By some skullduggery I was appointed to a post at the Rutherford Lab and posted to Manchester in order to help with Sam Devons's Heavy Ion Linac. My brother was married that year in Bridlington and Ursula came with me to Manchester and met Sam and the site of the linac. It had been a garage and was next to the Maths Tower and opposite to the Main University building including the library.
The pay from Rutherford was better than could have been expected from the University. We had a friend in Manchester, Charles Hawke, who had been a member of the Met Vic Erection team in Geneva. He met Ursula at the airport after her hair raising flight from Heathrow. Her plane had to go back after it almost reached Manchester because the undercart wouldn't come down. The stewardess abandoned Ursula to a kind gentleman who helped with the children.
She was installed in a hotel in Altringham while I drove the car back from Geneva and then joined her. Our house was rented from The University, and was cold, not very well decorated and on a busy crossing in Fallowfield. We had hoped to be integrated with the University but alas with Jodrell Bank causing financial embarrasment to the University this linac project in an old garage didn't cut much ice with them. We were virtual outcasts!
Gradually we made friends, especially the Anglican Chaplain to the University and his family. We almost developed together! Also Jackie Pearce, a friend of Judy Chell, who became a great comfort to us. We were visited by Hugh Hereward, who I had heard was visiting, as his hotel reservation was flawed he spent the night on our sofa! Ulf Kracht same once and Charles Hawke was a frequent visitor. Ian Grant was also on the same project and became a good friend.
In due course the accelerator came together and functioned satisfactorily. It was a huge beast, one could walk inside it. It ran at a frequencyof 75 MHz. The low energy end ran at 25 MHz and had been constructed with the help of students. It was a Wideroe parallel line device. Wideroe was working for the Germans in Hamburg during the war whilst the RAF were boming the place. He was starngely enough around at Cern in its early days!
Whilst at the University, David Long came for a week or two to help with the electronics, it was good to have him with us and I think he enjoyed himself!
Devons left for a post in the States and a new Professor was appointed, some of us didn't find him very sypathetic and eventually he disappeared too. George Nassibian was in charge of the Hilac, a good friend and a very competant engineer. I managed to recruit Tony Smith to CERN later on, he and his family came to Geneva. He elped me on the PSB. Sadly Rosemary his wife died a few years later, she told me that Geneva time was a very happy one for her.
I was very happy at Manchester, and my son was born there! Eventually we bought a house in Gatley at a cost of £5,000. 4 bedrooms two reception rooms a big kitchen and half an acre of garden! There were fruit trees and a garage on the Styal Road. We had to rewire, install central heating and decorate the house. The traffic on the Styal Road was so intense that one had to back in, in order to come out frontwards in the busy rush hour every morning.
In Fallowfield we were happy to be next door to Professor Vinaver and his wife. They were very friendly to us. When Christina passed her exam to get a place in Withington, we celebrated with a bottle of champagne and Professor Vinaver opened the bottle for us! There was a time in the winter that we were looking after the Vinaver's house next door. With all the heaters going full blast the main fuse blew. It was the fuse for the two houses and it was in our basement. I shorted it out with a nail as no one was going to come and fix it and the Vinavers were due to arrive any minute. Fortunately I never heard a word about it again! In Gatley we made friends with an optician and his family who lived opposite.
Schools for the children were plentiful and good. First Christina then Helena managed to get into Withington School.
Once the Hilac was commisioned I was posted to Liverpool to work on Nina, a proposed electron synchrotron to be built at Daresbury. I went by train every day, sometimes calling in at the Hilac to see how things were going and offer help! On one occasion the train caught fire and we had to leave the train in a tunnel, I remember a lady with a white coat who come out of the tunnel a bit like a badger. Merrison at Liverpool thought my explanation for arriving late was the nost original that he had ever heard!
Francis Farley paid a visit to Manchester, he thought I had been made a professor and was put out to find I was just another hand to the pump. He became Dean at Shrivenham. He worked on Caesar in Cern but as far as I was concerned he only produced a Methuen monograph on valve circuits, something we knew all about from Malvern days.
Manchester was heavenly. lots to do and a nice crowd of people. I do have some pictures.
Nearly all our holdays were taken in the Lake Distict at Delmar Banner's cottage at High Bield.
George Nassiian was recruited to Cern, he persuaded me to think about returning to Cern to work on the PS Booster. Gradually I became interested and eventually accepted a position in his group. This gave rise to my final endeavour, a 15 year stint in Geneva in the PS Division.
Saturday 28 November 2009
Friday 27 November 2009
First Spell at CERN
I had been working on the same type of accelerator at Harwell that Cern were planning to build. So in some respects I had a head start. I developed a "lock in oscillator" so that I could couple easily into the field patterns of the cavity modes. This way one could measure the electric fields of almost any mode in the cavity. I had to measure the Q factor and check that there were no appreciable losses. I developed my own methods and even gave a talk at the IEE in London which was well supported by ny Harwell colleagues. Alas when Nils Bohr came to inaugerate the PS I was ill, so I missed the fun!
I was at the controls of the linac when the PS made its first acceleration. Mervyn Hine was at the helm of the PS. He was the most patient of all men, excusing us for not doing exactly what was wanted and repeatedly encouraging us. Franco Bonaudi was his runner. I hit my head in the tunnel once on a trip to the PS control room from the linac, out for a short while but recovered soon after!
