William Hite, his family and LYPA

"On my 34th year in the computing industry, including two years at Xerox working on an SGML project, here I sit typing HTML, by hand, for my home page. This is truly, truly awful, drat! £&$%^<>"

:-() Who's he trying to kid? You don't get character's like <& by accident with HTML

()-:Nor this layout with HTML 2

"I'm a computer consultant, with much more interesting hobbies, working and living in Skelmersdale with my wonderful wife and daughter."

:-() If it wasn't for them he wouldn't work so hard

()-:Hey! They work hard too.

:-() I know. Ceppy runs the house and LYPA and also used to organise the seasonal celebrations for MESA. Ruth is unfortunately now away from home in her second year at university, studying English. She is a great poet, learned it all at school from Cliff Yates, and now seems to enjoy clubbing more than anything else.

()-:Where'd William go to school?

March, Wisbech and Maidstone Grammar schools and then he had the tremendous good fortune to go to Finchden Manor for three years under the headmastership of George Lyward. Some mementos are here.

You are visitor number since 22nd January 1996.
All pages Copyright © 1995-2000 William R Hite. Page revised 19/06/01

WRC Solutions

William runs this company of independent computer consultants. Principally himself but he has contacts with many other consultants, programmers and designers whom he draws on for help. They specialise in call centre and office automation applications and have had a lot of experience with full text retrieval.

Clients

Major applications

Problems solved

Computer systems, packages, languages, buzz words

What next?

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William's hobbies

TM: There is not much about Transcendental Meditation on these pages yet but you can read lots about it here.

I've been practising Transcendental Meditation for over twenty-seven years and have found it really helpful for myself and for others too who practise it.

Writing: I have spent the last two years of my spare time co-authoring a book on preventing drug abuse. It should be published sometime in the summer of 2001. At first it was difficult but now seems easier and easier - if only there were more hours in the day!

Reading: Some of my favourite authors are Patrick O'Brian, Elmore Leonard, John Buchan, PG Wodehouse.

Photography: I have several cameras, you might call me a gadget freak, and enjoy using them all. After early very bad experiences with photo processors I resolved to take nothing but 35mm slides. This was also partly driven by the appalling way that one would give prints away and then have no means of re-printing because of the lack of proper filing. I now have over 10,000 slides and am wondering how I can get them all digitised and properly indexed without breaking the bank. You can see a steadily growing collection of holiday and business trip photo postcards here.

Cycling: I try to do about 20km or more a day. I have two bikes, one at home in Skelmersdale and one in Glasgow. These are both business bikes as I use them mainly for business purposes.

But once a day, at home in Skelmersdale, a new town of some 50,000 people, I cycle round the countryside nearby. A hill here, a long canal path there, beautiful views and wonderful breezes almost everywhere. Skelmersdale is in West Lancashire and if you only get out of the car and take the many walks or rides around the countryside you find it is extremely beautiful. As I say to all my friends, if we didn't live here we would certainly visit as tourists to enjoy its beauties. 

Singing: I used to sing bass in the MESA choir and really enjoyed it. For the past few years I have been away too much to keep up with that but with luck I will start again soon.

Painting: I haven't done too much painting in the last ten years but do enjoy water colour painting.

Politics: see here. 

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Politics

Politics! Me?

Extraordinary but true

Yes I stood for the General Election in 1992. Constituency: Bow & Poplar, Tower Hamlets, London. and then in 1977 for Crosby, Liverpool. I am also an elected Parish Councillor for the Wrightington and Appley Bridge ward in West Lancashire. Our annual budget is some £8,000 which we spend on things like bus shelters, roadside maintenance, supporting charitable organisations in the parish, village halls and so on. 

Party? Natural Law of course. Not many votes but I feel proud to have taken part in the democratic process - especially as one of my opponents in 1992 was the leader of the BNP (you didn't expect to see a link there did you?).

There was a lot happening around the world with the Natural Law Party, in the UK and in Scotland.

I support the Natural Law Party because it has policies that have been shown to work. In the modern jargon they are "evidence based". Just see what we have achieved around the world in the field of Prisons and Rehabilitation.

But,... all good things come to an end! In November 2000 we decided to stop our political approach to solving the world's problems and to revert to getting people to practise TM instead. 

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Seasonal Celebrations

Read all about them here.

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MESA - Maharishi European Sidhaland Association

We have been living here since 1983. Read all about MESA here. Just recently the Maharishi European Sidhaland received the prestigious British Urban Regeneration Association award for 2000 for Best Practice in Regeneration. The award statement says:

"The Maharishi European Sidhaland is a community development project in Skelmersdale. The physical infrastructure includes a community centre, two residential areas, a health centre and a school. The project also involves an environmental action group and organises seminars and conferences on health and education issues.

"In September 1980 the Maharishi Foundation established the ‘Ideal Village ’ concept, later renamed the Maharishi European Sidhaland, a total concept of community regeneration including buildings, business, education, health, housing, the combating of crime, employment and individual and collective quality of life, based on the group practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM).
 
"This is a most unusual project and an outstanding example of best practice in many ways which are totally different from any other project previously submitted for a BURA Award 

"A surplus of Development Corporation housing and factory space allowed the community to establish itself by encouraging people from around Britain who already practised TM to move to Skelmersdale. Businesses were established to support the project. Over 150 members of the Sidhaland and local people are currently employed directly within the community infrastructure or businesses established by its members.

"The Golden Dome was built in 1987 and provides a facility for the practice of TM, a community centre, restaurant and meeting rooms. Courses are held on a daily basis with larger seminars and conferences on various subjects held throughout the year.

"Improving the quality of housing was an important issue. Beacon Construction was formed and two developments now house some of the members of the community in low density housing - approximately 75 homes. There is also a business centre to enable people to telework within a walk to work environment.

"The School provides high quality education in a nurturing environment for children from the Sidhaland and surrounding areas. It is an independent, non-selective school with 100 pupils, housed in a converted stone farm building. The academic achievements are outstanding and the school was equal top in the league tables for Lancashire and tenth in England last year. The success of the school and the principles of education on which it is based make it an outstanding example of best practice. The Health Centre was established in 1986 and attracts clients from all over the country.

"Outreach to the wider community occurs through seasonal celebrations, through the school and through conferences and seminars. Work is underway to establish similar facilities in other regions including London and Sussex. Many overseas visitors have been inspired to establish elements of it in their own country.

"The project has made a significant contribution to the local economy. It was designed to be self sustaining, by establishing small businesses which support the growth of the community infrastructure. All funding has been internally generated. The sports and arts centre, an environmentally friendly building, designed according to the principles of Sthapatya Veda, or Vedic architecture, is the first part of the project to receive outside funding. This included a grant from Sportsmatch and support from local business. The project started in 1980 and has shown steady and continuous growth. The physical infrastructure demonstrates the continued success of the project and the educational results of the School highlight the effectiveness of the system.

"The judging panel concluded that this is a most unusual project and an outstanding example of best practice in ways which are totally different from any other project previously submitted for a BURA Award. The outcomes of the project are similar to other projects, but the means of achieving them are truly original. The School is particularly impressive and the architectural principles of Sthapatya Veda should be more widely disseminated. It represents a different and unconventional joined-up approach which addresses education, health, housing, employment and crime in a positive and unusual way. It has a qualitative impact on the surrounding area and promotes regeneration by motivating the individual within the community."

You can read more about BURA and this award at their web site.

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