About Me

I’m John Hearson, recently retired and adjusting to the challenges of ‘who am I?’ during this new stage of life.

Life’s a fascinating journey and I invite you to share it with me through my blog posts.

MY LIFE SITUATION

Family

I’m married to Jane, whom I wed in 1975. We have two sons and a daughter. Our grandson Sam was born in 2016 and granddaughter Grace in 2021. They live in London but we see them quite often. My mum passed away at the end of 2021 aged 99, having held baby Grace in her arms.

How I spend my time

I fully retired just before the pandemic began so it’s been hard to define ‘the new normal’. Home Improvement has featured strongly. A jumble of odd writing assignments, bike rides and dog walks kept me busy during lockdown. 2022, in contrast, was a year of adventurous walking and returning to orchestra, horse riding and visiting the pub.

Home

We live in Rastrick in West Yorkshire, over the river from Brighouse. Calderdale is a pretty valley; we moved here in 2015 and still feel as if we’ve come on holiday. We live on top of a cliff in a house with a lovely garden but our regular DIY disasters promise to provide an endless source of blogging fodder.

What I care most about

I believe faith can transform life from a mundane series of events into a daily adventure. That’s all for this page, except to say that church life keeps me busy…I care about people. Also about Planet Earth, and our mission to become carbon neutral, both at church and in our own home. This is the subject of many of my posts.

MY CLAIMS TO FAME

What I did for a living

1975 – 2015

I was an industrial chemist. My first job was in Castleford in a factory where I made chemicals in flasks. Then I moved to a printing plate factory in Morley. We became part of Kodak, and I stayed for 28 very interesting years. My job didn’t quite last until my retirement date so I spent a year as lab manager at Total Oil Lubricants in Ferrybridge. I wrote a book about the Morley years!

What I did next

2016 – 2020

My friend, boss and Kodak mentor, Peter, was in China working to commercialise his invention. For 4 years I joined him part time, making short trips to China myself and then supporting the project from home. The invention ‘worked’ but sadly the project ran out of funds. However, on the way we had lots of fun and gave a group of Chinese postgrads a great start to their careers.

What I’ve written

2014 – present?

During my Kodak years, someone close to me suggested I start a blog. Perhaps I should have started then? Instead I began by publishing a novel as you’ll see on my home page. Having suffered several disappointments, I was delighted to help my friend Sally Ben publish ‘the Thrill of the Ride’, telling how she and her husband found each other. And in 2022 I’ve had a booklet published explaining what it’s like to come to faith in Jesus.

5 ‘Strange but True’ achievements

1970 – Present

Ran up the Post Office Tower in London in 5 mins 32 secs
Cycled Day 1 of the Tour de France (Leeds to Harrogate, 2014) for charity , the day before the event. Very sore bum.
Compered a brass band concert in French in front of 500 people in the Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris
Managed my son’s junior team despite knowing very little about football. We were promoted in my final season.
My family formed a quartet to play Pacelbel’s Canon as Peter my boss and his bride walked up the aisle