Here you will find information about me and my family.

About Me:

    My name is Mark Bennett, I was born and raised along with my brother Nick, & two sisters Gez & Joy in a small village called Bidford on Avon. It's about 7 miles south of Stratford on Avon in the county of Warwickshire, England. In August 1999 I quit my 25 year career with a Automotive parts manufacturer and moved to Ontario, Canada with my Family to start a new life. How this came about is a story in itself but first more about my Family.

Alex

    Alex is my wife of 17 yrs, she was born in Mosley, (sorry I've been corrected by my nieces cuz I spalt it rong), Moseley, a suburb of Birmingham, England. Her parents emigrated to Canada when she was 10 months old. Her Mom is Canadian by birth, Dad is English & considers himself a "Brummie", Alex was raised in Pierrefonds, Quebec. She has an I.Q. well above the average & also a "take no prisoners" attitude when provoked but has a soft side when you push the right buttons. Her interests are reading and tapestry.

Cassandra

    Cassandra is my eldest daughter, she is currently a senior student in grade School. She is very smart and showed a talent for computers from the age of two & was reading by age four. She is a typical early teen & is into Anime, computers, & reading. Her favorite colour is black, & she is into the more Rock/Goth type of genre, defiantly not a "girly girl". She has a talent for drawing, particularly Anime & wants to be a Graphic Designer. She has her Mother's personality, so watch out!

Mallory

    Mallory is my youngest daughter, she is a junior student in grade school, She is very bright and seems to have a talent for Math, and learned to read very quickly once she decided she wanted to. She has a very loving nature & unlike her Sister is a "girly girl". Her favorite colour is pink, like her sister she is into Anime & Computers, she also has a talent for drawing. She has my type of personality, more laid back.

Our family

    How we met is quite a story and proves that you never know what is round the next corner. Alex's Mom, Judy & Dad, Rex were on holiday in England in the Spring of 1985. Her Dad was in the British Legion in Kings Heath, Birmingham & was dropping the name of his best friend Gordon Barrier whom he had not seen of heard from for over 20 years. Gordon was married to Rex's youngest Sister Dagny. One of the patrons who knew Gordon contacted his eldest son, Harvey & told him that a guy with a North American accent had been enquiring about him. All he knew was that Rex & Judy were staying in a Hotel in London, but he got the phone book and started dialing numbers. Incredibility he found the right Hotel and established contact, Rex & Judy were leaving for Canada the next morning but arranged to fly back to England for a family reunion during the Christmas holidays 1985... (Stay with me)...

    I remember one day visiting my friend Simon's house during the holiday, (it was practically my 2nd home). He had already told me that his long lost Aunt & Uncle were staying over the holiday & that they had brought their Daughter with them.. I was "between girlfriends" at the time having recently ended a long term relationship so was not really looking the get attached to anyone but.. I walked into the Parlor & there was Alex, We established eye contact, I loved her accent & thought nice.... So I started bugging Simon to bring Alex out in the evenings which to start with he was reluctant to do so because he wasn't sure if Alex would be freaked out by the questionable (!) things we got up to & report it back to her (and his) Parents. To cut a long story short it was resolved by Karen, Simon's girlfriend & Alex started coming out with "our gang" in the evenings.

    It turned out to be the best Christmas holiday of my life for many reasons, including all the trips to the Pub to socialize with the gang, Alex was quickly accepted & invited out to a New Years Eve party. I guess we officially made first contact (!) at midnight 1985. Things happened very quickly from that point onwards, however within a few days Alex had to depart for home. Like all holiday romances we exchanged addresses & phone numbers & promised to write to each other... which we did, just about on a weekly basis.

    I owned a house which I'd recently renovated & sold it in April 1986, I put the proceeds in the Bank & decided to live Mortgage free for a while. So with some of the proceeds from the sale booked a flight to Montreal to spend a week with Alex & her family. Considering they hardly knew me Alex's parents were fantastic & remain so to this day, we had an amazing week & it was tough when the time came for me to return to England.

    We continued to write to each other & Alex decided that she would move to England which she did in the Autumn of 1986. She initially lodged with Aunty Dagny but later moved in with my parents. We looked around for a home of our own & eventually after being "Gazumped" (out bid after already agreeing the purchase price) a couple of times purchased a Flat (Apartment). It was in really poor shape having been previously owned by a single guy who somehow thought he was good at home repair. The place was a disaster & needed a complete renovation, the catalogue of disasters was never ending but we got it into shape shortly before we got married.  In the summer of 1988 Alex's Parents & relatives flew in from Canada & pretty much took over the village, Bidford never knew what hit it...We got married on July 9th at the St Lawrence Church in Bidford on Avon.

    We had a real blast on our honeymoon, we spent a couple of days with Alex's Parents, Aunts & Uncles on a Barge on the river Avon & afterwards we drove around Europe in my old Vauxhall Chevette. We stayed a couple of nights in Paris which for the un-initiated is a driving experience you will never forget. The French quite simply are nuts but you soon learn not to be intimidated & just dive into & out of the traffic, just like they do...

We also visited Luxemburg, Belgium, Holland, & Germany, the weather was glorious & like I said we had a great time.

    In the Summer of 1991 we sold our Flat & moved to the village of Credenhill in Herefordshire, my Company had made me a job offer which required re-location to another Plant just on the outskirts of Hereford city. We looked around several prospective properties before settling on a nice detached house, not too large by Canadian standards but considered a family home in England. Of course it was another "fixer upper" so over the next 8 years or so I renovated it inside & out. We were happy in Credenhill & made friends with people I worked with & neighbours. At work things moved along at the relentless pace which is normal in the Automotive Engineering world but I was becoming increasingly un-happy, which brings me to the story on how we ended up in Canada...

