About us
We left London five years ago for the country and built Oakwood, where they now live. On the edge of the village of Compton, it is near Newbury and one hour from London, by train or car. We have two teenage children – Lara and Kit who are at schools nearby. Jumble, a Jack Russel terrier spends most of his time chasing Domino the cat, who quite needlessly seems to put up with it.
Peter Monro
Brought up in Scotland I was educated at Glenalmond where I learnt French and Spanish. On leaving school I travelled round the world, working in Canada, the United States and Australia. After a degree in Hispanic studies from Bristol university I studied Arabic at Edinburgh university. I taught English in Darfur in the Sudan, then returned to Scotland to teach history, English and French at a prep school. Since then I have taught at a language school and tutored privately.
Publishing in London was the start of my business career, followed by promoting investment in North Africa. After that I joined IBCA, a rating agency whose reports and ratings are used extensively in international financial markets.
IBCA had staff of fifteen when I joined, by the time I left it was a major international company with 2,000 people in 50 offices world wide. As director of sales and marketing, I spent twenty years travelling abroad visiting clients, banks, companies and government ministries.
On moving to the country, I set up working from home. I travel abroad to advise companies on their sales and marketing and corporate communications. At home, I tutor and train people from abroad.
My reasons are:
First - to convey thirty years of practical experience in business and learning.
Second – not many business people know about teaching, not many teachers know about business.
Third - to show that a different approach can be both enjoyable and successful.
Lastly - because Oakwood, their house in the country is such a lovely place to do it.
In addition to training and teaching clients here, I advise companies on sales and marketing, business development; language and corporate communications.
I do this in the UK and mostly abroad, spending a week or more working with the client.
Patricia Monro
For the last twenty years I have worked in the charity sector and I am a Member of the Institute of Fundraising. Having held a senior fundraising post with a UK cancer charity, I now provide consultancy and training to help organisations with their fundraising projects. This can involve anything from organising a fundraising event to writing a script for a radio appeal.
In addition I also speak French. My language skills combined with my project management training often prove very helpful for many of our clients.