Member in Profile...

Mr Graham Lamb, his Working Life.

I left Frimley & Camberley Grammar School at 16 with poor O level results and the desire to work and earn money.

  I had promised my parents that I would get some horticultural qualifications so I left for a National Certificate in Horticulture course at Surrey Agricultural College. I enjoyed the student life so took a 3 year place at Worcester College of Education to train as a teacher of Rural Science. It was here that I developed my interest in travelling so I applied to the Overseas Development Administration who sent me to work as a secondary school teacher of Science in Chililabombwe, Zambia on a 3 year contract.

  Living and working in Zambia from 1967-1970 was a great experience and where I met my wife who was a primary school teacher in Chililabombwe. During my time there I was able to travel during school holidays to Rhodesia, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, and into the Congo. A teacher I worked with was the daughter of the last white man in the Kenneth Kaunda government. Through her I was able to learn of the background to the Ian Smith, Harold Wilson talks regards Rhodesia gaining independence. On my return from Zambia I taught in Suffolk at Sudbury Secondary Modern for a year and then moved in 1971 to Oadby to marry and settle down.

 During this time, I was Head of Science at New Parks School for nearly 30 years. One year of this was spent in Mzuzu, Malawi teaching science. This was a 3 year contract that I had to cut short when my mother became seriously ill.

Since retirement, I have been a local councillor for 12 years during which I was the Mayor for one of those years. I now work with the community driving the service and the environmental group Pride of the Borough which works to improve the environment in Oadby and Wigston.