You will never find Robert Plowman going to the pub. He spends his days cooking, cleaning and ironing, and most of his friends are women he meets at the local school when he collects his children.

For Robert, 40, is a single father-of-five and devotes all his time to looking after his energetic young children. But he's not complaining.

"I have brought them up on my own for the past five years," said divorced Robert, of Glebe Road, Didcot.

"The children aren't that bad and when I first got custody of them, we all went on a nurturing course and now I have a parents' handbook which I still refer to occasionally when something new comes up," he said.

Robert, who doesn't have a partner, was the only single father on the course but says it was worth it and now he and the kids - Stacie, 11, Carl, nine, Ian, eight, Joseph, six, and little Shanice, four - are one big happy family. It hasn't all been all smooth sailing but the children have learned to help out when the going gets really tough.

Robert said: "They do odds and ends to help. Stacie does the washing up and sometimes cuts up potatoes for me when I'm cooking their dinner.

"I do all the ironing on Sundays, which takes me a couple of hours, and I also do a bit when the children are at school.

"When I was with my wife, I used to complain about single men and how they used to moan but now I can see how hard it is."

Robert does experience problems, however. "People are prejudiced and I think some people who see me with all my children think I'm a bit weird, whereas others think I'm doing a good job at home - because it is hard work," Robert admitted.

"People expect me to manage to do everything. I don't mean to be sexist but I don't get the help a mother would get." Their family home has five bedrooms, allowing each child enough space if they want it, but Robert said they all love to come to him for cuddles.

He used to make furniture for a living before becoming a full-time father and hopes to go on a computer course once Shanice has started school full-time.

"At the moment most of my friends are other mums. They are the only ones I have something in common with.

"My children have missed out on a mother figure, but that's where my sister comes into it. But all my kids are doing very well and they keep getting certificates for being good at school," he added proudly.

But of course with any job, Robert's role as a single father has its ups and downs. "It's nice to see how happy they are now because they had a hard time of it at first. As far as the lows go, I'm not able to do some of the things I would like to do at the moment, like the computer course, but it doesn't bother me and I don't go to the pub which I have no problems with because I don't drink anyway.

"Sometimes it's bad and the children do fall out so I have to sort out dis- agreements.

"We do struggle financially and it's hard. I have to buy bargains at the supermarket, we can't go for the expensive brands of food and I have to get a lot of their clothes from charity shops. If children at their school make fun of that my kids just say that it's all going to a worthy cause."

Robert can't afford to take them on holiday but they go on day trips and he has to cut down on things around Christmas time and birthdays so he can afford to buy them presents. He receives £80.65 single parent's benefit a week, plus £48.65 a week family allowance.

"I can't say dads are better at bringing up children. It's the parents who matter, not whether the mother of father. It's how they bring up the children that counts," said Robert who has seven brothers and five sisters, and said his parents were excellent in bringing the family up.

"It's now part of life to the children and they are used to dad bringing them up and not mum."

Robert stays in close contact with the school which will make things easier as Stacie gets older and becomes a teenager, as she will need to know the facts of life but Robert is not concerned.

Robert said: "I used to get embarrassed but since talking to the school it has made things easier."

He never leaves the children with a babysitter and prefers to stay in and play with them.

"They need me and I need them," he said smiling. ROBERT'S weekly shopping list includes:

Four French sticks and eight loaves

Six tins of baked beans

42 pints of milk

80 fishfingers

He spends £50 on the family's main weekly shop but always has to get bargains A DAY IN THE LIFE... 6am - Rise and shine. Get Joseph ready for school and make sure he has breakfast. Joseph goes to school in Oxford and has to get a taxi.

7am - The others get up. Sometimes it is a mad rush in the morning, but at least the kids can get themselves dressed. Walk three of them to school and take Shanice. She goes to nursery at 11am.

11.30am - Time for housework. Tidy up after five children every day.

2.30pm - A quick cup of tea before starting the rounds and collecting children from school.

3.30pm - Children are back home and start playing together. They all enjoy drawing and like a quick snack while they are sketching.

5pm - Tea time, often a hearty stew for the children. Kids have a bath four or five times a week because otherwise it is too expensive. They strip-wash on the days they don't bathe.

7.30pm - Bedtime. Put the children to bed and go to bed just two hours later, ready for the next day.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.