Lots was going on at Cern. Caesar was being put together, people were all loking round for ways to stay on after the PS and the SC machines were built. My friend Anthony Dopping-Heptonstall was at the SC. He had come from Mullard as had Bramham and Montague. Alas he deplored the waste of money at cern and tried to correct it. As a result his contract was not renewed. So when the chance came to elect to move on, I followed his path and left to go to Manchester to work on a heavy ion linac. A friend of Hereward, George Nasibian welcomed me with open arms.
Cern was a wonderful place, alas there was much of the old boy routine and one person that I knew and was friendly with had been a machinist in Manchester but rose to be one of the top grades at Cern. His only claim to fame was his activity as a trade union man in England! There were many such examples, similar to what went on at the UN. For this I was glad to go back to England and work for my living! Some people were brilliant, but I had to wait another few years until I could find them at CERN. It was the beginning of things for high energy accelerators, the really right people were yet to appear on the scene.
We had a lovely flat in Satigny, the second floor of a house on the La Boverie estate. The owner and his wife were quite sharp. I was promised a garage and when it didn't materialise I stopped paying rent! That worked like a charm, I was given a garage immediately.I had a oartsh of grass which I had to scythe by hand, also a patch of garden to cultivate for veg. The first chap downstairs was very odd. We taught them how to play bridge. Eventually he decided that the country was not for him and went back to town. We were then lucky to have the Preiswerks as our neighbours. He was quite senior at Cern, his wife Trudi was a dear. When we left they persuaded us to stay using their furniture as ours was on its way to Manchester! Before we finally left Kate was born and we had John and Rene Adams to our Christening party. The cave at Satigny had a tolerably good vin mousseux and we used it well for the party
I was at the controls of the linac when the PS made its first acceleration. Mervyn Hine was at the helm of the PS. He was the most patient of all men, excusing us for not doing exactly what was wanted and repeatedly encouraging us. Franco Bonaudi was his runner. I hit my head in the tunnel once on a trip to the PS control room from the linac, out for a short while but recovered soon after!
Lots was going on at Cern. Caesar was being put together, people were all loking round for ways to stay on after the PS and the SC machines were built. My friend Anthony Dopping-Heptonstall was at the SC. He had come from Mullard as had Bramham and Montague. Alas he deplored the waste of money at cern and tried to correct it. As a result his contract was not renewed. So when the chance came to elect to move on, I followed his path and left to go to Manchester to work on a heavy ion linac. A friend of Hereward, George Nasibian welcomed me with open arms.
Cern was a wonderful place, alas there was much of the old boy routine and one person that I knew and was friendly with had been a machinist in Manchester but rose to be one of the top grades at Cern. His only claim to fame was his activity as a trade union man in England! There were many such examples, similar to what went on at the UN. For this I was glad to go back to England and work for my living! Some people were brilliant, but I had to wait another few years until I could find them at CERN. It was the beginning of things for high energy accelerators, the really right people were yet to appear on the scene.
We had a lovely flat in Satigny, the second floor of a house on the La Boverie estate. The owner and his wife were quite sharp. I was promised a garage and when it didn't materialise I stopped paying rent! That worked like a charm, I was given a garage immediately.I had a oartsh of grass which I had to scythe by hand, also a patch of garden to cultivate for veg. The first chap downstairs was very odd. We taught them how to play bridge. Eventually he decided that the country was not for him and went back to town. We were then lucky to have the Preiswerks as our neighbours. He was quite senior at Cern, his wife Trudi was a dear. When we left they persuaded us to stay using their furniture as ours was on its way to Manchester! Before we finally left Kate was born and we had John and Rene Adams to our Christening party. The cave at Satigny had a tolerably good vin mousseux and we used it well for the party
Friday 20 November 2009
My Third Job!
After leaving Marconi's, although they tried to persuade me to stay, I took a very temporary job with a local wireless shop. Mending receivers and getting an introduction to the cheap television now available was just fun. I also did a bit of evening class teaching at the Mid-Essex Technical College to swell the coffers, which it did. All the while I was looking for what would be my career job, I tried with the Civil Service Commissioners who offered me an AEO post. Thinking I could do better, I applied for a Cancer Research Post with the MRC. After my interview, one of the board stepped out and told me that the job was mine but he had a better one for me with AERE at Harwell if I cared to apply!
In due course I was told to attend at Harwell. So with bags packed and helped by my brother we staggered to the station in Gidea Park. The case was one that he had bought in India, it was large and very heavy!
At Harwell I was shown into the presence of my new boss, the leader of an electronics group whose name I have long forgotten. He asked me whether I should like to stay at Harwell or be posted to Malvern! I elected to go to Malvern to see what was there and then afterwards to come to a decision. So off I went to Great Malvern straight into the arms of Frank Goward who led the Synchrotron Group. After a wonderful week I had to return to Harwell to give my decision, so my fate was sealed!
Ursula and I planned our marriage and I went back to Malvern to The old ABL Lab shared by the British and the Americans during their wartime exploits of Radar Research. TRE as it was called was moved from Swanage where it was very vulnerable to the enemy to Great Malvern where it took over the Boys Public School.I lived in barracks along with most of the others and Ursula and I got ready for married life from January 1950.
