Hi, I'm Darren.

I was born and raised in Leicester, on the Saffron estate, and I have never left. This city and its people made me who I am, and there is nowhere else I would rather call home.

My working life was spent in commercial aluminium structural glazing. It began almost by accident. I went to give a proper legend named Dave Morris a hand for what was only meant to be a few weeks, and I ended up staying for years and learning the whole trade from him. It took me all over the country, working on some serious buildings. Two of the jobs I am proudest of were the glazing at Center Parcs Longleat and the grandstand at Aintree, home of the Grand National. There is a real pride in standing back at the end of a job and seeing your work in a place like that.

Outside of work, my heart was always in the water. I dived for years alongside another legend, Richie Perry, and the two of us were down at Stoney Cove more weekends than not, whatever the weather threw at us. My first open water dive there was on a bitter December day, and I was hooked from that moment on. I trained through BSAC and kept pushing my qualifications until I earned my tickets as a national scuba diving instructor and an assistant diving instructor, and I took my first aid instructor course alongside them so that I could teach as well as dive. By then it was far more than a hobby. It was a big part of who I was. I free dived too, and one of my favourite memories is dropping down to six metres through the clear blue water on a holiday in Crete.

When I was not underwater, I was usually sat behind a rod. Carp fishing has been a lifelong love, from quiet sessions closer to home to trips over to France chasing bigger fish, and the odd long night waiting for a ghost carp to slip up. It is the peace of it as much as the catch, and it is something I still cannot do without.

Those years taught me the two things that carry me through everything now. That I am happiest outdoors, and that I will always find a way to keep doing the things I love.