Chapter 12 - Welwyn Garden City
From ChapmanCentral
- This is from the "magnum opus", Dad's memoir of his life up to middle age.
Shortly after we had agreed to purchase the Mayflower Road plot, the owner of the house adjoining the parcel of land claimed he had the right of way across it, having taken a short cut for ten years. Any amateur lawyer could have told him but the Handley Page method was to ask the Court for a ruling. While this process dragged wearily on we heard from Welwyn Corporation that they had a number of plots for leasehold sale. We therefore decided to go ahead with the lease of such a plot and to jointly build two bungalows, 'Ken' Birkett having also had the offer of a plot.
The result was a conventional bungalow, built be various tradesmen supervised by one of them who was speculatively building a house. The plots were in Willow Grove, a banjo shaped road, the Birkett plot being in the 'neck' of the banjo and our plot being just beyond the 'neck'. 'Ken' and I bought a concrete mixer and I laid the concrete drive and paths for our bungalow. I also did the electrical installations for both bungalows. An experience which taught me a useful lesson was when, helped by a friend of the Birkett family, we were installing the central heating and I proposed that a pressure test should be done because of the large number of compression joints which were to be embedded in the floor screed. The plumber said that he had never had even one leak and that a test would be a waste of time. He then offered to do the test one Sunday, the charge to be 150% normal if we found no leaks and free if we found any. The number of leaks was staggering. There was an Irish ground worker, John Harrington, whose skill at drain laying and concrete work was second to none. He also did some trench digging and other such jobs and I resolved to employ him in the Mayflower Road venture.
When the bungalow was nearing completion our first child, Guy André was expected and we were anxious to move out of the cottage. Another couple were equally anxious to move in as they were expecting a baby. The standard of their previous rented accommodation can only be imagined. However, in spite of all its shortcomings, we were sad to leave what had, after all, become our home.
Our new neighbours were a very interesting group of both active and retired professionals and included the Company Secretary of IPC, a self employed Marketing Manager, the Director of British Visqueen (Plastic Sheet Division of ICI), an ex-mayor of Welwyn Garden City, a retired Swiss couple, a Reader in Electronic Circuits at a University, the retired owner of an Engineering Company, Dr H Fuchs, the Director of Hawker Siddeley Space Projects Division, Gordon Nettleton, an Architect, a Senior Inspector from Hawker Siddeley Aviation and last, but by no means least, the Works Manager of a pipe Manufacturer.
Commuting between Welwyn Garden City and Park Street presented quite a problem. My occasional absence was not a problem but 'buses could not be described as reliable and, being prepared for this, we had taken out a mortgage with the necessary margin, and bought a Mini-van. I installed the rear seat conversion and that van gave us good service for more than six years. The decision to buy a Mini-van was taken after a careful study of the market had eliminated rear wheel drive vehicles. Four wheel drive types were too expensive and this left the SAAB and the Mini-van. I was not keen on the two stroke engine used by SAAB at the time and so the Mini-van was selected. A number of my work colleagues felt that the 40mph speed limit (imposed on vans at the time) would be far too restrictive. I never found this to be the case. The one time that I was stopped by the Police was in Welwyn Garden City and the two Constables were more concerned that I had 'flashed' headlights at the driver in front than at the fact that my speed had been in excess of 40 mph. A private warning resulted and that was that. If I had been driving on long distance runs then I agree that a Mini-van would not have been my chosen vehicle. My only long run was to Scarborough and back in the same day. When I arrived home, having by then covered 480 miles, I suggested to 'Julie' that we go for a 20 mile drive so that I should have travelled 500 miles in one day. She suggested that we first have a cup of coffee, after which the enthusiasm for setting up this personal record had waned.
I built a trailer which started as a camping trailer but the finishing touches were never applied and therefore it became simply a luggage trailer. This was used to carry the family luggage and was so easy to tow that, on one of our holiday journeys, when I overshot the turning (for Dawlish) I reversed into the trailer, which was so placid that I had forgotten that it was there.
Some of the neighbours were members of the Round Table and we began to be included in their social round. 'Harry' Fuchs's father. 'Leo', had a Fleur de Lys class cruiser moored at Hamble and asked whether I would help to crew for him. 'Harry' and I and another volunteer travelled to Hamble on the Friday evening and were taken out to dinner by 'Leo'. On Saturday we sailed across to Yarmouth, Isle of Wight and we took 'Leo' out to dinner. We then sailed back to Hamble on the Sunday. That was the first week-end of several and was the pattern for cruises on 'Adrienne' except when we moved her from Hamble down to Brixham to be there ready for 'Leo' to take his holiday. He decided to take a professional skipper, a young man who we collected from his home port of Yarmouth and then sailed overnight, the five people aboard taking turns keeping watch in the pulpit. I was amazed when, approximately half way to our destination, we hit an empty Guiness bottle which floated across our path. We slowed down at about 5.3Oam and began to take echo soundings to check the depth. The figures on the chart showed depth changes of the order of those we were reading but there was a thick off shore mist so we slowed still more. Suddenly, at about 6.Oam the mist cleared and we were looking dead ahead into Brixham harbour. Not bad after seven hours of compass reading.
