Greetings!
I attended Birkenhead School during the years 1977 to 1984, years during which I benefited from the excellent language teaching skills of Messrs. Austin, Clare and Jackson, and during which I made no secret of my then mad-cap interest in military aviation, which, nearly 25 years after it first started when I was coming up to my ninth birthday, is still continuing today, albeit in a much milder form, for I don't pile my shelves with the then de rigueur military aviation books at such a prolific rate!
I would like to say a very warm hello to all those who knew me when I was at school, particularly my old friends from the CCF RAF Section, such as Ray Stroink (Head Boy, '83-'84; did he ever get into the Royal Netherlands Air Force?), Barry Hughes and Bill Boggia. We certainly had a few good years in uniform, which I will always remember with affection, especially the camps at Binbrook, Swanton Morley, Wildenrath and Wyton between '82 and '84.
Since I left School in '84, a year when I did not, unfortunately, enter Dundee
University despite my winning that £100 bursary that made Mr. Gwilliam's 1984 Speech Day
address, I have attended no less than SIX British universities, namely Lancaster,
Bradford, the Open, Greenwich, London (Birkbeck) and Glasgow Caledonian. I gained my B.A.
(Hons.) degree in Independent Studies from Lancaster in '88, completed a one-year
environmental science course at Bradford in '90, gained a B.Ed.
degree in Secondary Education (Science) in '95, thus gaining qualified teacher status,
completed two years of a (part-time) chemistry degree at Birkbeck College, London, in '97,
gained a B.Sc. degree from the Open University at the end of '97, followed by a Diploma in
French, also from the O.U., at the end of '98, and am currently working my way through an
MBA degree at Glasgow Caledonian University, due to finish in September '99.
In keeping with my interest in aviation, my MBA dissertation will deal with the impact
and implications of the creation of a European
Aerospace Defence Contractor. As for what I will do after my MBA, I am contemplating
starting my own business in Scotland, although I do not know exactly in what area. Still,
a module in entrepreneurship does help!
Regarding foreign travel, I have visited Canada twice, the first time in '94 when I went to Edmonton and Vancouver, and most recently in May '98 when I visited Montreal, when I had the opportunity, for the first time in many years, to speak French practically every day for a week in a non-academic environment, although I should say that, in order to complete my O.U. Diploma in French, which is, to date, my highest discrete foreign language qualification, I had to attend two residential schools at the University of Caen in Normandy, France: quite an experience being amongst mature adults speaking French, uneasily at first, but gaining confidence rapidly as the schools progressed. Even so, I will always remember my time at Caen for my visits to the Memorial for Peace Museum, commemorating the events of the invasion of Normandy and the push by the Allies to liberate the city of Caen.
I will be visiting Toronto at the end of April '99 and, being the adventurous person I
(think I) am, will be travelling around the country, west to Calgary if possible, on
Greyhound buses! I am not just visiting Canada for the sake of visiting: I fell in love
with the country of the maple leaf the first time I went there, and am seriously
contemplating emigrating within the next ten years or so (depending upon
how my business acumen is faring!).
If any of my old O.B. friends are on line, I would very much like to hear from them, since I have only attended one O.B. Day (in '95) and did not see any people from the '77-'84 era there. Drop me an e-mail some time!
Best regards,
CHRISTOPHER R. C. CROSSLEY
1977-1984
chrisrccrossley@hotmail.com
