Bruce Fletcher's website - about me
(Please note - all the links on this page open in a new browser window

Although I was born in Alresford, Hampshire in 1943 I was brought up in Hayfield, Derbyshire by my grandparents, Herbert and Mary Fletcher. After attending Hayfield Primary School and New Mills Grammar School I joined the RAF in 1959 as a Boy Entrant (38th Entry, RAF Cosford) in the trade of Telegraphist II. After serving at various places in Britain, Europe, the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf I left the RAF in 1973 and joined the civil service. In 1975 I married Maureen who has accompanied me in my travels as I worked in offices in Staffordshire, Sutherland, Gloucestershire and Yorkshire until I finally retired in October 2003 whilst working in Scarborough. But the travel bug was still in our system so we moved to Orkney in January 2004 and in April 2004 moved into our new house on Stronsay where we hope to enjoy a long and peaceful retirement.

My hobbies and interests include:

• Music - my grandmother arranged for me to have piano lessons from the age of about 7 (the lessons cost her half-a-crown a week). My music teacher (Bert Warrington) taught the organ as well as the piano and he introduced me to the organs of St Johns Methodist Chapel, St Matthews Parish Church and Hugh Bourne Methodist Chapel all three located in the village of Hayfield, Derbyshire. I became the regular organist at Newtown Methodist Chapel, New Mills, Derbyshire at the age of 11 but I did not play the organ very much during my time in the RAF (1959-73). Since leaving the RAF in 1973, getting married in 1975 and moving to Scotland in 1976 I have been the regular or assistant organist at:

  Name of church or chapel	Location	Religion	Dates
  Clyne Church	Brora, Sutherland, Scotland	Church of Scotland	1976-82
  Seamer Chapel	Seamer, Scarborough, Yorkshire	Methodist	1983-92
  St Andrew's Church	Ramshill, Scarborough, Yorkshire	United Reformed Church	1983-92
  St Nicholas' Parish Church	Ashchurch, Gloucestershire	Anglican	1993-99
  Holy Nativity Parish Church	Eastfield, Scarborough, Yorkshire	Anglo-Catholic	1999-2004
  St John Parish Church	Cayton, Scarborough, Yorkshire	Anglo-Catholic	1999-2004
  Transalpine Redemptorists Chapel	Stronsay, Orkney	Roman Catholic (Tridentine Mass)	2004
  Moncur Memorial Church	Stronsay, Orkney	Church of Scotland	2004

• Model railways - although I have always had great plans I have yet to achieve anything practical in this area. I am trying to create something realistic in ScaleFour . Now that I am retired I have no excuse to put off starting my activities in this area. And now that I have a fully carpeted, 30 foot loft I have even fewer excuses.
• Computing - my work in the civil service since 1984 involved developing and maintaining computer software - initially I was involved in assembler (6502 and 80x86) before moving on to C, VB6, database and website work with some DSP (digital signal processing). I'm taking occasional Open University courses to keep my grey cells from atrophying. Last year (2005) I managed a grade 2 pass in MT262 (Putting Computer Systems to Work), this year I am attempting M255 (Object-orientated Programming with Java).

Go to main Fletcher website

(updated 05 February 2006)