I was an undergraduate in the Faculty of Music at Southampton University from 1971 – 1974, with a much smaller cohort than today.  Technology as a part of music production was still new at that time but I found myself drawn to the way in which this was having a massive impact on popular music (e.g. rock and pop).

At the age of 18, you have your life and career ahead of you and begin to have exciting new experiences and responsibilities. You have little sense of your own mortality: life and health are somewhat taken for granted.

When you stop being a student your focus changes to finding a job. In my case, music continued to be an influencing factor throughout my roles in creative marketing support, management, commercial art and design, sound recording and, at 49, taking a postgraduate course and embarking on a new career as a professional actor and musician which led me to perform in Germany, Switzerland and America as well as the UK.

I truly believe that it was my experiences at Southampton that gave me the confidence to face what came later in my life, to overcome difficulties and become successful: fulfilled and not just financially successful.

In 2022, at the age of 69, I was diagnosed with cancer. My father suffered from a similar type of cancer and died at the age of 53, when I was just 16.

My diagnosis and treatment was almost routine. The understanding and treatment of cancer has progressed enormously since the 1970s when my father died. The doctors and nurses who looked after me were exceptional.  Their professionalism and care was something that I had never previously experienced. I also realised that this was also only possible because of the research that had put more effective tools and training into their hands.

I am now in remission. I considered making a bequest to a cancer charity and when I read about the University’s cancer immunology research in Hartley News I knew straight away that this was what I needed to support.

I hope that by making a bequest in my will, I can support research that is happening where my own journey started.

My future has been so much better than my father’s. As for present and future students, their futures can be, should be, better than your past.