I am a retiree and live with my wife in a Warwickshire village in England. We have two grown-up children, who left home many years ago.

I retired from work at the end of June 2023, a few months before my 65th birthday. Prior to retiring, I worked for over 30 years as a consulting electrical engineer, investigating fires, explosions, electrical failures and other incidents, mainly on behalf of insurance companies. While I was based in the UK, my work involved making short trips to countries all over the world, including Senegal, the country which neighbours The Gambia.

I first became aware of the work of The African Oyster Trust (AOT), in the late 1990s, well before it was formally registered as a UK charity. My wife got to know Kira Dalton at around that time, when they were both volunteers for a local Heartstart group and used to pick up the defibrillator from each other’s houses. Kira told my wife that she was looking for children’s books to set up a library at a nursery school in The Gambia. Our children, who were of primary school age at the time, gave Kira some of their books that they no longer needed for the library. Kira subsequently showed my children a photograph of the donated books at the school.

My wife and I visited The Gambia for the first time in April 2025, during a holiday there with my brother-in-law and his wife. During our time in The Gambia we visited a clinic and two schools being supported by the AOT.

I have had an interest in computing since my late teens. I purchased my first computer, a Sinclair ZX80, in 1980. I subsequently purchased a Sinclair Spectrum and thereafter various desktop and laptop computers. Over the years I have learnt to program computers using various computer languages and I have developed several websites both for personal and work use.

Last October I volunteered to take over looking after the AOT website and email from Marc Sanderson, who had held the responsibility for almost two decades. Marc assisted me with the handover before I was formally given the role at the 20th Annual General Meeting on 12 October 2025. At the same meeting I was proposed and duly elected as a new trustee of the charity.

On Saturday 23rd May 2026, two of our long serving junior staff, Mankebba Darboe and Binta Njardo, completed their two year community health nursing diplomas. The graduation ceremony was held in Mansakonko at the Nursing School. Attended by the Governor, Iman, Head of the Regional Health Authority and many others. Representatives of the AOT included Kemo Bah and Ansumana Manjang who has been the OIC (officer in charge) of the Health Centre ever since it opened in 2009.

We are hoping that at least one of these individuals will progress to the Midwifery Course immediately.