Biography

Iain was born in 1959 in Crosby, Merseyside. He attended Waterloo Grammar School for three years before it was absorbed into Manor High Comprehensive School. On leaving school in 1977 he worked initially for the Liverpool City Planning Department and then held various posts in different Liverpool based insurance offices. This was an unhappy period for Iain and at the age of 25 he found himself working as a full time barman at the Blundelsands Hotel in Crosby.

This meant that he had to give up his passion for amateur dramatics. He had played a number of parts with the Crosby based Cambridge Players as well as at two Liverpool theatres, the Neptune and the Unity.

Live music has always been another great passion of Iain's. As a teenager he frequently attended concerts at the Liverpool Empire and Liverpool Stadium and saw many of the touring bands of the time including David Bowie, Lou Reed, Genesis, Alice Cooper, Focus, Lindisfarne, Wishbone Ash, Van Der Graff Generator and ELP.

In 1978 Iain visited the 4th annual Bracknell Jazz Festival and for the next 11 years this weekend was to be the highlight of his year. Dedicated largely to contemporary jazz, the festival showcased many of the leading artists of the day including Ornette Coleman, David Murray, Abdulah Ibrahim, Gil Evans, McCoy Tyner, Stan Tracey, Dudu Pukwana, Chris McGreggor, Elton Dean, The Guest Stars and Courtney Pine.

In 1985 Iain travelled to Holland for the North Sea Jazz Festival where he saw perform a dazzling array of American artists including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, B.B. King, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, The Modern Jazz Quartet and Oscar Peterson.

Later the same year he gained a place at Manchester Polytechnic to study for a diploma in Hotel Management. At the end of the first year he was invited to join the degree course and in 1989 he graduated with a first class honours degree in Hotel, Catering and Institutional Management.

Now based in Manchester, he worked initially for Rightline, a catering company that held a franchise with British Rail, and then for Premier Inns for whom he managed a number of establishments including the Swan at Tarporly and the Woodpecker Inn in Northwich. He left Premier Inns to work freelance as a relief manager and for the next five years he ran pubs, clubs and hotels the length and breadth of Britain.

He then became interested in computers and gained, in his spare time, a City and Guilds Diploma in Computer Programming. This decided him to return to full time education and between 1997 and 1998 he studied for a Master’s Degree in Computation at U.M.I.S.T. in Manchester. After graduating he was recruited by the consultancy firm CMG and, at the age of 39, embarked on a new career.

It was at CMG that he met Sue Cheshire, a business analyst. Their friendship continued after Sue had left CMG to retrain as a teacher. Eventually romance blossomed and, on 29th March 2008, they were married at Dundee United Reform Church in Ramsbottom.

Iain continues to work for the same company, although it has now been taken over by Logica, and lives very happily in Ramsbottom with his wife, Sue. Since settling in Ramsbottom he has become a keen follower of Accrington Stanley Football Club, Lancashire League cricket and contemporary folk music. He has also revived his passion for amateur dramatics having joined the local theatre company, The Summerseat Players.

On 1st April, 2011 Iain was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer.

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