Quorum welcomes Nick Amor to the team

Currently living in the post-industrial wastelands of the South Wales Valleys with my beautiful wife Lin, her two teenage daughters, three dogs, three guinea pigs, two domestic rats and around five beehives.

Lin has a strong background in graphic design, and is just about to start a new chapter as a Medical Secretary for the local older persons mental health unit – keeping her graphic design company as a sideline.

My wonderful mother (nurse, midwife and health visitor by trade) came from the Methodist ministries of the West Country.

My father (Pharmaceuticals production manager by trade, Royal Corps of Signals by experience) came from a family of bonded warehousemen in the docklands of London’s East End.

These influences empowered me with a broad spectrum of life’s experiences from which to choose and probably explains my desire to create the perfect mead recipe (amongst other mild eccentricities).

I have a number of hobbies that keep me busy in any spare time I may have.

I keep bees. We eat, ferment or sell the honey and use the other hive products to produce lip balms, furniture polish and leather treatments.

I play the banjo (almost by accident, really. I was trying to demonstrate to the eldest daughter that learning an instrument took time and perseverance. Interestingly, I can now sort-of play the banjo but the new guitar we bought her is still hung on her bedroom wall unused). However, locked-down with other people has meant that I’ve greatly reduced my practice time over the last twelve months.

Shortly before lockdown began we were asked to look after the third dog to share our home, the awesome Quinn. I recognised early on that he has great potential and was just starting to learn to take him tracking when our current situation deprived us of the opportunity to learn from others. This, I suppose has become a hobby-in-waiting. Quinn knows how to track stuff – he’s always known. It’s me that needs the training! Quinn has, however got me out and about exploring our beautiful valley during lockdown.

My working life began with an apprenticeship with the Royal Navy. Steam plants, power generation and distribution – I served on some of the oldest ships in the fleet at the time – developing repair and maintenance skills of older machinery. After some 9 years, one war-zone and having never been shot at, I left Her Majesties service. My first job as a civilian was doing contract work as a generator technician for the United Nations in the former Yugoslavia during the protracted disintegration of that country. 18 months in the sunny city of Sarajevo during the siege taught me many things. As did the further two years at the UN Base workshops in Zagreb.

There followed some nine years in a hospital environment teaching simple metalwork to people who’d been out of work for a while through illness or injury and were looking to return to the workplace.

It became time for a change, and after a convivial afternoon in a beer garden in Wiltshire with very good friends, I found myself applying for a role as a Technical Author. I was accepted and began to learn the vagaries of the role working on a contract for Rolls Royce. Eventually I found a better role, with General Dynamics Mission Systems, who extended my role into the LSAR and adjacent disciplines.

Eventually, another change became due and I now find myself joining Quorum. Interesting times ahead!