My name is Steve Wood and this page tells a bit more about me. My main interests (in alphabetical order so I don't have to choose between them) are canals, computing, music and photography. Add to that curiosity about art and design, architecture, railways, travel, technology and the world in general and I have plenty of interests to keep me busy.

Canals

From childhood canals have fascinated me. I grew up within walking distance of the Caldon Canal on the outskirts of Stoke on Trent and my parents have been boat owners since 1972. I am an active member of the Caldon and Uttoxeter Canals Trust (Communications Officer) and Inland Waterways Association Stoke-on-Trent Branch (Planning Officer.) I am Chair of the Uttoxeter Canal Restoration Committee. This group, which is a part of the Caldon & Uttoxeter Canals Trust, is dedicated to the protection and eventual restoration to navigation of 13 miles of derelict canal in the Staffordshire Moorlands and East Staffordshire areas.

I have lived on the Historic Narrow Boat Bream since 1999. You can find out more about Bream on the Fish Class Boats section of this site.

Computing

My interest in computing dates back to 1981, when I first started programming in Pascal as a student. I subsequently learned to use a few other languages like Fortran and when PCs came along I used Basic and some of the scripting languages, for example in Lotus 1-2-3.

In 1996 I was recruited by the overnight parcel distribution network APC Overnight to build a database system to track parcels. This system which soon expanded to include manifesting, printing, invoicing and reporting systems is still in use by the company and over 100 regional office. The core systems I developed were written in FoxPro. As technology advanced and my team expanded we added on new functionality using Visual FoxPro, SQL Server then later web technologies based on PHP, MySQL and web services. The underlying FoxPro core is only now finally in the process of being replaced almost 14 years after it was written and two years after I left the business.

I am now an IT consultant specialising in web design.

Trivia

I am a season ticket holder at Stoke City FC. Block 15 back row - come and say hi!

I enjoy travelling and have explored much of Europe.

My favourite countries are Norway, Italy, Poland and Ireland.

I have visited every county in the UK and Ireland except Aberdeenshire.

My favourite city is Barcelona.

My favourite artists are Rene Magritte, Mark Rothko and Liam Spencer.

My favourite foods are mostly Indian and Italian - especially when followed by trifle or ice cream :-)

I don't drink coffee or beer (together or on their own!)

Google "stevetheboater" to find me on Twitter, Facebook and various other places