Alasdair's Hobbies and Interests.
I have numerous hobbies and interests. Although they are very varied, they have three characteristics in common and that is they require little physical exercise, secondly they cost money to maintain and thirdly they take up a lot of time.
My main pastime at the moment is my computer. This is not a very energetic pastime because it largely entails sitting in front of a keyboard. It costs a lot of money, however, because of the hardware and software required and the fact that computer equipment at the moment becomes outdated as soon as it leaves the retailer's store. Another downside is that I am starting to suffer from Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) to my wrists and hands through too much keyboarding.
I am currently involved with one charity in particular. It is called Law, Leisure and Learning and is located in Handsworth, a deprived area of Birmingham. Law, Leisure and Learning started off in 1997 as an unofficial law centre offering legal help to those who could not afford professional help and who, for one reason or another, did not qualify for legal aid. Being a law graduate, I gave some time to the centre to help clients research their cases. This year, the charity has taken over larger premises and now offers sports (mainly boxing) coaching and hopes to offer courses in basic literacy and numeracy as well as vocational education. It has become a provider of training under various government schemes.
When I joined the local church here in Nottingham, I was elected to serve on the Parochial Church Council which meets every two months. From there, I was elected to serve on the Southwell Diocesan Synod and the Nottingham North Deanery Synod. This takes a lot of time and effort even if not costing a lot of money. The Southwell Diocese has a web page and you are welcome to click here if you want to take a look. In 2000, I was elected to represent the Diocese of Southwell on the General Synod of the Church of England for the quinquennium 2000 - 2005. This is the Church's "Parliament" which meets twice a year. It consists of approximately 570 members and meets in London in November and in York in July.
I am a member of the Liberal Party. When I say the Liberal Party, I don't mean the Liberal Democrats (Charles Kennedy's lot), I mean the original Liberal Party who were in government in the early part of the century. They still exist although they lost a lot of their members when the Liberal Democrats were formed.
As a matter of fact, I stood as a parliamentary candidate for the Birmingham Perry Barr seat in last year's general election. Needless to say, I didn't win!
I have been licensed as a Radio Amateur since 1982. My call sign is G6SRZ.
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Page last updated 12th January, 2001 at 1245 hours.