I did experiments on the accelerator, on explosives, and some other projects. I met some very senior people including Sir John Cockroft, Skinner, Curran and a few others. My group leader had Claus Fuchs at Harwell as his boss and duly reported all that we did to him.....straight to the Kremlin as we now know. Pontecorvo was found out, and some the English band of traitors gradually discovered.
The synchroton was a working machine, the first in the UK, but another group alongside had already developed the electron linac and were working on a brand new electron linear accelerator using dielectrics. This was designed by R.B.R.S.Harvey...alas there was a problem. A new phenonomen was just surfacing and ,it was called "multipactor". This precluded any acceleration in the new machine due to secondary electron emission. With Adlam and Mullett I worked at finding out more of the properties of the dielectrics. This brought me into X band radar components and cavity investigations and was wonderful. I met the man who eventually became professor at Sheffield, Cullen, and later he showed John Adlam and I around his lab there. Gordon Thomason an electronic wizard was another of my Malvern friends and we visited him at Abingdon later on. Harvie elected to leave accelerators when the group was moved to Harwell and went to Baldock. I met up with him later on. There were some amazing people at Malvern, some with no paper qualifications but absolutely brilliant in electronic wizardry. A character named Hubert Gent went about in a cloak. I learnt that the only circuit one needed to know was the Miller Integrator, two others developed from it, and with the cathode follower and the grounded grid amplifier one was in charge! Alas transistors spoilt it all.
In Malvern Ursula and I joined the Piers Ploughman Club and we performed in some amateur dramatics there. Noteably "Little lambs eat ivy" and "Midsummer Night's Dream". I took the part of Oberon and Ursula would have been Titania except thet Christina was on the way and Thelma Lee took over that part!
Other chacters at Malvern were Peter Dunn, John Dain, Herbert Watson, Donald lees Jeff Jones and Laurie Medcalf and lots more.
We were to be moved as a group to Harwell but being junior we had to wait for a council house at Abingdon. So for 8 months I had to spend the working week at Harwell and only come home to Nalvern for week ends.
To start with in 1949 we rented a furnished bungalow in the Link. Then we moved to the top floor of a house in Hornyold Road, where we had two rooms and I made a "landing" kitchen.Then when Christina was imminent we were allocated a Ministry flat in South Lea. To our joy Christina was born in Brunswick House on Graham Road. Years later it was up for sale and we made enquiries! We had a share in the South Lee house greenhouse and a patch of veg garden. We met tree lupins for the first time there and watched the coronation on Les Dawson's TV...a miracle in those days! We had a black cat called Wallace who seemed to wait for my return on Friday night after being away from Malvern during the week. Wallace came eventually with us to Abingdon, got lost once and then came back. We left him with the next-door-neighbours, the Bacons, when we went to Geneva.
I made a concrete garden path in 57 Sellwood Road, talked to the cow in the field at the end of the garden and planted lupin trees from seed gathered in Malvern. I went to work evry day using the Harwell transport system (bus), this ensured that I got home every night at a good time except when Thonemann who ran Zeta had a "good idea" and decided to press on regardless, driving us home himself!
Helena was born in the "Warren" at Abingdon. While waiting for her arrival I used to take Christina around on a little seat fixed to the handlebars of my bicycle, apparently it used to be quite an alarming experience for her she now tells me!. We had many friends in Sellwood road, even one of the later directors of the accelerator group who arrived from South Africa and lived there with his family! The packing case in which his furniture came became a playroom for his children. Ben Kingdom from Malvern was a neighbour too with wife and family, and he still lives there!
At Harwell we from Malvern were dazzled by the equipment that one could extract from the stores. The Malvern crowd that I knew were housed in building 152, just inside the wire from Staff Club B.
There John Adlam and I began work on measuring accelerator fields using perturbation techniques which we developed. A character called (no name) used to come in and offer useless help, apparently he was keeping an eye on us. I suggested running the accelerator using the signal from the light programme (radio) as it was extremely stable...he cogitated a bit about this, and went back to his office in Hangar7 to think it over! Alas another character called (no name) decided that he wanted to recruit John permanently as his number cruncher, John refused and we were split up. John was sent to do a job for which he had no knowledge or experience, so I threw in the sponge too and moved over to the Zeta group. This was a bit of a red herring too. After a while I applied for a post at CERN where I was welcomed almost with open arms. Goodbye to Harwell and Hallo to Geneva! Cockroft told me I was going to the "fleshpots". True the salary was double but it still wasn't sufficient. We still had ration books in England so Switzerland was a big change.
We began in a Pension "Salm" in Place Reverdin, then took a new flat in Avenue Wendt. Donald Fry came to lunch once while our piano was being rebuilt, he was head of general Physics at Harwell before becoming Director at Winfrith Heath. Years later while taking the AERE plane from Manchester to Abingdon I met him on the plane. He shifted some important person out of the seat alongside so that he could chat to me about all the goings on!
In due course I was told to attend at Harwell. So with bags packed and helped by my brother we staggered to the station in Gidea Park. The case was one that he had bought in India, it was large and very heavy!
At Harwell I was shown into the presence of my new boss, the leader of an electronics group whose name I have long forgotten. He asked me whether I should like to stay at Harwell or be posted to Malvern! I elected to go to Malvern to see what was there and then afterwards to come to a decision. So off I went to Great Malvern straight into the arms of Frank Goward who led the Synchrotron Group. After a wonderful week I had to return to Harwell to give my decision, so my fate was sealed!
