About Colin

I was born and raised in the South of England where I attended local schools. In my teens I developed an interest in motorcycles and motorcycling that has continued to be an important part of my life. I was one of six children (this was complicated), and life at home was comfortable although money was never plentiful. Both my parents worked hard to provide. Moving to Scotland at the age of 19 in 1973 to pursue voluntary social work as a community service volunteer, resulted almost naturally in obtaining a trainee social work post in the West of Scotland leading to nearly forty years as a front line local authority social worker. Qualifying in 1978 from Moray House College, Edinburgh, I worked first as a SW in Drumchapel, Glasgow until 1985 when I took up a post with the Strathclyde Region Emergency Duty Stand-By Team also based in Glasgow. During these years I lived in the city and then Dumbarton, where I was active politically in my trade union and locally - including an intense period of effort to support striking miners between 1984 and 1985. After four years and now a parent, wife Diana and I moved to the Isle of Arran to share a social work post in a completely new environment. We have lived on Arran since then and both of our children were brought up here. I practiced social work on Arran from 1988 until 2011 when I moved to a team manager post in a mainland children and family team. In 2001 I graduated with distinction from a part time study MSc in Advanced Social Work from Paisley University. This study led to academic writing and publication of papers in peer-reviewed social work journals of issues relating to rural social work practice. In 2002 I visited Atlantic Canada for a two week study trip to see social work practice there funded through a ADSW travel award. All this study resulted in the publication of my first book in 2010. I retired officially from full time work in 2015, but have been busy since with writing. Between 2017 and 2022 I was involved with Scotland's Childrens Panel system as a volunteer Panel Practice Advisor - a valuable experience that kept me in touch with practice in children and family settings. I continue to write and speak on social work topics with a focus on social justice issues, rural and community based social work. I'm a socialist and I support independence for Scotland as the best hope of achieving a society based on the socialist principals of fairness, equality and social justice. I am also (since December 2020) a member of the Common Weal Care Reform Working Group.