Graeme Alexander Email & Phone Number

The passing of personalities that were icons of one’s youth makes you revisit those days; full days, jampacked with fun, grazed knees, battles, no fear, tough and gentle love, adventure romance…aah, the rose-tinted glasses of history.Mum and Dad were fish merchants in the Silver City, long before the arrival of offshore oil and wind. Gran and Grandpa became defacto parents during the week, which was great. When not at home I was safely ensconced in Broomhill Primary school a Victorian design, that retained the outside “lavvies” and bike-sheds that Hogwarts missed. Here started violin, choir, Scottish Country dancing, golf, racing corgi and dinky cars down slopes and the fine art of marbles. It is also where the curiosity of “how and why” became my soulmates much to the chagrin of Hornby and Scalextric but sought out by Meccano and Lego. Out for a “run” with Grandpa (a strange use of run as it was a drive) to historic, fascinating locations across the Northeast and the telling of tales. Sundays saw school uniforms swapped for “Sunday best”; chums unrecognizable as we walked to Sunday school bibles in hand. The school was a bright annex to the austere main church. Here, I joined the Cubs (the 23rd pack from memory) early Monday evenings became a never-ending adventure involving every activity you can think of. Badges of competency, lovingly sewn on to the bottle green left arm by my mum until, yup, you guessed, until I did the sewing activity…I recall making my promise to do my best, do my duty to God and the Queen and to help others, being made a Sixer and the long days (and nights) of camps.From one Victorian school to another, Ruthrieston, with its’ motto “Dae weel dreid nocht” which, has stood me in good stead over the years. The ten-minute walk became twenty, the violin (now grade 7) a brief, but big, brass addition – tuba, judo, hockey, golfing with Dad, cycling, speech and drama. Of note, PE and summer runs from the school gates on Riverside drive, across the King George VI bridge and back to school via the Bridge of Dee. Things were changing and we were destined to merge with the Girls High School and become Harlaw Academy. Bicycle gave way to car, cassettes and mixes gave music portability. An impromptu attendance at a BP Tanker Co. road-show seduced me into a career at sea and has led to a life full of variation, excitement and challenge. This is a little about me; I’d like to know a little about you.