Ursula and I planned our marriage and I went back to Malvern to The old ABL Lab shared by the British and the Americans during their wartime exploits of Radar Research. TRE as it was called was moved from Swanage where it was very vulnerable to the enemy to Great Malvern where it took over the Boys Public School.I lived in barracks along with most of the others and Ursula and I got ready for married life from January 1950.
I did experiments on the accelerator, on explosives, and some other projects. I met some very senior people including Sir John Cockroft, Skinner, Curran and a few others. My group leader had Claus Fuchs at Harwell as his boss and duly reported all that we did to him.....straight to the Kremlin as we now know. Pontecorvo was found out, and some the English band of traitors gradually discovered.
The synchroton was a working machine, the first in the UK, but another group alongside had already developed the electron linac and were working on a brand new electron linear accelerator using dielectrics. This was designed by R.B.R.S.Harvey...alas there was a problem. A new phenonomen was just surfacing and ,it was called "multipactor". This precluded any acceleration in the new machine due to secondary electron emission. With Adlam and Mullett I worked at finding out more of the properties of the dielectrics. This brought me into X band radar components and cavity investigations and was wonderful. I met the man who eventually became professor at Sheffield, Cullen, and later he showed John Adlam and I around his lab there. Gordon Thomason an electronic wizard was another of my Malvern friends and we visited him at Abingdon later on. Harvie elected to leave accelerators when the group was moved to Harwell and went to Baldock. I met up with him later on. There were some amazing people at Malvern, some with no paper qualifications but absolutely brilliant in electronic wizardry. A character named Hubert Gent went about in a cloak. I learnt that the only circuit one needed to know was the Miller Integrator, two others developed from it, and with the cathode follower and the grounded grid amplifier one was in charge! Alas transistors spoilt it all.
In Malvern Ursula and I joined the Piers Ploughman Club and we performed in some amateur dramatics there. Noteably "Little lambs eat ivy" and "Midsummer Night's Dream". I took the part of Oberon and Ursula would have been Titania except thet Christina was on the way and Thelma Lee took over that part!
Other chacters at Malvern were Peter Dunn, John Dain, Herbert Watson, Donald lees Jeff Jones and Laurie Medcalf and lots more.
We were to be moved as a group to Harwell but being junior we had to wait for a council house at Abingdon. So for 8 months I had to spend the working week at Harwell and only come home to Nalvern for week ends.
To start with in 1949 we rented a furnished bungalow in the Link. Then we moved to the top floor of a house in Hornyold Road, where we had two rooms and I made a "landing" kitchen.Then when Christina was imminent we were allocated a Ministry flat in South Lea. To our joy Christina was born in Brunswick House on Graham Road. Years later it was up for sale and we made enquiries! We had a share in the South Lee house greenhouse and a patch of veg garden. We met tree lupins for the first time there and watched the coronation on Les Dawson's TV...a miracle in those days! We had a black cat called Wallace who seemed to wait for my return on Friday night after being away from Malvern during the week. Wallace came eventually with us to Abingdon, got lost once and then came back. We left him with the next-door-neighbours, the Bacons, when we went to Geneva.
I made a concrete garden path in 57 Sellwood Road, talked to the cow in the field at the end of the garden and planted lupin trees from seed gathered in Malvern. I went to work evry day using the Harwell transport system (bus), this ensured that I got home every night at a good time except when Thonemann who ran Zeta had a "good idea" and decided to press on regardless, driving us home himself!
Helena was born in the "Warren" at Abingdon. While waiting for her arrival I used to take Christina around on a little seat fixed to the handlebars of my bicycle, apparently it used to be quite an alarming experience for her she now tells me!. We had many friends in Sellwood road, even one of the later directors of the accelerator group who arrived from South Africa and lived there with his family! The packing case in which his furniture came became a playroom for his children. Ben Kingdom from Malvern was a neighbour too with wife and family, and he still lives there!
At Harwell we from Malvern were dazzled by the equipment that one could extract from the stores. The Malvern crowd that I knew were housed in building 152, just inside the wire from Staff Club B.
There John Adlam and I began work on measuring accelerator fields using perturbation techniques which we developed. A character called (no name) used to come in and offer useless help, apparently he was keeping an eye on us. I suggested running the accelerator using the signal from the light programme (radio) as it was extremely stable...he cogitated a bit about this, and went back to his office in Hangar7 to think it over! Alas another character called (no name) decided that he wanted to recruit John permanently as his number cruncher, John refused and we were split up. John was sent to do a job for which he had no knowledge or experience, so I threw in the sponge too and moved over to the Zeta group. This was a bit of a red herring too. After a while I applied for a post at CERN where I was welcomed almost with open arms. Goodbye to Harwell and Hallo to Geneva! Cockroft told me I was going to the "fleshpots". True the salary was double but it still wasn't sufficient. We still had ration books in England so Switzerland was a big change.
We began in a Pension "Salm" in Place Reverdin, then took a new flat in Avenue Wendt. Donald Fry came to lunch once while our piano was being rebuilt, he was head of general Physics at Harwell before becoming Director at Winfrith Heath. Years later while taking the AERE plane from Manchester to Abingdon I met him on the plane. He shifted some important person out of the seat alongside so that he could chat to me about all the goings on!
