire has now moved into marketing, where she is growing her passion daily. Both Duncan and Claire are looking forward to welcoming their Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in 2021 and hosting their wedding in 2023.
After his parents clearly watched too much of The Good Life, Duncan spent his early years growing up in the farm life of a small village in North Wales. He spent a good few years in the company of a variety of animals; including pigs, goats, chickens, turkeys, and even a cow at one point.
Not content with village life (or dealing with the dreary weather of North Wales!), Duncan went to University on the other side of the country. Here he met Claire, someone who pushed him to be better and do more. Together they adventured halfway around the world and back, before finally landing in Manchester.
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