About the author

 

I am no historian.  My background is in the sciences, initially mathematics and statistics, but ultimately the human sciences of anthropology and sociology.  I spent my employed years (not wholly wasted) mostly in research across a wide range - criminology, race relations, refugees, social work, community and voluntary organisations.  Latterly I was instrumental with others in the setting up mediation and restorative justice services both in this country and abroad, acting as the first director of Mediation UK.  Returning to research full-time I was increasingly frustrated by policy-makers' irritating habit of cherry-picking research results, just using those bits that supported what they wanted to do all along. I therefore took early retirement to devote myself to environmental issues and the study of natural history, which had been my first love all along.  My wife Val, daughter Sarah, and I moved to Prestwood in 1982.  I became involved with the Prestwood Society and this drew me into an interest not only in the natural history of the area, but also the human history.  Having lived previously in Wiltshire, Cambridge, Lancashire and High Wycombe, I think I wanted to grow new roots and build a sense of place to which I could feel I belonged. I have always preferred to travel on foot, wherever I was, for the possibility it gives of more intimate experience, developing a "feel" of what a place is.  This book really started with the Parish Map (in Prestwood Village Hall), a project which I led and which led me in turn into looking at the detail of my new home.  I have not stopped exploring and discovering, but this book is an accumulation - over 20 years (who would have thought it would take so long!) - of all the facts that have I been able to acquire about the parish, now complete enough (such a project being never really finished) to share the light of day with others.