Monday 16 November 2009
Bridgend Days
Uncle Bill was an Inspector of Police at Bridgend. He moved there from Penarth. Instead of a Police Station with law court, house and vast garden, tended by those in jail, he had a small house on Merthyr Mawr Road. He had a chauffeur, first Merrick ex guardsman then Jones. We often went on picnics to the sea side at Scare Bay. I have a picture of Merrick with busby and one of he and me in swimming togs on the beach at Porthcawl.
Our milkman was a real character, sometimes he would take my brother and I to Marcross in his delivery van, where he had a pub, the Horseshoes Inn. The van stank of spilt milk, rather a similar smell to vomit! They would feed us well and sometimes we were slightly ill afterwards, too much lemonade or ginger beer. He loved us to put the gloves on and fight each other, rather unfair as David was 2 years my elder! The adjacent farm was Tynacyia, run by Dai Evans. We often went for the day with all the family. May and Ann and a son David were there too. My brother kept up with them almost until he died. I once went for a week haymaking, it was a very hard slog. On Sundays the pubs were all shut. However the drill was to knock at the back door, and when allowed in you ordered your drink in the parlour and even the local bobby was there!
There was an amusing story told me by Ann. They all went to church on Sundays.On one memorable occasion someone broke wind rather loudly, they were all quite embarrassed and someone started laughing, they were unable to control themselves and all fell about laughing and walked out! I am not sure whether they went back next Sunday or not!
There was a derelect steam roller in one of the barns, It gave us boys great pleasure in climbing all over it! The farm was fun.
They used to feed us magnificently, lunch and then tea, goog homemade fare, jam and cream too!
Dai was in trouble with the law at one time, He caught a mushoom stealer, the victim offered him his dog in recompense but as he walked away he whistled to the dog to come back to him. Dai was annoyed greatly and drawing his knife cut it's throat!
This is probably where the poem came from.. Someone telling a tale:-
Dai Jones bought a boat..
reply... sold his coat?..
no no ...bought a boat..
reply...cut his throat?
ay ay...cut it from ear to ear..
reply...shaving I spose?
Years later, Ursula and I went to Marcross for a holiday, staying in the simple b and b near the beach and having Uncle Charlie come over for lunch. We saw Ann and May again and even went to the big Manor House where Dai and his wife had moved to,at a place called Llanmihaqngel. Royalty were supposed to have slept there in bygone days! A wonderful old mansion. It is still there and it is a b&b now!
Dai advised Ursula always to sit in the front seat of a bus to avoid being upset by the motion! Then to move wiith the bus as it went round corners. Sadly Dai fell off a haystack one day, came into the house and died!
Here is a picture of the family from those times.
Saturday 14 November 2009
The holiday in Scotland in 1947 or 1948
I lived with my Uncle and Aunt a bit in Ponypridd, because my mother was working, my sister at College in London and my brother working in Barkley's bank in Usk. My grandma on my mother's side had died and I just had an Uncle and Aunt .in Barry and another Uncle and Aunt in Penarth with their two children and Ethel
Uncle Bill was almost a 2nd father to me after my father died in 1928. He had the rank of Inspector in Penarth and Bridgend and then Superintendant in Pontypridd. He had a nice house and in 1939 I occupied the top attic with all my gear,like radio etc!
When the war broke out he was just 60 and was retired. This was not his choice, he had upset someone higher up the chain of command and although he had hoped for being appointed Deputy Chief Constable he was almost forced out at the normal retirement age. He took a rather menial job of security officer at a local Trading Estate and had to give up the luxury of a Police house. Eventually after my mother removed to Gidea Park (to keep me in order!) He and my Aunt moved in with us bringing their furniture.
They wanted to visit Scotland and offered me a holiday with them. We went to Inverness to the Craigmone private hotel for a week or fortnight I can't now remember which. I met a relative of theirs and borrowed the hotel bicycle to visit Culloden Moor and generally roam around it.It was interesting and I met an English Archaeologist who was investigating stone circles. On the way back I popped in at a pub to quench my thirst and was amazed to find the whole place packed out and could hardly get to the bar to buy a drink!
I noticed one thing in Inverness one evening, at about 4 pm there was a great commotion outside a pub, it was actually people trying to fight their way in after closing time! They were certainly fond of their drinking in Inverness!
I went to Loch Ness one day looking for the monster. I had tea at a house, boiled egg and etc for two and sixpence. Apparently it is the custom for visitors just to knock on the door and ask for a meal I had a lift back on a very noisy truck.
We visted Loch Alvie where Uncle Bills family are buried and the hotel opposite the railway station which was built by one of his Uncles. Many years later on a return trip from Doonray I spent the afternoon while waiting for the night train back to London. The bar was shut but I was told I could still order drinks from the hotel sitting room! The night train proved a disaster, The handle of the loo fell off outside, after what seemed an age someone came to my aid and let me out!
It was a memorable holiday and I have put pictures on my blog.
My second job!
Thanks to one of Uncle Bill's pals, an influential man who was Secretary to a company on the Treforest Trading Estate, I obtained an Apprentice Post at Marconi's in Chelmsford. The day that I arrived I went to the swimming baths in Chelmsford and watched as streams of German bombers went overhead on their way to London. A wonderful welcome for me!
