Hello and welcome to my about me page. As you have no doubt guessed my name is Derek Barrington.
I left school at 15 with no qualifications to start a 3-year apprenticeship in the army. I enjoyed my training and eventually ended up with the qualification of auto-electrician. Unfortunately in 1963, the British army decided there was no need for auto-electricians, as mechanics and control equipment technicians, could cover the necessary work and so I was sent to retrain as a vehicle mechanic. This was not something I really enjoyed but I was in the army and so has to put up with it.
While I was in Germany a couple of years later the army now decided they did need auto-electricians and so I was invited to return to the post of auto-electrician. In this time there were more electronics being used on vehicles and many of the mechanics couldn’t cope with the extra work.
Having served in Germany, Borneo, Singapore and UK I did see a bit of the world, but now I was having to go back and forward to Northern Ireland and found myself working more and more as a mechanic again. It was at this point I decided to head back to life as a civilian although I would only get about 1/2 the pay I was used to and at the same time pay more for rent.
I was taken on by a Garage as an auto-electrician but once again found myself doing more mechanical than electrical work. I applied for a job as a service engineer for an amusement company and found myself working 7 days a week for little more than I was getting for a five day week but I was a lot happier! In the mid-1990’s I found myself being made redundant and retrained as a driving instructor. I kept this up as a self-employed instructor until the opportunity arose for a driving Examiner. More training at times very intense over a four week period before qualifying and ending my employed years and taking on retirement.
The time had come to turn my hobby of internet marketing into something where I could supplement my pension. I had been dabbling on the Internet since the late 1990’s. I tried several programs, all unsuccessfully, and found my hobby was costing me far too much money to carry on without getting some return. I did try partnership to success a couple of years ago but due to some illness and other unforeseen circumstances, I did not complete the program.
The circumstances that held me back are no longer there so I intend to complete the training this time and to also get my name into the selling arena.
A couple of other details, I have two children both married and in their 50’s and 5 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren. I live with a partner and we are both very happy together after 8 years together.