John then moved to Mickleton: his first decade there was full of music, family and time in Finland with partner Pirkko, who he had met during his teaching year abroad. In 1992 he married his late wife Pamela, and moved in with her and her four daughters. In 2014 he relocated to Barnard Castle to be more involved in the culture of the dale. During his long time in Teesdale, John was known for his huge contribution to the musical life of the area. As well as being a pianist and composer himself, he taught piano and guitar (as well as French and German) privately, and ran many male and female voice choirs, the most recent one being the Deerbolt Ladies Choir. He taught music at the King James 1 Grammar School, and was later Head of Music at Staindrop Comprehensive until the early nineties, putting on countless productions and musicals.
He was also very involved in the organising of live classical music: in 2017 he put on seven concerts in the Barnard Castle Methodist Church to raise money to buy a new piano for the Witham, bringing a fantastically high standard of music to the dale. He also played a big part in the Darlington Music Society. He ran the children's music group Tunemakers in Cotherstone in the seventies, and was a member of Marilyn Anderson's Heighington Choir in the eighties, even playing the lead role of The Defendant in their production of Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Trial By Jury'. And of course, John spent many years as a highly valued part of BAMS (Bishop Auckland Music Society), organising concerts, contacting and hosting musicians, and writing the programme notes.
