Mills on Wheels Driving School

26/01/2022

Long time since I have posted on here but a good reason. When I first started as a driving instructor one of my ambitions or dreams was to get on with a pupil well enough (and who I had not met before) that they invited me to their wedding. So.. after about two years delay and various cancellations due to Covid here we are at the Petit Chateau at James And Natashas Wedding.
Good luck to you both. Hope it all goes well today and I hope all your dreams come true because one of mine has today. By the way she passed with no faults. I'm sure James hopes she doesn't have any now..
Thanks Natasha xx

19/05/2020

Long time since I posted on here since I retired a year and a half ago but when I first started doing this I had an ambition which has just been fulfilled. I've been invited to the wedding of one of my ex pupils and someone I hadn't met before teaching them to drive. Another one off the bucket list!!! 👰💕

13/09/2019

Friday the 13th !!! Whoooooooooooooo. Unlucky for some but wait - September 13th last year was a Thursday and Thursdays in Alnwick are (were) test days. So CONGRATULATIONS to Locks - you have been a fully qualified driver now for exactly a year!! Years nowadays only last a couple of weeks apparently so not as much of an achievement but great nonetheless. Well done Amy I hope everything is going well down at Pfizer. If I've spelt that correctly it will be a miracle.

19/07/2019

So what's all the fuss about this 50 years since the Moon landing business? What kind of an achievement was that? Exactly ONE year ago today I had to get TWO pupils through their test on the same day with the same examiner and both first time!! Both Adam Charlton and Emma Loughnane did just that. I don't see any programmes on TV about it or flag waving because we just got on with the job. Yes, admittedly the astronauts had to travel a quarter of a million miles to get there but they weren't doing 70 were they? I'm pretty sure they would have been in first class as well. How much traffic did they have to put up with? NONE, That's how much. Traffic lights? I don't think so. The Van Allen Belt? He was probably at The Arena singing "Jump". I do realise that they had the slingshot manoeuvre to carry out but it's not exactly The Oaks Roundabout is it? . In all of their training (and they did A LOT more than Adam and Emma) I bet they didn't have to do the crossroads at the top of Swansfield Road and then go down Percy Terrace at school coming out time. At the end of the day all they had to do was jump out of a tin can into some soft sand. Of course then they had to get home and dock with the command module. Did you see it? No blind spot check and no reversing lights and you may well say "What was the point - in space there was no-one there to see the lights?" Poor old MIKE COLLINS was there bored stiff and if I had a spaceship reversing towards me at 24,000mph relative to the Earth I'm damn sure I want to know when they were beginning their move. Sloppy work. Didn't even see any wing mirrors. Didn't even see any wings! Anyway James T Kirk got there before them in 1968 and he didn't even bother with a spacesuit. Proper bloke. So congratulations to Adam and Emma and same goes to Neil, Buzz and Mike. We all know which was the bigger achievement though don't we?

01/07/2019

May as well give this a try on here. On Saturday July 6th, 2019 I will be walking 26 miles between Alnwick and Bamburgh Castles in aid of MacMillan Cancer Support. Any donations would be very welcome. Thanks in advance if anyone decides to help. I know we all give what we can and it seems endless sometimes but every little helps and we all know someone who has been affected by cancer so here's hoping my total may go up even by just a pound by Saturday!
Here is my JUST GIVING link

David is raising money to help Macmillan Cancer Support

12/06/2019

Nearly finished with this page now but a couple of congratulations before I finish. I think they had better weather than we have today but whatever the weather both Emma Bartrum and Martha Stella Davies-Branch passed their tests on the same day. So Happy " I passed my test exactly one year ago today aren't I clever?" Day to them both. Emma passed in the morning completing the "new" pull over to the right and reverse two car lengths manoeuvre whilst Martha waited until the afternoon to carry out a creditable parallel park. Well done both and I hope you are well and enjoying driving and life in general....

18/05/2019

Not many of these left to do now if I remember them but Happy " I passed my test exactly one year ago today" day to Alice Oakey. Well done Alice I pass your little car pretty much every day. Hope Uni is going well and you are happy.

10/05/2019

Congratulations today to Jacob Bowers following in the footsteps of his sister Kiya Bowers by passing his test first time yesterday. I started Jacob off and he achieved quite a high standard but had to go elsewhere when I retired so really nice of him to let me know that he had been successful. Well done him and well done whoever his new instructor was. Really nice lad and quite a character. No photograph because I wasn't there!! Really pleased for him. Take Care Jacob!!!

19/03/2019

Well, well, well as my Dad would say. I wasn't expecting to be posting anything more on this page but I obviously am... I had to explain to all of my pupils when I retired that I wouldn't be able to teach them any more but as I told this to my friend Deborah Eaborn she said they were going to take their daughter Jess as far as they could themselves. Because she had her own car (thanks Grandad), own insurance, tax, fuel etc.. I said I would help them out so that is what we have been doing which culminated this afternoon in Jess Eaborn passing her test first time with only one driving fault which is brilliant. She had to do the dreaded parallel park so well done her. Thanks to Jess from me as that leaves me with my second highest pass rate at Alnwick to finish with 72.36%. I had forgotten what a buzz it is when someone passes. Well done Jess and drive carefully. I'll be watching!!