I went into digs there, joining 3 other people, on an elderly man, the two others were both employed at Marconi's. One an AID inspector, the other a boffin. My accomodation had to be subsidised from Home as my wages were twelve and sixpence per week! Jimmy Twatt was the boffin, he worked at Marcon's and was also a wireless spy to detect people communicating with the enemy. We listened to the VHF radio and the dogfight conversations from the airmen. I met up with Jimmie years later , he had married and changed his name to Watt. He came from the Orkneys.
I was looked after by the son of another of Bill's friends, I forget his name, he was the MOH for Chelmsford, another Welshman. He was very kind and even let me use a room in his house for my meddling with hobbies. He had to attend at the scene of air crashes and deal with the results. Regrettably I lost touch with him after a while. He did report my known misdemeaners which did not enamour me to him at all! He lived in a bungalow and smoked a pipe which he filled wih Balkan Sobranie and Laticia tobacco. I usually spent time at the weekend listening to the wireless with him. He once drove me all the way back to Wales in his car!
First I worked in the machine shop at Marconi's until it was bombed, drama in the paint shop where looking for bodies we found a UXB and had to get out! Then a spell in the mounting shop. puting together and wiring transmitters. After that Mr Twigg and the instrumnents, meters etc. Then echometers or depth sounders and after that radar receivers, jammers and so on. One of our pleasant jobs was to train WRENs in some aspects of radar. I once took a WREN on the crossbar of my bike! I was trusted to test transmitters at Baddow using the Church Tower echo as a measure of the perfomance. Here I met up with the Navy weather forecasters, WRENs and WRENs! Finally I joined the television transmitter group with Ned Green. Later in life I realised how clever he was using hybrids to back up transmitters! Meanwhile I continued my studies by matriculating and doing Intermediate B.Sc. before attending at Birkbeck College in evenings and Saturdays to get my B,Sc. Special Physics. I passed my Maths as subsiduary but was not clever enough to be awarded a good degree.
I was encouraged to change digs and moved to the Browns in Broomfield Road. I had a particular friend Peter Love who also worked at Marconi's and eventually joined the RAF. His father was another spy detector and had a nice communication receiver. Mr Brown was a cabinet maker one son was at home the other a comando. Mrs Brown was a large lady who loved to make sherry trifle, I hate it! We used to play cards in the evening with a Mr Harries, a city gent, a very charming person. I once visited him in the city at his office where sometimes he firewatched.
I was bombed out once in Broomfield Road, a landmine exploded 100 feet away and blew the roof of my digs away. I cut my feet a bit but watched the Bofors shells being fired probably in vain at the sky! Mrs Brown nicked the apple trees from the bombed out garden but had to put them back when it was found out!
I escaped from the Browns, where actually Jimmie Watt was our neighbour with wife and family. I went to the Hubbards in Shenfield. Sometimes getting a lift in a car to work but more often going by train. Very strangeley I met up with the boy who used to take me in his car when Ursula and I went to a dance at the Royal Liberty School. His wife was a Mary, whose parents ran a pub in avillage near Chelmsford. The Americans from Wilingale used to come to the pub and let me use their 45's to shoot rabbits! They flew Marauders, one wanted to mary Mary's sister...don't know what happened.
I went for a medical for call up and was first offered a navy posting, I asked whether I could complete my studies and was promptly passed over to the RAF. I went to Cardington and was passed as PNB material even though I had a problem getting the mercury up the tube, the examiner said "too many woodbines, never mind that", given the rank of AC2 and a number and sent home to wait for call up. As I thought I would be called up any day I abandonded my Home Guard duties as 2nd Lieut of the 101st Battalion which manned a 64 twin rocket battery, but whewn the call up didn't come had to go back. I came off night duty one Sunday morning to see the gliders on their way to Arnhem. Strangely enough I might have been one of them as at Scarborough I has been accepted as a volunteer for the Parachute Regiment as an alternative to having another RAF medical for aircrew.
I never heard from the Army but was discharged from the RAF as "surplus to requirements"
My friend "Scottie " managed to get into the Fleet Air Arm, and my friend Michael Burden was a 2nd Lieut in the Ox and Bucks and was due to go to Pegasus Bridge! I have never had any news about either. Michael worked at the hospital and when all the cyanide disappeared from the chemi lab that we used for the "brown ring test" in anaylsis for our chemistry course, he was able to go to the mortuary and see the bodies of our late chemistry teacher, wife and two children! Apparently he owed money and couldn't face the music, very very sad.
If there are any pictures of the Victory Parade in Chelmsford I will be seen, leading some of the Home Guard!
I did some scanning of photos from the Jungfrau for Prof George,(£50). had little help from Bernal, much fun with Sidday and so on. I protested about Blacket's communistic ideas when there was a student meeting on that subject! This probably didn't do me any good!
I applied for a job with the Civil Service Commissioners, was offered one but didn't take it up. It seemed difficult for the board to understand my description of the Redifusion Job and they "drew a cloud" over my explanation. I applied to the MRC for a job on cancer research but was talked out of by a member of that board who saw me after the interview and offered me one with AERE.
So I gave up on Marconi's which had already become part of English Electric, did a bit of evening class teaching at the Mid Essex Technical College which was highly remunerative and then concentrated on marriage and a move to Harwell or Malvern. I was lucky to be given the option, but was so pleased to be welcomed by Frank Goward who immediately renamed as "Jimmie", a name which has stuck a bit!
