About John Hedge

Born just before the NHS in 1947, John Hedge was brought up in a traditional Buckinghamshire pub. Less traditional were the bitter rows between his loving but troubled publican parents. He and his brother were sent away to the Royal Masonic Schools in the misguided belief that he would be happier away from the booze and the brickbats. His book, 'Ston and the Bright Bar' tells the story of growing up in these two contrasting worlds.

Fired by these experiences John eventually made it to Manchester University to read Social Studies and discovered what became a life- long commitment to siding with the underdog. He trained in Liverpool as a Probation Officer and spent 40 years in a service, which for many years stood up bravely for unpopular causes and a more civilized Criminal Justice system.

He worked for some time in Wormwood Scrubs prison and was involved in pioneering work on foreign prisoners before whistle blowing activities exposing mayhem within the jail led to an early exit. As he says, ‘most people get thrown into prison - I got thrown out!’ His book 'The Long Road to the Straight and Narrow' describes the ups and downs, challenges, and occasional victories of a life in the Probation Service.

Alongside his professional life John was an active campaigner on many social issues. He helped to found organisations dealing with homelessness, and drug and alcohol misuse. He chaired one of the early Victim Support schemes

For many years John was a member of the Labour Party and stood as a parliamentary candidate in the 1979 General Election, failing to prevent Douglas Hurd from being elected in the Thatcher landslide. That experience and other passions, joys and problems are described in his first poetry book- a selection of poems and prose entitled 'The Paddington Band.'

John is a keen supporter of overseas development and inspired by a friend who worked in Mali founded the Mali Development Group, in 2000. Since then, the organisation has worked closely with Malian organisations to support many projects, raising over £1.5 million. You can find out more about Mali Development Group on this site: www.malidg.org.uk

Outside his professional life John has always been an arts enthusiast and founded a theatre group and arts festival in South Oxfordshire. For nearly 20 years he enjoyed performing as a 2-metre-tall pantomime dame and in later years has sung in a series of choirs always in the middle of the back row as a second bass.

John made a late start to writing. He had always loved books and their ability to ‘capture’ experience, but never found the time to make a proper start on work of his own. He recognises that his reluctance had something to do, as well, with a fear of not being much good in practice. At the age of 70 he decided that he needed to face those doubts and made a start, regretting now that he left it so long, and wishing he had been braver sooner.

John and his wife Gill, who works as a potter, have been married for over 50 years. They have two sons and 4 grandsons. They now live in North Devon, and many of the poems in John’s second poetry book, ‘Life, Death and Football’, are about the area and its nature.

More books are planned.