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Richard Edkins on the Web |
Greetings, visitor. My name is Richard Edkins. On 28th March 1997 I began my website design business as 'Richard Wordsmith @ Virgin Net'. Since the start of 1998 I have renamed the business 'Dalbeattie Internet', and continue to develop the designing, producing and servicing of web pages for pleasure and profit.
The business aspects can be consulted in the Dalbeattie Internet page. For your interest and for my own amusement, I thought it would be worthwhile to let you know a little bit about me.
| 1. Myself as I am | The individual |
| 2.Qualifications & Inclinations | Background to my work |
| 3. Why this site is structured as it is | Layout of Dalbeattie Internet website |
| 4. Favourite Websites & Other Diversions | Some points of interest |
| 5. Look for me at... | Relaxation and places of enjoyment |
| To get in touch | Telephone and E-mail contacts |
Born in 1953, educated at a county grammar school, a college, two polytechnics and the Open University. Married, with a wife and two daughters, two cats, a mortgaged home and a garden. Likes : light classical music, reading, writing (eventual authorship), science, history and wildlife. A technogreen keen on recycling, spaceflight, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, love, life and the universe. Dislikes : cruelty, political and religious hatreds, wastes of resources, development based upon greed. Unwilling to start a fight, - the law is more effective, - but rather fond of darts and archery.
During my working life, I have carried out various clerical and administrative jobs, the most interesting being Emergency Planning for three local authorities. My interest in the Royal Observer Corps is a result of this work, which involved planning for public survival during a then-possible nuclear war. That threat has receded, but so did my position.
Over the past five years, I studied for a career as a Countryside Ranger and for my Environmental Science degree. A remarkably successful paper on the land-use history of Dalbeattie gave me access to an analogous area of work, that being as a Day-Relief Seasonal Custodian (now, Steward) at two Ancient Monuments for Historic Scotland. Cardoness Castle and Dundrennan Abbey became as much a joy as a job, as I developed an interest in their history and a delight in working with the public. The two guided tours are my own tribute to the monuments, encouragement to others to visit these remarkable parts of Scotland's history.
A B.Sc. (Open) in Environmental Science from the Open University. This has taken five years' solid work, including two years' college studies at the Scottish Agricultural College at the same time. Fully trained as a Countryside Ranger, with technical certificates in related trades. I also have four A-levels, ten O-levels, and am a qualified Radio Amateur (though not equipped for that, at present).
I first used a computer in 1980 - batch-processing on an IBM 4331 (2-Meg mainframe), so I learned to blister my fingers on a card-punch. In 1985, I entered Emergency Planning, and had to operate an Apple IIe, then in 1986 a Kroy IBM clone and an old Amstrad 6128. By 1988 I was operating an IBM Advanced PC, and was some seven software packages down the line. In 1993 and 1994, more work on user-packages at College, including Wordstar and HP Graphics. Now, I use something a bit better, bless and curse the vagaries of Windows 95 and code in HTML 3.2. The last is the result of a course where one had to learn by oneself, but the contacts and the ideas were stimulating enough to make me go for self-employment. Not bad for a local authority hack.
The site was designed to be accessible to as many browsers as possible, and to load as rapidly as possible. A simple structure is also more easily understood and rapidly browsed. A mixture of philosophy, common sense and business advertisement. At the same time, I felt that it would be fun to provide information about the area where I live, as Dalbeattie is little-known and quite unusual. The historical elements are what I have gained from studying the town and the surrounding area. Christ Church was unusual, my wife likes to go there, so I found myself researching its history for the Vestry.
The Royal Observer Corps site deserves a bit of explanation. At one time I was quite closely involved with the wartime planning side of Emergency Planning. This meant that I took part in a number of courses and exercises that received information from the ROC. I highly respected their voluntary professionalism, even now regretting the 1991 shutdown of a very dedicated organisation. Since then, I accidentally discovered that many ROC Posts still survive in Dumfries and Galloway, mainly in remote places. Articles I wrote about these Posts were published in a local paper, and for that I was admitted to membership of 25 Group of the Royal Observer Corps Association. A brief enquiry if I could use the ROCA logo on a local history, resulted in a suggestion that I write an ROC website. That site looks as if it will continue to develop. Officialdom gladly gave me permission to add certain images to the site, which continues to develop and is cited as the online history.
Anything originating from nasa.gov., the Centre for Alternative Technology, and the major libraries. To quote my favourite sites would be a dead bore, so I will take my hat off to Alta Vista, Yahoo, Lycos and WebCrawler instead.
Nerd, possibly, but this one is into class. Science fiction (non-magical), history and wildlife studies are real delights. The Open University opened my eyes to the potential of factual information on BBC2 and Channel 4, even as Radio 3 and Classic FM opened my ears to melody and orchestral music. For art, I like the Pre-Raphaelites, the Flemish artists, some of the Impressionists and the timeless genius of Leonardo da Vinci.
If I had the nerve, I would join the Sealed Knot, the Regia Anglorum and sundry other delightful re-enactment groups. Get details of their performances from Historic Scotland, English Heritage and the Tourist Boards. I find myself discussing accuracy of replica equipment, and having a good belly-laugh at their antics.
I have a caravan and tow it to various places in Caravan Club season :-
We've been to, and love :-
We regularly visit our relatives in Chester (a good site by Steven Howe there, by the way), and can thoroughly recommend National Trust properties there and in adjacent counties.
Developed by Richard Edkins. Last updated 7th December 1998.
© Richard Edkins 1998