Later when up for promotion the very same Chairman who had offered me a job turned me down on the grounds that I had not accepted his previous offer of a job. So a few months later another board with a more humane chairman gave me my Established Post.
I have almost begun my 3rd job story but will leave a bit for later!
I went into digs there, joining 3 other people, on an elderly man, the two others were both employed at Marconi's. One an AID inspector, the other a boffin. My accomodation had to be subsidised from Home as my wages were twelve and sixpence per week! Jimmy Twatt was the boffin, he worked at Marcon's and was also a wireless spy to detect people communicating with the enemy. We listened to the VHF radio and the dogfight conversations from the airmen. I met up with Jimmie years later , he had married and changed his name to Watt. He came from the Orkneys.
I was looked after by the son of another of Bill's friends, I forget his name, he was the MOH for Chelmsford, another Welshman. He was very kind and even let me use a room in his house for my meddling with hobbies. He had to attend at the scene of air crashes and deal with the results. Regrettably I lost touch with him after a while. He did report my known misdemeaners which did not enamour me to him at all! He lived in a bungalow and smoked a pipe which he filled wih Balkan Sobranie and Laticia tobacco. I usually spent time at the weekend listening to the wireless with him. He once drove me all the way back to Wales in his car!
First I worked in the machine shop at Marconi's until it was bombed, drama in the paint shop where looking for bodies we found a UXB and had to get out! Then a spell in the mounting shop. puting together and wiring transmitters. After that Mr Twigg and the instrumnents, meters etc. Then echometers or depth sounders and after that radar receivers, jammers and so on. One of our pleasant jobs was to train WRENs in some aspects of radar. I once took a WREN on the crossbar of my bike! I was trusted to test transmitters at Baddow using the Church Tower echo as a measure of the perfomance. Here I met up with the Navy weather forecasters, WRENs and WRENs! Finally I joined the television transmitter group with Ned Green. Later in life I realised how clever he was using hybrids to back up transmitters! Meanwhile I continued my studies by matriculating and doing Intermediate B.Sc. before attending at Birkbeck College in evenings and Saturdays to get my B,Sc. Special Physics. I passed my Maths as subsiduary but was not clever enough to be awarded a good degree.
I was encouraged to change digs and moved to the Browns in Broomfield Road. I had a particular friend Peter Love who also worked at Marconi's and eventually joined the RAF. His father was another spy detector and had a nice communication receiver. Mr Brown was a cabinet maker one son was at home the other a comando. Mrs Brown was a large lady who loved to make sherry trifle, I hate it! We used to play cards in the evening with a Mr Harries, a city gent, a very charming person. I once visited him in the city at his office where sometimes he firewatched.
I was bombed out once in Broomfield Road, a landmine exploded 100 feet away and blew the roof of my digs away. I cut my feet a bit but watched the Bofors shells being fired probably in vain at the sky! Mrs Brown nicked the apple trees from the bombed out garden but had to put them back when it was found out!
I escaped from the Browns, where actually Jimmie Watt was our neighbour with wife and family. I went to the Hubbards in Shenfield. Sometimes getting a lift in a car to work but more often going by train. Very strangeley I met up with the boy who used to take me in his car when Ursula and I went to a dance at the Royal Liberty School. His wife was a Mary, whose parents ran a pub in avillage near Chelmsford. The Americans from Wilingale used to come to the pub and let me use their 45's to shoot rabbits! They flew Marauders, one wanted to mary Mary's sister...don't know what happened.
I went for a medical for call up and was first offered a navy posting, I asked whether I could complete my studies and was promptly passed over to the RAF. I went to Cardington and was passed as PNB material even though I had a problem getting the mercury up the tube, the examiner said "too many woodbines, never mind that", given the rank of AC2 and a number and sent home to wait for call up. As I thought I would be called up any day I abandonded my Home Guard duties as 2nd Lieut of the 101st Battalion which manned a 64 twin rocket battery, but whewn the call up didn't come had to go back. I came off night duty one Sunday morning to see the gliders on their way to Arnhem. Strangely enough I might have been one of them as at Scarborough I has been accepted as a volunteer for the Parachute Regiment as an alternative to having another RAF medical for aircrew.
I never heard from the Army but was discharged from the RAF as "surplus to requirements"
My friend "Scottie " managed to get into the Fleet Air Arm, and my friend Michael Burden was a 2nd Lieut in the Ox and Bucks and was due to go to Pegasus Bridge! I have never had any news about either. Michael worked at the hospital and when all the cyanide disappeared from the chemi lab that we used for the "brown ring test" in anaylsis for our chemistry course, he was able to go to the mortuary and see the bodies of our late chemistry teacher, wife and two children! Apparently he owed money and couldn't face the music, very very sad.
If there are any pictures of the Victory Parade in Chelmsford I will be seen, leading some of the Home Guard!
I did some scanning of photos from the Jungfrau for Prof George,(£50). had little help from Bernal, much fun with Sidday and so on. I protested about Blacket's communistic ideas when there was a student meeting on that subject! This probably didn't do me any good!
I applied for a job with the Civil Service Commissioners, was offered one but didn't take it up. It seemed difficult for the board to understand my description of the Redifusion Job and they "drew a cloud" over my explanation. I applied to the MRC for a job on cancer research but was talked out of by a member of that board who saw me after the interview and offered me one with AERE.
