He later went to college and came to Britain in 1972 to study for a master's degree at Leeds University.

He fell in love with future wife Sylvia at a college dance and decided to raise a family here.

After university he set up his own printing firm and worked as a volunteer maths tutor at an after-school club.

Frustrated that many children were not achieving their full potential, in 1987 he set up the Chapeltown and Harehills Assisted Learning Computer School (CHALCS).

The centre, which provided a leg-up for pupils struggling in core subjects like maths and English, helped thousands of Leeds children to become doctors, teachers and scientists.

It was forced to close in January last year due to a lack of funding.

Brainard now works in adult learning at Technorth Family Learning Centre in Chapeltown.

He lives in Moortown and has a son Adam and daughter Amina.



I have no real idea how old I am. In Ghana no one bothered with that sort of thing.

When I came to Britain I had to put a date of birth on a form so I put June 26, 1944 because it was the birthday of our first president, but I have no idea if it is right.

It can be frustrating sometimes, but in Ghana age is not important, and if I hadn't gone to school it wouldn't matter to me.

The first time I heard of school was when the district commissioner for our region drove into our village.

He told our chief that one was being set up in the region and each family should send one child.

The children were told to put their right arm around their head, if we could touch the top of our ear then we were old enough to go.

I was the only one of the children in my family who was able to do it, so I went to school.

Later, I went to high school which was 60 or 70 miles away. The nearest well was a mile walk and we had to cook our own meals. They would supply the goat, still alive. We would have to slaughter it, otherwise we would starve.

My first kiss was at high school with a girl who went on to become a really prominent politician in Ghana.

Her name was Hawa Yakubu and sadly she died about a year ago.

Every year, I receive letters from young people who have passed through CHALCS, telling me of their success and thanking me for my help.

It is unbelievable what some of them have become.

They are doctors, dentists, opticians, astrophysicists – anything you can mention.

My son Adam, who is a computer software engineer, was in one of our first groups here.

Seeing them grow up to fulfil their full potential is what keeps me going, it makes it all worthwhile.

The last time I cried was when I realised my daughter would never be able to run away from any danger.

She suffers from cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair and has the use of just one arm.

But I am proud that she has still managed to achieve as much as she could given her physical disability.

I like pretty much everything about Leeds, with a few reservations.

I think we could do with an arena and we could certainly do with Leeds United in the Premier League.

But the most important thing is that I don't believe that everyone in Leeds is benefiting from the prosperity of the city.

We've still got a gap between the haves and have-nots. That needs to be addressed and I know the council is working hard to do so.

All these stabbings that are happening, it's no use waiting until children get to 11 or 12 and pick up a knife. We've got to get them earlier than that.

With CHALCS my aim was to make sure every child make the maximum use of the potential they had been born with.

I wasn't saying every one of them was going to be an Einstein but not a single one of them is out of work.

I truly believe that unless we harness the potential of our young people we are building up problems for ourselves for the future.

When I want to relax I sit in front of the telly.

I'm not necessarily watching it but it allows me to rationalise and analyse my thoughts.

If I'm struggling with something it is a useful way for me to just sit quietly and work out what has happened and why.


My philosophy of life is that you get out what you put in.

I don't believe that anybody needs millions to live on and it's wrong that someone gets £200,000 a week just for kicking a football when others don't even have decent water to drink.

I don't have heroes or heroines but I have high regard for anybody who spends their life trying to make a positive change for other people.

I hope in some way I have made a small difference in some people's lives.