This is the website of the Harden family

I was born just after the second world war and my parents, Claude Harden and Blanche Goodman, were both Londoners. I lived in Walton-on-Thames Surrey for the first nine years of my life, then Stoke Poges Bucks until I left home to be married. I was educated at Slough Grammar School, Newcastle University and Slough Technical College. I moved into electronics after University and through my long working career I worked on scientific space satellites, the UK's Air Defence System, telecoms (particularly the design of telephone exchanges) and Integrated Circuit (IC) design before running my own electronic design consultancy for many years. During the last few years of my working life I spent time with Dyson and Rotork before finally returning to IC design.

I spent a lot of time ballroom dancing in my late teens and was a huge pop music fan throughout the sixties. I eventually met a lovely girl called Jennie Dyke and we married in 1970.

I retired on my 65th birthday at the end of April 2011

I was born a bit later than Brian because my dad was in the War. I was born in Slough but lived in Iver (Bucks) from the age of three. I was educated at Langley Grammar School and Slough Technical College. I started work as a computer programmer for Johnson & Johnson in Slough in the 1960s, working on the very early commercial computers made by IBM. After getting married I worked for a software consultancy company then STK in Norway.

While bringing up our three children I ran my own children’s clothes shop for a Very Long Time.

I ended my working life with the Alzheimer’s Society and retired, with Brian, at the end of April 2011.

We married in Iver, Bucks, on Jennie's birthday in 1970 and started our married life in Welham Green, Hertfordshire. We got the chance to work in Norway and spent three good years in Oslo from 1971 through 1973. On our return to the UK we moved north to Kirkcaldy, Fife, where we lived for about six years. In 1980 we moved to Appleby, Cumbria where we enjoyed good times for about 18 years. This is where we brought up our children and where they call "home". When our kids left home to go to university it was a long way from our ageing parents so we moved south and settled in Tetbury, Gloucestershire.

After retirement we found we were spending more and more time with the grandchildren and less in Tetbury so in September 2012 we moved to Berkshire.  It's almost like going home because we still have many old school friends living nearby and, apart from the traffic, it's an easier place to live. We are now doing our best to keep each other fit and healthy while trying to "see the world before it's too late!"

Before Covid we maintained our general fitness by walking as much as we could (10,000 steps a day if Jennie had anything to do with it), badminton two or three times a week, and sessions in the gym as often as possible. We are also keen on Zumba, swimming and ballet. Yes, that's ballet! As we are over 60 we are officially Silver Swans.

However, Covid put a stop to all that! Throughout lockdown we went on line and had Zumba sessions and ballet classes via Zoom, although we kept up our walking. As things have eased we are back in our local village hall, continuing with Zumba and ballet. We are also easing our way back to badminton.

On 1st August 2020 we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary.

Greta was born in Norway while we were living there.  She started school in Dysart, Fife but spent most of her schooling in Appleby. She did an engineering degree in Leeds then moved "down south" after university and joined Oracle. There she met Spence Nichols, they married in July 2004 and settled in Charvil, near Reading. Spence is a freelance IT man currently working for BMW and Greta works in the head office of Waitrose. They gave us two lovely grandchildren, Rebekah in April 2007, and Ben in June 2009.

They have both worked from home since the beginning of Covid and have changed their house around to give themselves proper offices and decent space for the kids to work in. With four of them working from home they had to seriously improve their broadband!

Rebekah is fifteen and is in year ten at senior school. She loves dancing (ballet, stage, modern and jazz) and is a very strong athlete. Senior school has enabled her to excel in a variety of sporting activities including Rugby and, with a friend, has recently beaten the whole of her year in badminton.

She is very sociable and has many friends. She is particularly skilled in the use of the mobile phone. She is a very confident young lady and really enjoys the new challenges of life. She has started on the path towards GCSE and  a couple of subjects she has chosen include design and technology and PE.

Ben is thirteen and is in year eight at senior school. His school work is mostly very good and we were all very pleased with his end of year report last year. He enjoys football, cricket and the Scouts. He joined his dad at the local cricket club, practices his bowling by the hour and has become a demon bowler. He has recently been chosen to play for the County.

He wasn't happy being at home through the Covid pandemic. He just wanted to play football with his friends.

Colin was born in England soon after we returned to the UK from working in Norway. After a brief time in a Scottish nursery he settled in school in Appleby. He went to Sheffield University and while he was there he met Charlotte Cook and they married in 2001. Since Charlie is a Sheffield girl they have settled there. They gave us our first lovely grandchild, Josh, in March 2002 and live in Fulwood, a pleasant Sheffield suburb.

Josh is twenty and left school to do an accountancy apprenticeship.

He is very good at sports, especially tennis. 

He has recently left home to live in his own flat.

Martin was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, but spent all his early life in Appleby and thinks of himself as Cumbrian. He went to Chester University where he met Eve Holland and they married in February 2003. Eve is a Yorkshire lass so Sheffield was a good place for them to settle down. Martin is a Woolsack legend, having run it three times and winning it once.  They gave us our fourth grandchild, Bertie, born December 2011 and our fifth, Ted, in January 2019. 

Bertie is a loving ten-year-old who has struggled at school. He is on the autistic spectrum and that makes life very difficult for him. But he is very good with numbers, has an amazing vocabulary and is a very quick learner. He is seriously into Minecraft and we have recently discovered that he has taught himself coding (from YouTube)! He will concentrate for hours on building Lego models from instructions. He can swin reasonably well and is an incredibly fast runner. He tolerates his little brother (just!) and is very good with the lastest addition to the family, a puppy.

Baby Ted is three and is a bright and active little boy.

He loves music, has very good natural rhythm and learns songs very quickly.

He has made a very positive addition to the family.