MY SCHOOLDAYS: Graham Lamont

Last updated 11:31, Tuesday, 23 September 2008

I was born in Workington and went to Victoria Infant School in the town on Harrington Road, only 200 yards from where I lived, then John Street Junior School, which was later demolished to make way for the town’s first shopping precinct. One of my tutors, Duncan Harrison, suggested that I had a flair for accountancy and introduced me to Herbert Smith, a chartered accountant, and he agreed to provide me with a training contract to train me as a chartered accountant. I think teachers and lecturers are so important in transferring their knowledge to their pupils and students, inspiring them and guiding them towards the career suited to their skills and abilities.

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Court date: Graham at his appointment as the High Sheriff of Cumbria earlier this year

From there I went to Workington Technical School, studying both academic and practical subjects including woodwork, metalwork and technical drawing.

I was captain of the school football team, playing for the district team as goalkeeper.

I enjoyed my time at school where I was usually in the top seven in the A stream but my headmaster, “Killer” Cowen, was very disappointed with my O-level grades.

I thought I was a late developer but was in fact concentrating far too much on my sporting activities including golf and football.

I was also discovering girls.

My dad taught maths at the local college with Mr Cowen and both of them told me in no uncertain terms that they expected much more of me.

I therefore had to re-sit a number of O-levels to achieve the standard they expected of me.

I started work at the age of 16.

In those days you got a few job offers when you finished school, and my choice of career was as a chemist metallurgist at the local steelworks, or a trainee chartered secretary at Cumberland Motor Services head office in Whitehaven.

I chose the latter and started day release and evening classes at West Cumbria College [now Lakes College], studying for my professional exams together with Ordinary and Higher National Certificates in business studies, plus O-levels in commerce and accounting, and A-levels in accounting and economics.

I am very grateful to many of the lecturers there who ignited my interest in the subjects of law, economics, and accounting.

They inspired me to do well and I won many prizes along the way.

These were demanding exams and I studied in the evenings and weekends, as well as working full time in the firm.

I usually studied 25 hours a week as well as working a 37.5 hour week at the office.

I qualified as a chartered secretary and then as a chartered accountant, and still enjoy my job. It’s fantastic.

I was also lucky enough to become a governor of my old infant school and old college where you do see things from the opposite end of the spectrum.

These professions should be held in much higher esteem than they are and we should all support them in their quest, particularly parents, careers advisors and potential employers.

They are developing and growing our future.

I have been so lucky in my life to have such supportive parents to help me get through my studies and such a loving and supportive wife.

They have enabled me to start to give something back, through my involvement with local schools and colleges, together with my work with the Learning and Skills Council, and the Employment and Skills board.

Interview by Rosalind Gibb