    Settle down, this will take some time..

    In the Summer of 1998 a colleague at work quit to go & work for Honda, he was working on a project for Toyota & because I already had experience working with Toyota I was asked to take over his work when he left. Part of the job is purchasing machinery which in this case involved traveling to a CNC Machine company in Germany. I knew a lot of people at the German company having been there many times from previous machine purchases one of my friends there Klaus Buttewegge knew I was unhappy with my current job & was considering moving to Canada.

    Alex's friend Chris got married in July 1998 & when we returned from Canada after attending her wedding. In the Fall of that year she asked me if I would consider moving to Canada, without hesitation I replied "yes". At that point things fell into place in a way that you won't believe, it could not have been planned to work out any better. I was back in Germany later that fall to sign off delivery for a new machine (the one my colleague would have been signing off if he had not quit) & told Klaus that I'd decided to move to Canada. By pure co-incidence there were a couple of guys from the USA, Brett Bartozeck & Rich O'Loughlin, they were also signing off a machine delivery. Klaus introduced us to each other & encouraged me to ask them about working in the US & Canada which I did, we had quite a few conversations, swapping ideas & comparing jobs, we swapped business cards & I returned home. A couple of months later I got a phone call at work from a guy called John Bond, in his broad Birmingham accent he told me that his company were considering purchasing a machine of the same configuration as one I'd purchase a couple of years earlier. He asked me if it would be possible for him & a colleague to visit & look at the machine I had previously purchased & discuss our views on how good it was. I assumed from his accent he was located in Birmingham, England  & asked him what his travel plans were, he then went on to explain that he was in fact calling from Ontario, Canada & he had also heard that I may be looking for a new job & to immigrate to Canada. I said yes I was & he said we should discuss it when he arrived but in the meantime would I send him my resume. Is the Pope a Catholic? I updated my resume & emailed it to him a couple of days later, at that point I arranged to get the paperwork required to immigrate to Canada. John & I corresponded a few more times over the remainder of the year, the part I couldn't figure out was that John was acting as a go between & a guy called Chuck Delph so was unable to give me much information. It later transpired that the job was working for the Corporation (based in Michigan) but working at the Ontario Plant.

    In February 1999, John arrived with his colleague ( & my future Boss) Chuck Delph, they were running behind schedule but elected to have lunch prior to going to the Plant. We talked about life in general, business & the Automotive industry in general including manufacturing processes & specific experiences with the type of machine they wanted to purchase. On leaving the Pub Chuck asked if he could ride back to the Plant with me in my car, no sooner had he closed the door when he said something like "this is not my normal approach but would you be interested in working for me"?

I immediately replied yes & we spent the remainder of the journey discussing salary expectations, whether  I was really serious, & when would I be able to immigrate, he wanted me to leave sooner than I though would be possible. After our meeting we exchanged business cards & I said I would keep him updated in the immigration progress. I filed my application to the Canadian High Commission in early March & waited, thinking it would take at best the minimum suggested time of 6 months. We were planning on visiting Alex's parents in Montreal in July so I asked John if it would be possible to visit the Plant for a tour he replied yes. One week prior to departure I received notification from the Canadian High Commission that I was approved for immigration!

    I told John & he said I should meet with Chuck, we drove down to Ontario & I spent the whole day at the Plant with John, Chuck had been delayed & was unable to meet with me until late in the day. I met both Chuck & John for supper in the hotel that Chuck had very generously put the entire Family in for the night at no charge. During the meal I was interviewed in an informal way I'll always remember Chuck asking me if I played golf, my reply was "no, not yet"... We had to leave the following day to drive back to Quebec, I was thinking what now? a couple of days prior to departing back to the UK I got a phone call from John asking me to fly back to Ontario at their cost & meet with Chuck again. This time we met for lunch & during the meal discussed again the logistics of working for him, I explained that I was now ok to immigrate & would be making plans to do so just as soon as we arrived back in the UK. He pulled out a contract of employment which was really too good an offer to refuse so I signed it. He wanted me to start in Early September but I said I would not be able to do so due to the fact we had not yet found a buyer for our house plus all the other loose ends that needed to be tied up.

    As mentioned above I quit my job in August, not too easy to do after so many years, but it felt like now or never & I could not imagine working at the same Company for another 25 years.. My new Company was generous enough to pay my complete re-location expenses including shipping all our possessions to Canada. After a leaving party at the local club with family & friends we left England on September 29th 1999, to start our new life, I started work on October 1st with my new company. Alex stayed in Montreal with the kids for the first eight weeks while I stayed in a hotel & looked for a suitable house.

    We were lucky enough to have found a buyer for our home in Credenhill & completed the sale within 3 weeks of arriving in Canada. Alex flew down from Montreal on the week-ends so we could house hunt. By pure luck Alex picked a fantastic Realtor out of the local phone book, she was so helpful & showed us loads of houses making sure to get us in a good neighbourhood We finally found the house we wanted in a nice quiet court, perfectly located within a 10 minute walk of an excellent School & a shopping Mall.

    We moved in on December 10th, Granny & Grandad brought the kids down from Montreal & stayed over for the Christmas holidays. The kids were excited with their new home & fitted right in at the local School, both quickly making new friends. We installed a swimming pool during the second summer & have settled down into the Canadian lifestyle. Aside from obviously missing my family & friends back in the UK I really don't miss the British lifestyle, I frequently kick myself for not making the decision to Emigrate earlier.

PS.

        I do miss the British Winters, yes they may be damp but are very short (and warm!) compared to Canadian winters...