Russell James Alexis Noble Warren
My son Russ was born on November 11th 1980: the name James was the name Rosie and I had chosen for his older brother, who unfortunately did not survive. It was also the name of my Grandfather on my mother’s side, and my second name. Russell and Alexis were names we both liked, although there was no-one in the family called Russell or Alexis. Noble was my father’s family name. There was no Proctor family name!
I was with Russ in my house in Ealing until he was 5 years old, and was very involved as a parent, doing many of the things that modern day parenting encourages – such as nappy changing etc.! As a boy, he was a quiet character, and could be difficult. And he loved Star Wars – I remember many toys based on characters in that film.
As explained previously, it was 2002 before we met up again as father and son, as he had spent most of his life in Yorkshire with Rosie’s family. The meeting in 2002 at his University, Royal Holloway, was thanks to Jenny – his girlfriend at the time – who persuaded Russ that he should “reach out” to his father.
Once we had re-united, I took both Russ and Jenny to meet my parents in Wiltshire, and we started seeing each other on a regular basis. I remember one family holiday in Crete together, where Michele and I took Russ and Jenny to stay in our favourite hotel, the Dolphin Bay.
Over the next seven years, post University, Russ first moved to Derbyshire with Jenny’s parents, until their relationship ended, and then returned to the London area in 2004 to work in sales with the HSBC as part of their Graduate scheme.
Russ was single at the time, and living in a small “bedsit” in Chiswick: unfortunately our Thames Village apartment was just not big enough, otherwise I would have suggested he come and live with us until he was “on his feet”
In 2009 I was able to offer him a job with my Telecoms Business, and we started to spend more “father and son” time together with games of tennis at my local club in Richmond and a few beers at local pubs in Chiswick. Unfortunately I was not a Golf enthusiast which was a sport at which Russ excelled! It was very fulfilling for me to be able to discuss business matters with my son, and advise him where I could on “everyday” problems – such as repaying a large student loan.
In 2013, I had a few personal problems and had no choice but to “downsize” the company, which meant that Russ had to consider another career. I very much regretted the decision I had to make, but it was a choice between him and Liam Leckie, a loyal consultant with me for more than 15 years, and with a family to support.
However, I am proud to say that Russ rose to the challenge, and after several Account Manager posts with Technology companies, he is now an Indirect Sales Leader working at BMC
Since 2013, he has also met and married the lovely Jo, and they have three wonderful children, Noah, Mason and very recently Sofia-Rose. I know that they are very happy together – and the large family includes Jo’s son Tyrell from a previous marriage.