My name is John, and I’m a retired schoolteacher, married to Sheila who still walks the chalk. We have two fine sons Mike and Stuart and two delightful daughters-in-law, Caz and Jo. Stuart and Jo blessed us with our first granddaughter Leia who is two years old and a real bundle of fun. Mike and Caz have just welcomed Hannah our second granddaughter who arrived in April 2012.
My mother Sara is eighty-six. She is Dutch and married my dad Jack in England on Christmas Day in 1948. My sister Mia, who illustrated this story, lives in the lovely village of Cartmel in the English Lake District, where she works with children in a local primary school.
I completed my education at Swansea University and went on to become Head of Geography at Altrincham Boys Grammar School. I love gardening, sport and walking in the countryside. I have a passion for angling and still play the bass in a rhythm-and blues band called Band-age. I hope you spotted the fishy connection in the last line and that reading the story of Bamboo will make you smile.
John Barton
