Doug became a resident of Topcliffe in 1994 when he moved to rural North Yorkshire from the industrial town of Middlesbrough. He worked as Public Relations Officer for Middlesbrough Borough Council for 25 years before joining a private PR and Marketing company in Guisborough, where he worked until his retirement in 2009.
In 2014 Doug was co-opted on to the Topcliffe & Asenby Village Hall Committee to lead on the raising of funds for the construction of an extension and major refurbishment. Once the work was completed he remained on the committee and later became a Trustee.
In 2018 Doug agreed to take on the editorship of The Tattler, the quarterly newsletter published and distributed to all households in Topcliffe and Asenby. As well as writing the copy he sells the advertisements that pay for the newsletter’s printing.
As the Covid pandemic unfolded in 2020, Doug launched a weekly email – later called the Sunday Email – which is distributed to around 260 people, mainly within the two villages, but also to some much further afield.