Wayne said he is an Oakleigh boy born and bred. Spent most of his early years in Oakleigh/Clayton area. His parents were builders in that area. His father was not well educated but very street-wise. During the early 50s they must have been doing reasonably well because they were finishing a house every 4 days. But that wasn’t for Wayne. His father died when he was 49 during a recession or what they called in those days a credit squeeze. He was dying of cancer and too sick to protect his business. It was a major demise in his family in 1963 when it all hit then fan. By the time he was 21 he had lived in 15 different addresses and that’s what builders do. They moved into the Brighton a long time ago and he has been living down this way for 70 odd years. He was educated at Mentone Grammar School as a border and he was sent there when he was about 7 or 8. He finished his schooling at Haileybury College and he was there until year 10. He hated school with a passion. Because of this he got to know the headmaster really well. In the early days in the Brighton part of the world the college kids used to gravitate to the beach every weekend particularly in summer. The Haileybury boys and the St Leonards girls they used to go to the South Road beach down the bottom of South Road at the Baths. The Firbank girls and the Brighton Grammar boys used to go to Dendy Street beach and never crossed paths. One occasion when Jenny was 14 and he was 16 they went up to South Road and that’s when they first met. They then continued that relationship and the next 5 years they were very close and then they got married. He didn’t have driver’s licence at 16 during those 2 years so they used to hitch a ride in the afternoon to Sorrento and get a milkshake and then in the evening hitch a ride back. He said that was very commonplace and a lot safer in those days. In the local area for teenagers it was a lot of fun. There were 3 dances every month one in St Peters Hall in Were Street which they used to participate each weekend. Before the weekend there was always a party. A very breaking party at Peter John’s house or somewhere else. He and Jenny have 3 daughter’s and 5 grandchildren 3 of which are girls. Jenny went to Firbank and daughters and 2 grandchildren have all gone to Firbank. They also have a 3 months old Corgi but she aint going to go to Firbank although she probably thinks she will says Wayne. When he was 16 and had left school he had an opportunity with a part time position in photography which ended up being a 4 year cadetship where he learnt how to be a salesperson and stock controller etc. He said it was a fabulous job and he loved his time there. He went to RMIT at night to study photography and during the day he was retailing as a salesperson. After a while at the age of 21 they were talking about getting married and he knew he had to get more income, He looked around and got a job with Hanimex Fuji and he spent 7 years with that company. He learnt a lot about marketing and did sales courses while he was there. After a while they offered him a promotion but it was out of the state and they had a young family. He started a photographic business in Oakleigh and they were there for a number of years. It was a calculated risk and they were 70% borrowed with 17% interest which was a bit difficult. They paid that debt within a year and they were debt free. They had to sell everything though and didn’t have a car, sold shares anything to keep the other 30%. In 18 months they were expanding in 3 or 4 years they had 3 stores going in Oakleigh, 1 in Elizabeth Street City and they were going fairly well. After a year of opening a camera shop and head office in Oakleigh he realised he had to remain competitive against  competition like Myer and Ted’s Camera Stores. He started a buying group a bit like Mitre 10 or Amcal. They started out that buying group and named it PhotoPlus and within 2-3years it became the largest buying group in Australia. They were managing 52 camera stores all around Australia and that kept them on the up and up as far as competitiveness. People like Myer became less of an issue but Ted’s became a bigger issue. After 10 years (they did it for over 40) he started to get interested in commercial real estate and has been doing that for a long time. He continues in buying real estate for commercial not residential. They had apartments on the Gold Coast buying and selling and that was mainly for respite. He has a classic car interest which probably helped with the Brighton Classic Car Show. He also has a small online business to do with the classic cars side of things. Its not a money making venture but it’s there and he has been doing it for 40 years. He supplies spare parts for classic cars anywhere in the world. He stopped the photography business about a year ago and he doesn’t regret it. The business we had was all to do with schools in the end. They were the second largest supplier to schools in Victoria and they continued to do that for 19 years from the head office in Highett. He last did the Member Behind the Badge in Jack Joel’s year and he finished with the same statement. He has 3 interests in life and that’s family, family, family.