Just a little bit about me, i live in a small town called Wigton, in Cumbria were i have lived and worked all my life. The factory were i work has changed names a few times over the years, British rayophane, British Sidac, / UCB /  now  Innovia films . A leading global producer of speciality high performance biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) and cellulose films for packaging and labels check out the link above. I have worked there for 26 years, a great place to work. i am maried with three grown up children. I am a private collector & what you see on this website are in my collection. I started collecting match boxes when i was ten years old, on holiday with my parents in Cornwall. i have been fortunate enough to get a good start with my collection through a couple we met on that holiday, who had contacts with collectors. even a designer for bryant & may, so i even have covers that were never issued for some reason or other.  It just went from there realy, i recieved full collections by post over a number of years and other local collectors, work mates, friends and family, even going down to the local sale rooms.I  will now have well over 30,000 in my collection and would like to say a big thank you to all those who have donated to my collection over the years without which i would not have the collection i have now. please note i do not value or sell. I decided to start my own website to display part of my collection, i hope to keep updating the site at regular intervals . I am a member of arragons cumbrian triathlon club in penrith. And Wigton running club. I also started fell running in 2009 ,  I do a lot of open water swimming in the lakes mainly derwentwater & bassenthwaite, I also do a bit of  fell walking and like taking photos, these are some of the photos i have taken in 2009,apart from the borrowdale show photo,  all of the photos on this page are within a 1 hour drive from were i live. I feel realy lucky to live in Cumbria. Its not all wind & rain. any Donations to this website are always welcome,so if you come across any old matchboxes dont chuck e'm,  I will also display parts of donated collections on this website. on the donate page.