So I gave up on Marconi's which had already become part of English Electric, did a bit of evening class teaching at the Mid Essex Technical College which was highly remunerative and then concentrated on marriage and a move to Harwell or Malvern. I was lucky to be given the option, but was so pleased to be welcomed by Frank Goward who immediately renamed as "Jimmie", a name which has stuck a bit!
Later when up for promotion the very same Chairman who had offered me a job turned me down on the grounds that I had not accepted his previous offer of a job. So a few months later another board with a more humane chairman gave me my Established Post.
I have almost begun my 3rd job story but will leave a bit for later!
My First Job!
I did not go back to school at Bushey after the Summer term, I did not expect to be retained after the Winter term so I elected to leave. They sent me my first prize as a leaving present. It was a book about radio! I had operated a crystal set most of the time without permission, (it had been refused by the Headmaster named Croft), he left in 1937 and a New Zealander took over, Norman Sinclair was his name. He was a human being, his wife gave us Cello Concerts on the stage of the Big School with the instrument clamped between her legs!, he had a family, and he told us about sex. He was a bit late with his talk, somehow the subject had already been brought to light by some small boy! However he did reassure us and strongly advised us to avoid "solitary vice"!
I was in Pontypridd with my Uncle Bill and Aunt Edie when war was declared. I heard the news on a TRF radio given me by my Uncle George, who lived in Pill Street, Penarth with Dollie his wife, Ethel, Mary and John.
I was found a job with the South Wales Relays firm run by George Ball, His firm provided wired wireless for the Valleys, sometimes called Redifusion. I used to go round as a helper for a technician who "fixed" and maintained the various amplifies located in different towns. He had a bike and sidecar which was very exciting for me.
Later I had to do night shifts at the receiving station in a hut on a hill at Trebanog, See photo!
Here there were receivers connected to the network. Some times we were two sometimes alone to select the programs and be sure to switch on at 7am because it was probably the signal to wake people up! It was really quite an adventure, boys from the village popped in and chatted from time to time. One man, a stranger came along once and made an effort to interfere with me but was quickly sent on his way never to be seen again! Once I overslept and was soundly reprimanded for not waking everyone up at 7 am!
I was in the LDV and took my rifle with me, but had no ammunition, so if a German parachutist had come I could have only hit him with it! I did fire the rifle at a Police range, but I don't think I had the eye for it. The LDV ensignia was just a khaki armband with LDV on it. It was supposed to save you from summary execution as you had advertised the fact that you were a combatant! I don't think that would have helped much in Spain! Franco's men massacred many who even looked like being against them!
My job finished when I went off to Chelmsford. However I bought my very own bicycle with my wages for £5!
Friday 6 November 2009
Adieu to the East Preston Silver Surfers
TO THE EAST PRESTON SILVER SURFERS COMPUTER CLUB
I have received a wonderful letter from your secretary on your behalf, almost a testimonial which would help if I needed to apply for starting a new venture. Thank you all very much. I am flattered and hardly know what to say!
The club is in excellent condition, has a strong and capable team running it, so having done very little to help for the last year or so, I felt it time to leave room for another President, and I am sure that such a person can be found.
As you all know, my interest is in Linux and not Microsoft. It would be hard for me to help with Vista and Windows 7.
Without the early help from Paul and Brian, I could not have made much progress. They, the founder members, the Village Hall committee and Local Council support, all played a very important role. The lottery funding made the acquisition of equipment and services possible. Alma Barker, Dave Hughes, Sheila Young, were there too at the beginning. Our committee has expanded and the Trustees watch over the club finances. I in turn am proud of them all and only too glad to have been there at the moment of the club's “big bang”.
I gratefully accept the offer of becoming an Honorary Member, and promise to look in from time to time. With my grateful thanks and my best wishes to the club ..
.Your First President
I have received a wonderful letter from your secretary on your behalf, almost a testimonial which would help if I needed to apply for starting a new venture. Thank you all very much. I am flattered and hardly know what to say!
The club is in excellent condition, has a strong and capable team running it, so having done very little to help for the last year or so, I felt it time to leave room for another President, and I am sure that such a person can be found.
As you all know, my interest is in Linux and not Microsoft. It would be hard for me to help with Vista and Windows 7.
Without the early help from Paul and Brian, I could not have made much progress. They, the founder members, the Village Hall committee and Local Council support, all played a very important role. The lottery funding made the acquisition of equipment and services possible. Alma Barker, Dave Hughes, Sheila Young, were there too at the beginning. Our committee has expanded and the Trustees watch over the club finances. I in turn am proud of them all and only too glad to have been there at the moment of the club's “big bang”.
I gratefully accept the offer of becoming an Honorary Member, and promise to look in from time to time. With my grateful thanks and my best wishes to the club ..
.Your First President
Monday 2 November 2009
60th Wedding Anniversary
Because our wedding anniversary is Dec 28th and a very inconvenient date for a party we decided to hold it last week end. 39 family and friends came here and we had a little lunch together. There were our 4 children, 5 grand children. one great grand daughter (Hollie Stock). Cousins and others and two of Ursula's friends > One from the age of 2 or 3, and one from adolescence when Ursula and family were evacuated to Kings Lynn during the war.
We had a cake cutting ceremony and a group photo
Here are some photos!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)