Stephen Purser

It was one of those long, hot summers many years ago and I was about to have an interview with a school careers adviser.

By the time it was my turn, the adviser had spoken to a lot of teenagers, and seemed as jaded as I was uninterested but we talked away and he picked up on the fact that I liked to spend my summer holidays on my grandparents’ farm in Stanwell in Middlesex. They were an arable farm providing fresh vegetables to Hounslow market. (If you take off from Heathrow’s Terminal Four you will know the farm as most of it is now underneath it.)

The adviser latched on to this and in due course my parents received a report suggesting a farming career, but living in Exeter with an accountant father and a trainee accountant elder brother, the die was cast.

I therefore found myself walking down the imposing marbled hallways of Devon County Council on my way to an interview with the deputy county treasurer.

It went well, but I had to be seen by the county treasurer for final approval. On entering his secretary’s office I was ushered in to his palatial office. I stood, he sat, we spoke for about five minutes and as I turned to leave was faced with two identical wood panelled doors. Which one had I come in by? I chose the right-hand one and emerged to a smiling secretary. I later discovered the other door led into a cupboard, and those who chose it were not offered a job.

So started serious employment, training and a lifelong connection with CIPFA. I studied by a mixture of day release, rapid results courses and block release, along with many a students’ society evening. I probably shouldn’t say, but in those days the benefit of the evening was often judged by the quality of the food and how long and with whom we spent the evening in the pub, although it was all valuable networking that has lasted my working career.

I moved from Devon County to Exeter City, bought a house, qualified and married, and settled down to 17 years at Exeter City. In that time we bought and sold property and ended up in the countryside with an assortment of animals including ducks, chickens, geese and a goat.

All this time I maintained my links with CIPFA voluntary activities and sat – and still sit – on the CIPFA South West area committee and regional council.

However, a change from Exeter was needed so I moved to South Hams. It was at this point that a former colleague asked if I would like to be a voluntary board member on an embryonic housing association called Torbay Tenants.

This, as it turned out, was to be an interesting challenge and a saving grace. I knew little initially about housing associations and the Housing Corporation but soon learned.

Eventually, my knowledge of housing association accounts provided the edge at an interview with the Housing Corporation and so, leaving South Hams, I started the next phase of my working life.

While with the Housing Corporation I realised that there was a CIPFA Housing Panel – later to be renamed the RSL Panel – which had a space for a corporation member. I volunteered for this and was soon a regular attendee.

I also rewrote the housing finance element of the housing finance manual at this time, along with being a member of the CIPFA in South Wales and West of England regional council. They have subsequently honoured me with the role of president, which ends in March 2007.

We live within Dartmoor National Park and when our eldest son was 17, he said he would like to keep a few sheep. This was fine until he went to university and asked us to look after the sheep. The words of the careers adviser came flooding back and so we moved again, albeit three miles, and bought a small farm for my wife and I to run alongside the day jobs.

Believe me, even on our scale this is hard, but very enjoyable work. As an accountant I would not advise it but as a lifestyle, this is something else.

We have a flock of 65 breeding ewes, mainly Suffolks and Texels, with two pure-bred Suffolk/Texel rams producing around 95 lambs in February. We aim to sell the lambs at around 40 kilos live weight, generally in half-lamb packs for the freezer.

We have been doing this for around six years, and I have no wish to change. In fact, I might be one of the few people who was grateful for the Gershon reviews because I can now spend more time on the farm and my CIPFA roles!

Stephen Purser