Philip Allcock

Place of Birth : Norwich, 1962

Married to Georgina (Gina)

Children: Harry Jack & Joe

A brief introduction to my school days is outlined in the about us pages. The chronological ordering of events upon leaving school is as outlined here: I first trained as a motor vehicle technician at GJ Goffs on Aylsham Road and for a brief period at APEC then of Starling Road, both in Norwich. This was followed by an exciting venture as a self-employed vehicle technician. Nonetheless, during this time I developed a back aliment that restricted my earning capacity and I decided to return to full-time education at the rather mature age of 25. I could never have imagined at the time that this self inflicted learning curve would extend to a roller coaster eight years study that would eventually see me graduate twice from the University of East Anglia. Initially, an honours degree and a then a higher PhD degree, both awarded by the School of Chemistry Sciences. Thus, following six years studying I entered a new era in my life as a scientist. This was the start of a period of professional fulfillment never to be equaled. I spent the following six years as a research scientist at the University of East Anglia, the University of Bath and a brief period lecturing at Anglia Polytechnic University.

The life of a professional research scientist is one of producing and presenting new ideas to a specialist field of like minded academics. The international conferences at which a scientist might present his new work might very likely include a number of eminent Nobel Prize winners. As you can imagine such people contribute to a rather intimidating audience, however, to be a delegate at such a conference and hear these people lecture is something that you feel very privileged to be part of. (Especially if you are getting paid to do so.) A scientific Nobel Laureate is someone who has reached the very height of their chosen profession. Their position amongst peers exalts an enormous amount of respect and a certain degree on fame. Your name is assured to be passed down through history via the scientific literature and yet you can most likely walk around your local supermarket without being recognized. This sort of fame is not the short lived media generated type, but a sort that has a longevity. These people stretch the boundaries of our understanding of the world about us and the spin off of their results can profoundly effect our lives. Imagine a world without electricity, computers, televisions, telephones. These technology owe there beginnings to the scientists of the last two century's. Research is performed, results recorded, developed and refined and only appears to the public at large when it can enhance the society in which we live. This is part of a world I inhabited for nearly ten years. Ten years in which I published more than 20 new research papers in the scientific literature, co-authored a book on molecular quantum harmonics, was privileged to have worked with learned men who called me a colleague, met delegates whom I admired and respected beyond compare and whom themselves had worked with some of the great scientific names of the twentieth century.

Now to bring the story up to date. Currently I am living in Brooke near Norwich (only a cycle ride from work) with my wife Gina and our three boys, Harry Jack & Joe (Joe is the latest addition to the family, born in February 2007). I met my wife at university and we were married in 1998 in Norwich, where we bought our first house. At this time Gina was working in Cambridge and I had recently taken up my position at Bath University. Therefore we moved house and set up home in Cottenham in Cambridgeshire, from where I would commute to and from Bath at the weekends. After nearly two years I left my position and returned to Cambridge. It was during this time that our first son Harry was born. As anyone with children will tell you this is a life changing experience and all of a sudden my scientific career no longer held the importance of previous times. While lecturing in Cambridge at both Anglia Polytechnic University and Abbey Sixth Form college, Gina fell pregnant with Jack. We needed to move house to make room for our expanding family. Concurrently Paul and his team were recognizing an increasing burden related to the administrative duties at Allcock Family Funeral Services. Question marks about how paperwork might interfere with being able to offer the highest possible standards of professional care to the public arose and hence, I was invited to join the team to oversee the administration of the business. Coinciding with our need for more room at home somewhat eased the decision to join the family firm. Therefore these days I keep myself amused with administration duties at Falcon House. I still enjoy exploring various different types of software, for example, accounting, web site development and other sundry programming tools. At home the boys tend to give me the run around, playing football, tennis, cricket and golf, with their plastic bats and balls all over the house and garden.