About Me

I am Paul Dunford, a 42 year old Truck Driver.

I went to St John's High School for Boys and left at the age of 16 in 1984.

I worked as a paper boy for Peter Birch Newsagents for 4 years during and after leaving school.

I went to college in Canterbury in 1985 to study Horticulture & Agriculture and passed every exam, but failed to find a job in either field. I started driving lessons just before I left college, and I passed first time.

I then did driving and deliveries for Peter Birch Newsagents. I then left there and started work at Triogen Canine Foods on London Road Trading Estate for a short time until my mother told me about Maidstone & District Buses recruiting new drivers for the new minibus services in Sittingbourne.

I passed my PSV first time too. I left there after I had suffered with a cyst in my left wrist which caused pain whilst driving. I then got a job at the ESSO garage on Watling Street in Gillingham as a forecourt cashier. I left there in 1992 and did 3 months at the old Mobil garage on the one way system, before I got a job at Business Post on the Eurolink Industrial Estate.

I was put through my class 2 LGV in 1999 and finally my Class 1 in 2000, passing both first time. Unfortunately they decided I was not experienced enough to drive an artic straight away (Der!!!, how do I get experience if you don't let me drive) so I left in October 2000 and worked for AAG Distribution at Kemsley Mill who were willing to trust me as a brand new driver.

I later moved away from Kent for 3 years, to Didcot in Oxfordshire to get my head around a lot of things and work hard and earn more money. I got a job with Thames Valley depot of Business Post and worked there for 2 months and then moved to the oxford depot for six months before I got a job at Tesco Distribution Centre. I hated Oxfordshire so I moved back home to Sittingbourne and bought a house with my Ex, on Sonora Fields estate (The Meads).

Now living in Milton Regis in a decent, "solid house" with my new partner & Rottweiler, and back at Business Post in Sittingbourne driving an artic.

My Interests

I have been very interested in web designing since I got my first PC in 1998.

I have always loved Hinge & Bracket from a small child, and I just had to make a website when I heard Patrick Fyffe had died as there was absolutely nothing out there.

It was with great excitement on a cold December morning in 2003 that my phone rang and I heard a familiar voice on the other end. Thanks to David Rumelle, George called to thank me for the website and we had a chat and got invited to go to see him in Panto in Southend on sea, which we enjoyed on the 10th January 2004. (Picture on Left)

That was the day he signed all of my albums and I asked if he would support the idea of an Official website. He agreed and www.hingeandbracket-official.co.uk was born a couple of months later.

It went live on the 11th May 2004 in memory of Patrick Fyffe who had died 2 years earlier.

On the 26th July 2004. George Logan and myself were invited along to LBC 97.3 to do an interview with Steve Allen on life with Patrick Fyffe and Hinge & Bracket. We talked about the Official Website, The Buxton Weekend and our Memories.

 

 

Above pictures are after the interview with Steve Allen (in black shirt)

George kindly came to Buxton for a weekend with some fans in August 2004 (Left picture, Me with George Logan)

I raise money on the site each year for flowers for Patrick's grave and travel to Taunton to pay our respects.

Thanks to another fan, Kathy Duguid's idea, all monies that were originally raised to give to the Dame Hilda Bracket trust went towards getting the bench put up at the crematorium.

Thanks to all of the fans that signed the petitions on the website as in March my dream came true... The BBC got in touch to thank me for the support of Hinge & Bracket and told me they are planning to release Dear Ladies on DVD for the first time. (Full details on the Blog)

On the 8th October 2007, Series One of "Dear Ladies" was finally released officially by Acorn Media/BBC.

There is also the Gala Evenings DVD which came out in February 2008

Series 2 of "Dear Ladies" is now also released, Series 3 followed 6th April 2009.

There is also a box set of Series 1-3 and the Gala Evenings out now.

Paul Dunford

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Copyright © 2004 - 2010 George Logan & Patrick Fyffe & Paul Dunford
Last modified: 07-Feb-2010 14:00