History

1-2-1 Computer TLC was originally founded as 1-2-1 Computer Training (hence the website address of www.1-2-1computertraining.co.uk) in 2004 on the fringes of the village of Swineshead, near Boston in Lincolnshire. The founder and still the primary trainer is John Ayres-Smith, a qualified I.T. (Information Technology) trainer.

A note about spellings! We don't like spelling or grammatical errors - so if you find any let us know, however, it is customary in the computer business to use the American spellings for computer terms like "program" (instead of programme) and "disk" (instead of disc).

So who is John Ayres-Smith?

John was born plain “John Smith” in 1949 in north-east London, however, he considers himself originally a South Londoner as he lived from 1950 throughout his childhood and adolescence in Dulwich (where Lady Thatcher had a home for some time). He spent many years gradually moving south and west, (around Surrey) when a computer-related job took him to Luton in Bedfordshire in 1990. This job was John’s first serious introduction to computers and computing. He had previously been in tourism as a professionally qualified tourist guide in London (a “Blue Badge Guide”).

During some years as a computer account manager John always recalled the allegedly highly-skilled, over-paid technocrats that would come to his ‘rescue’ when he inadvertently pressed a wrong button on what was then called his "workstation". It was very embarrassing having to frequently summon help and repeatedly suffer the long look of utter disdain from these ‘technical people’. John swore to himself that if he ever got to understand those wretched machines and had to show anyone anything – he would do so kindly, sympathetically and in stages with great care and thoughtfulness.

When John married ("Jane Ayres") in July 2008 he and his wife decided to adopt the modern idea of a shared/combined surname, hence the surname change for them both to that of Ayres-Smith.

John and Jane’s love of horses brought them to Lincolnshire (neither having ever been there prior to their relocation into the county). Lincolnshire in 2004 provided an inexpensive home with a few acres for their horses and both John & Jane then needed a new Lincolnshire job!

Jane had gained a new teaching position and John (who had in 1998 realised his ambition to be an I.T. trainer in Bedfordshire, specialising in the training of school teachers in MS (Microsoft) programs and educational applications for MS Word, Outlook, Internet Explorer, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and similar programs) at the suggestion of his wife, explored the possibility of 1-2-1 teaching of computing in people’s homes.

To John’s amazement he found that Lincolnshire (in 2004) appeared to be the “computer-challenged” corner of Great Britain and there was much demand for his 'one-man-band one-to-one home-based services'.

What is 1-2-1 Computer TLC? John had started as an in-your-home trainer working around Lincolnshire teaching ‘the locals’ how to use a computer. The trouble was that most times when he went to do training he almost always seemed to notice technical problems with the clients’ computers. Obviously it was not easy training someone on a slow computer or one that seemed to do strange things. John had built-up extensive experience of technical trouble-shooting over the years as a computer account manager and then trainer. It seemed that there was an increasing demand for technical work even over and above that of training!

In 2008 the name of 1-2-1 Computer TLC (that’s right – Tender Loving Care!) was adopted and the web site was revamped although remaining named and located as:

www.1-2-1computertraining.co.uk

Over the four years of work in Lincolnshire (2004/2008) it became clear that the market for training was much smaller than the market for installations and remedial work. John started to provide both training and technical work (“T & T” as he likes to call it).

As we approach the end of the 21st. century's first decade the people of Lincolnshire have become accustomed to the very 'local', reliable and inexpensive services offered by 1-2-1 Computer TLC.