From the age of 17 I became a professional musician playing saxophone, flute and clarinet 'cutting my teeth' on local gigs in the Manchester area. Very soon I found I was being invited to play on some of the better gigs such as consecutive summer seasons during the early 70's in Blackpool with the late Joe Loss Orchestra. Gradually over the next few years I started to build my reputation as a reliable player, which led me into recording and session work with which then were called 'B.B.C. staff orchestras'. These included The B.B.C. Midland Orchestra in Birmingham and The B.B.C.Radio Orchestra in London.

I moved to London during the 70's at the time as the fuel crisis [for those who are old enough to remember]and played in the West End Theatre scene. I always wanted to move back to Manchester but London has always been the nucleus for music and musicians so I had the make it my home. On a weekend trip back to Manchester to visit my parents I saw one of my old teachers, Johnny Roadhouse. He told me that there could be a long stint of work with the B.B.C. Northern Radio Orchestra [an orchestra which he played in] but they were based in Manchester and to do it I would have to live in the area. After playing a couple of sessions with them I was asked to continue for the foreseeable future, so I moved back home and eventually was offered a staff position with them. The next ten years were spent doing B.B.C. work and because of the reputation playing in  that  orchestra gave me I was in demand for other gigs including touring with people like: Johnny Mathis, Jack Jones, Gladys Knight and many others. Like all good things they have a habit of ending and the B.B.C. decided to make the orchestra [and 4 other orchestras] redundant. I still played for the B.B.C. but on a casual basis, which gave me time to play for other bands, one of which was The Syd Lawrence Orchestra. I stayed with his band for 12 years during which I became tired of the lifestyle. Constant touring is no fun especially with a family left at home so I left and played mainly locally in West End productions such as 'Phantom Of The Opera' 'Cats' 'Grease' 'Les Miserables'  which all came to Manchester for relatively long runs.

It was during this time that I started to get an interest in repairing my own instruments. The session [recording] side of the profession had died mainly due to technology, you know ,computers. Yes! music for T.V.jingles, theme music and other work associated with 'real' players has gradually become a thing of the past.I decided to venture into repairing the very instruments which I played and loved. There are many young and old players out there who need  a quality ‘hands on approach’ to woodwind maintenance ,and despite a lack of professional work there are many amateurs enjoying playing music on those instruments. I thought a service provided by a musician who had played them to a high standard would be an asset because believe it or not woodwind repairers generally only have a modicum of playing ability.