Featured Singer: Leslie Roberts

 

Leslie ProfileBorn in Waterloo, within the sound of Bow Bells and a pretty tough neighbourhood, Leslie spent his first five years there before moving to Orpington. All of his schooling and early adult life was spent in Orpington, and although he went to the same school as his wife Diane, they actually met at the local youth club. Leslie regrets that he let Diane get away, and was determined when they met up much later not to make the same mistake. He counts his marriage a great blessing. Leslie did not enjoy school, and left at 16 to take up an engineering apprenticeship linked to a City and Guilds course in metallurgy. He had various jobs including being a print librarian at the Telegraph. His great love however was motor bikes, developed from his late teens he became increasingly involved in trials and moto cross. As a volunteer mechanic he travelled to race meetings all over the UK and developed a friendship with an historic car racing driver that opened the door to a career in motor sport that spanned 18 years. Initially working for a transport company that ferried cars and equipment to and from meetings, he became a “truckie” in F3000 and F2, working also with many different teams including Mansell- Madgwick, that team became Mercedes, who you probably know look after Lewis Hamilton. This took him around the world, all over Europe, Canada and South Africa. One of his highlights was being given the keys to a Ferrari 355 for a spin! One of the skills Leslie developed in motor sport was as a specialist in telemetry. This provided an entrée into IT just as his employer faced an uncertain future and there was a huge demand for IT support. So in 1996 he moved into IT and quickly became a self-employed independent contractor. A career he continues to this day.

In 2000 Leslie attended the Orpington Youth Club reunion organised by Diane, and rekindled a relationship that was to lead to marriage. Although Leslie’s grandparents were popular semi-professional performers in the West End, there had never been much music in his life. That changed with Diane. Catapulted into Holy Cross Church Choir, Leslie a non-reader of music, struggled but survived. He recalls singing robed in St Peter’s Rome in front of a congregation of almost 3,000 people with awe. He also recalls the challenge of performing the Olympic composition “Traditional Values” with The Maidstone Singers with an audience of 5,000. That memory was further boosted by meeting Alvin Stardust backstage after the performance. Leslie love of motor sport has not waned. He has been riding a motor bike since he was 15, and owns and rides a Honda VFR 800 – as fast as the most expensive sports cars. With Diane he is still a strong supporter of motor sports, but a new interest has recently emerged that is a million miles from that noisy technology. Together with Diane, Leslie is developing a side line in fostering dogs. Not any dogs but specifically English Springer Spaniels. In addition to their own two Springers, Leslie and Diane have fostered over 20 dogs in the last 12 months, providing love and care for animals that are between homes. Looking back, Leslie bitterly regrets smoking since the age of 13. An activity that has resulted in a number of conditions requiring medication that can affect mood. Looking to the future Leslie simply wants to continue singing, support Springer Spaniel Welfare and make Diane happy.