Title Details

Leo Kearley was born and brought up in Christchurch, England. Like many towns on the South Coast, it was strewn with remnants of WW2. With two airfields a stone’s throw from his parent’s house. In addition, the town of Christchurch remained to the fore during the Cold War. On the West side of town was the Military vehicles experimental establishment, and to the East, the Research and signals development establishment. Both were major employers in the town and maintained the links that harked back to a time of more a glorious age. Exposed to so much history, Leo became enamoured with the idea of visiting the far-away places that once made up the British Empire when he grew up. In his teenage years, Leo join the scout association, and became an active member of the movement, trying his hand at many new past times and adventurous sports. Be it archery, shooting, rock climbing, potholing, canoeing or sailing, he’s loved them all. He also had the desire to compete, and test himself, and the scout movement gave opportunity to test himself at all levels.

In venture scouts, he relished the challenge of leadership, and instructing others. This also set him on a path of coaching sports and activities, which he has carried on throughout his life. Career wise, Leo focused on mechanical engineering, but he was never settled. By his mid-twenties, Leo wanted to see out that boyhood dream of seeing far-away places, and traveled to New Zealand. His engineering qualifications gave Leo the opportunity to work and live in the country, and there he met and married a New Zealand girl and had three children. This change of country, also gave the opportunity for a career change into the world of Information Technology. Where some years later, his contacts in his new career helped Leo and his family relocate to Perth in Western Australia.

The card game of contact bridge had hooked Leo in his later teens. It took some years to become proficient, but his love of the game saw him play competitively across the three countries with many wonderful partners, and team mates. It should also be said that the world of bridge contains colourful characters, with stories of antics and crass behaviour that would make your toes curl. After several years, of competition, he stopped playing tournaments, to spend more time with his three children. Football took over, as his son and two daughters needed coaching, as did many other children at the club they belonged to. From under 7s, right through to State representative teams in Australia, Leo coached extensively. He also took up refereeing and playing the game. From social leagues, he moved on to state league squads, but finally accepting the roll-over of years, over 35s and 45’s beckoned. Life changed for Leo in a bad way, when his father fell sick, and his mother died. He moved back to Christchurch to help his father’s recovery, and his son traveled with him. The following year, father and son learned to ski together, and this winter sport has become a favoured pass time over the past ten years. His time spent in the mountains, in both winter and summer, brings a view of majesty. With the inspiration of the mountains, and the acceptance of mortality that came with the passing of his father, there came a desire to write the books he’d always wanted to. Already, an author of documents, proposals, and sports newsletters for many years, Leo embarked on a writing career that has seen the development of the Conflicts book series.

Weaving fictional characters into the timeline of history, Leo has crafted a set of manuscripts that will immerse the reader from one story to the next, as rag-tag heroes battle tyranny through the most volatile times of the 20th Century.