PCC Member of the Month: Colin Ringrose

This is the fifth of a series of ‘pen portraits’ aimed at raising the profile of individual members of St Chad’s Parochial Church Council in which they write about themselves and outline their aims for St Chad’s.

A strong involvement in this ‘fabulous location’

My wife Chrissie and I came to live in Pattingham more than 40 years ago – we moved here when our children, Caroline and Thomas, were very young and have much enjoyed this fabulous location.

I am a mechanical engineer by profession and ran a company in Bridgnorth manufacturing and selling Rotobords – artwork preparation tables for printers. The explosion of computers, along with desktop publishing, saw the decline of the need for Rotobord and in 1987 I transferred my working life to running a training company, Popular Communication, also based in Bridgnorth although all the courses were held in London. I retired from business in 1997.

Over the years of living here I have tried to involve myself in village activities and strongly believe that St.Chad’s should be at the heart of the community. I have served as a churchwarden, chairman of the school governors and chairman of the village hall management committee; I am a member of the drama group, I organised the PSYCO youth group and I am a member of the PCC: all very rewarding work and a way of giving back something to the community in which we live.

I enjoy playing bridge and indoor bowls, helping Chrissie with her Shetland sheep and walking Katie our cocker spaniel. In the past I have been a keen hockey and squash player but my two new knees mean I am now restricted to just enjoying playing golf (with the help and use of a buggy!)

After Caroline and Thomas both had years of living and working abroad — in Thailand and China respectively — it is lovely to have them back in the UK. Tom and Lis and our two grandchildren, Naomi and Reuben, live in Nottingham and Caroline and James a little further away in Cambridge. My Rotobord days saw me travelling abroad a great deal but it was, and still is, a joy to return home to Pattingham.