I've spent my whole career, ever since graduating from Ashmead Junior School of Building in 1966, as a carpenter and joiner.

My work has taken me far afield, from London, to East Germany, to building a hospital in Tanzania. I've done everything from refurb luxury apartments, to domestic repairs, to extensions, to restoration work. I've been a site foreman, a self-employed builder, a field manager.

I have every certificate under the sun from Advance carpentry and Joinery City & Guilds, to British Institute of Certified Carpenters, to a certificate in conflict handling (so expect no 'bovver').

Sliding sash windows were the most important visual element in the construction of houses of the Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian period. In the Victorian times they were the most popular form of windows. Sadly over the pass 60 years more than three-quarters of the original London sliding box sash windows have been lost to plastic (upvc) replacements. I hope to help people appreciate the craftsmanship and design that went into box sash windows.

I can communicate in Swahili. That may or may not be something I teach you.

My mantra is "Remember to measure twice and cut once".