Biographical Details
My full name is Frank Alan Radcliffe and I was born on 27
April 1953 at Morley Hall in Leeds. My home at that time was the mining
village of East Ardsley. I was the first born of four siblings followed
chronologically
and at two year intervals by my sister Anne Margaret (Maggie), and my brothers
Brian Stuart (Stuart) and John Phillip (Phil). My mother Renée Doreen was a
qualified Tailoring Instructress and my father Kenneth was a Police Officer with
the West Riding of Yorkshire Constabulary. My fathers occupation meant
that we moved homes twice more to different locations in Keighley before we
finally settled in Pudsey when I was aged seven.
I went briefly to Littlemoor Infant School before moving on to
Greenside Junior School and eventually to Shipley Salt Grammar School. On
finishing my GCE O Levels I left school at sixteen and went to work as a salesman
with Wilkinson Warburton & Crowe, a wholesale textile firm in my home
town. In April 1970 I joined the Home Civil Service working for the
Ministry of Transport (just before it became the Department of the Environment)
in Leeds. In 1977 having gained promotion I took a transfer to London and
moved into the IT functional specialism in 1979 where I stayed for the remainder
of my career. After further promotions I took a transfer out of London in
1987 and relocated to Swansea where I bought my first home. After
three years in Swansea I again relocated in 1990, this time to Bristol and
bought a new home in Bradley Stoke where I live to this date.
In the intervening years since leaving Pudsey my siblings
have also moved on with their lives. Maggie had a daughter Hannah in 1980
who graduated in Mathematics from Leeds University and now teaches Mathematics
at Knaresborough Grammar School. Hannah has recently got engaged to her
partner Mike. Maggie who bought a 'bolt hole' in a wonderful mountain
village called Mochos in Crete has now moved there permanently and I so love
going to visit her there and enjoying what is a blissfully idyllic
lifestyle.
Stuart married Margaret and has three children. Louise
was born in 1989, Vicky was born in 1990 and Frank who was born in 1993.
Phil, my youngest brother, married Sarah and has two
children. Emma was born in 1990 and Katie who was born in 1993.
After many years of trying to lose weight and regain a
relatively healthy lifestyle I managed, with the assistance of my GP, Dr
Coleman, and my MP, Steve Webb, to secure a referral to an obesity
clinic outside my NHS Trust. The referral was to Bradford Royal Infirmary
and specifically to the clinic run by Dr Whitelaw. With his help and
that of the clinics dietician, Kate Parkes, I successfully managed through
dieting to lose 5 stones (31.8 kilos). At this point I was persuaded that
the best way to achieve my desired goal of weight loss was to undergo
surgery. I accepted this advice and in October 2004 I had a "Stomach
Staple and Rouen-Y Bypass" which was performed in Bradford by Mr May.
After a lengthy recuperation I was eventually allowed to take
up exercising and joined Esporta Health Club in Bristol. At the time of writing
my total weight loss is 14 Stone 11lbs (94 kilos) and the change in my lifestyle
is considerable. From being in a position of not being able to walk 200
yards without sitting down I now enjoy waking in the countryside
In April 2006 I fulfilled a long-held desire to take early retirement
and have not regretted it for one minute. This has enabled me to do more walking
and I was feeling so good about things that I decided to set myself a
challenge to walk across the country from St Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hoods Bay
in Yorkshire. I decided to take advantage of this challenge to raise money
for Sue Ryder Care and if you want to read about my efforts then click here Coast to Coast Walk.
