My first job

The job
I was a housing trainee at Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council in 1971-2 while studying for the Chartered Institute of Housing exam. The council had recently gone through local government reorganisation and taken in lots of the surrounding smaller districts so it was a huge housing department with 40,000 homes. Enoch Powell was our MP, so it was an interesting time, although he did not get that involved in housing.

It was the only time I've worked in local government. I left to be general manager at Parklands, which is now Accord Housing, and I've stayed in housing associations ever since.

The boss
David Morgan was the head of the biggest section in housing, which looked after estate management. Under his tutelage, I learned about things like arrears and going door-to-door with a satchel, collecting rent.

In the 1970s senior council jobs were populated by old men in waistcoats surrounded by clouds of smoke, but David was in his late 20s and one of a new breed who didn't fit into that mould.

He was heavily involved in shaping the housing profession. The concept of a comprehensive housing service was just emerging and David was at the forefront of that for the CIH in the West Midlands.

In the 1970s the senior council jobs were held by old men in waistcoats surrounded by smoke

He was a very informal boss but he worked very hard and got the best out of people by setting an example. He was a very bubbly, larger-than-life character with a great sense of humour and we shared a passion for Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club.

What did you learn?
The most important thing was to treat the whole thing as a service. Before then, somebody had built the housing, somebody else collected the rent, somebody else did estate management. This was very soon after the film Cathy Come Home, so the whole approach to homelessness was changing.

Would you treat your staff in the same way he treated you?
I think I do. His style is something I'd like to think I kept: being relaxed and recognising people come to work for a range of different reasons, not just for pay. However, while collecting rents one time, I got bitten by an Alsatian. It took a chunk out of my trousers but David refused to buy me a new pair!

What would you say to him now?
He helped me to enjoy the early part of my career. I still see him now through housing links; until recently we met as chief executives of stock transfers in the same region.