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About Dave Smith
Dave is a Quaker. He started the
Disk Doctor Service in his spare time because he found he had the ability
to help people with computer disk problems, but because he did not need
the extra income he felt it not right to keep the money for himself. Dave
trained as a Statistician and began his career in Operational Research in
the UK Civil Service. After working for the Ministry of Defence for about
20 years, he moved to the The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and
Food (which has now become the Department
for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs*) initially as their
Fisheries Science Adviser and, later, as their Risk Management
Coordinator. In 1995 he took early retirement in order to be able to
continue to run Dave's Disk Doctor Service.
Dave enjoys a challenge and often solved problems others said were
"impossible".
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Dave &
his wife, Sue, who attends the local
Anglican/Methodist church, have two sons, Mark &
Simon. They became grandparents a few of years ago when, Mark,
now Anglican Chaplain at the University of Reading, and his wife, Joanna, became the
proud parents of a baby boy, James and, again, more recently, with the birth of
Matthew. You can see a picture of the boys by clicking here. Mark
also now has his own blogspot, which you can view by clicking here.
Dave & Sue enjoy holidays on canal
narrow boats and until recently had a share in a 6-berth
narrow boat called "Still Waters". You can see a picture of Sue taking the boat over the Pontcysyllte
Aquaduct by clicking here.
Dave & Sue are also interested in genealogy and are currently tracing their
ancestors. You can read about a particularly interesting bit of Dave's research
by clicking here. Sue is researching the her maiden
name "Cluett" and now has her own web site for that name at www.cluett.org.uk. Sue & Dave enjoy ballroom
dancing and also Line Dancing.
Dave collects hobbies, but never has enough time to
practice them all. He has taken some lessons in drawing, and has enjoyed
those very much. You can see a sample of Dave's work in one of the portraits he
completed of Justine. Dave also used to enjoy playing the
clarinet but doesn't have time for this an longer and is trying to sell his pair
of Boosey & Hawkes wood clarinets. He still enjoys walking, listening to classical music and world-band
radio - he has recently bought an Internet radio to extend this hobby
further. Sue and Dave also recently started learning Tai Chi. Dave also enjoys
microscopy, particularly pond life.
The latter has been enhanced by the redesign, a few years ago, of the garden,
which features a large rock-pool. This attracts a lot of wild-life - the
most recent of which is a kingfisher - you can see a good picture of this
beautiful bird by clicking here. The latest
addition to the garden is a "mock folly" - you can see a picture of this by
clicking here but it needs to be "aged" for full effect! For practical
relaxation, Dave is now returning to an earlier hobby of wood turning and is
again making little boxes from exotic hardwoods as presents. He has also done a
short course in traditional upholstery and has succeeded in covering four dining room chairs.
He recently attended a flint knapping workshop and intends to try making some
arrow heads later in the year.
Dave's main hobby is Egyptology and he pursues courses in this at the local University Centre. He
is also struggling with trying to learn to read Middle Egyptian, at least well
enough to understand some of the tomb and temple inscriptions, but is not making
very fast progress. More recently he has also been
conducting some original research on Solar Eclipses in the New Kingdom - a
largely un-researched topic until now. You can find out a bit more about this by
clicking here.
The Quaker movement arose in the mid-17th
century in England. Its followers called themselves "Friends of Truth, as
they thought of themselves as friends of Jesus (John 15:15). In time they came
to be known simply as "Friends". The name "Quaker" was a
nickname used by others, as it was said that they trembled or quaked with
religious zeal. Friends have since adopted the term and today the words
"Friend" and "Quaker" have the same meaning. The formal
title of the Quaker movement is now: "The Religious Society of Friends
(Quakers)". You can find out more about Quakers throughout the world by
visiting the World Quaker Web Site at www.quaker.org.
Dave originally developed and maintained the British
Quaker Web Site on behalf of Britain Yearly Meeting of the Society of
Friends in Britain until they appointed a Webmaster a few yeas ago.
You can send an e-mail to Dave by clicking here
or contact him by telephone on +44 (0) 1892 835974 or by fax on +44 (0) 871 242
7390 but please note that Dave no longer undertakes disk salvages, data
transfers or gives advice on computer-related problems, regarding himself as now
"out-of-date" on such matters! You can send an e-mail to
Sue via her web site by clicking here.
You can also share in some of Sue & Dave's hobbies:
Last revised: 18th February 2008