Gordon Nettleton had designed and built his own house and 'Julie' and I were of the opinion that his philosophy of seeing the materials from which the house was built was a very sound one. The most controversial idea is probably that concerning whether to plaster or not. His argument is that when bricks were hand made and finished up with wide tolerances in all the dimensions, the only way to achieve a flat wall surface was to use a layer of plaster. It therefore seemed inappropriate to use any such material to cover machine made bricks and blocks, the exposure of their various textures being thus denied. Many 'wattle and daub' jokes have been told when this has been related.
It is hardly surprising that I do not entirely agree with Gordon's Integrity of Materials view. For example, the exposure of some large lintels. It may be assumed that, when we become more accustomed to seeing the structure of buildings exposed in this way, we shall develop more tolerant views. On the other hand, the idea of designing from the inside of a building, leaving the outside to evolve, almost by chance, is an excellent one. There is one interesting feature of this, namely that it is not until you know why the outside of a building has the appearance that it does that it begins to look 'right'. Until then one is quite often approached by passers-by asking such questions as: "Is this the new Library?" or "Will this be the new School?"
We had not been living at Welwyn Garden City very long when Cyril Green told me that a full time post was being advertised and he offered to send me a copy of the Times Educational Supplement. The post of 'Lecturer B' sounded interesting and I decided to apply. There were some 24 applicants and of these, 5 of us were short listed. When I was called in for interview, the panel was Roy Helmore (appointed Principal when Donald Newman retired in 1961), 'Chris' Lane (Chairman of Governors from 196O until 1977), John Attewill (Chairman of the Engineering Advisory Panel) and Cyril Green.
We were all Committee members of St Albans Engineering Society and Roy Helmore started the interview by saying: "Well George, I think we know a fair bit about you already, having been on the part-time staff for 9 years, so perhaps it would be a good idea if you asked us a few questions." The interview went fairly well and included a standard question, so far as lecturing appointments are concerned: "If appointed, are you willing to attend a day release course to get in-service training as a lecturer?" I said that I would be delighted to take advantage of such an offer. At the end of the interview I was asked to stay behind, subsequently to be told that I had been appointed.
My contract with Handley Page Limited was that one month's notice was required on either side, for termination on one of two dates, either 30 June or 31 December. I therefore had to write a letter of resignation, effective from June and also a letter seeking employment on a short contract i.e. a one month basis so that I could stay until the end of August. I was relieved to have this accepted. I was asked if I would be prepared to stay but the offer from County had been estimated and was clearly unbeatable. It was a ruling at HP that collections and presentations were not allowed because this may encourage people to leave for higher income. However, the farewell partly was memorable and many of my old colleagues remain friendly through the Handley Page Association.
The offer that I received from the Hertforshire County Council, Education Department was to enter the grade at the top of the scale. I was asked to send documentary evidence of employment of suitable status, there being 12 of the possible 14 scale increments for this. Letters from Temperature Limited (2 years) and HP (10 years) were both accepted but 'County' then added 2 years for 'War Service' (ie conscription in peace time!) which was outside the formula and I was therefore offered 14 increments on a scale which only had 14 ie top of the scale.
On 1 September 1964 I duly presented myself at St Albans College of Further Education, Department of Engineering, and met Cyril Green who asked: "What do you want?" I told him that I had come to work and he said: "We don't start until the 15th." I have always regarded starting with two weeks holiday as most satisfactory.
It might be as well to briefly outline the rest of my College career at this stage. In 1967 the post of College Safety Officer became vacant and app- lications were invited from lecturing staff. One colleague and I applied for the post and I was successful. The post carried a grading of B+ which was an increment of £175 with a reduction in teaching of 2 from 21 to 19 hours per week.
Some time later it was decided to consolidate the scales and Lecturer B+ was to be abolished. The instructions to Principals were that the holder of any 'worthwhile' post should be promoted to Lecturer II. Roy Helmore sent me a short note to say that he felt that safety warranted LII status and I was duly promoted to Lecturer II. After some years, there was agreement with NATFHE (National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education) that any lecturer who had 5O% contact with high level (grade 3) work ie lectured to students of A level and above for half the contact (19) hours would be promoted to senior lecturer. My contact fell slightly short but Mr J E Cooper, commonly known as 'Bob', promoted from Vice-Principal after Roy Helmore left to go to Oxford, approached 'County' who said that my administrative work on safety was regarded as 'high level' and could be counted. In addition, they back dated the transfer, an unusual gesture because it was usually effected for the following session. The 'contact' for a senior lecturer is 17 hours and this reduction brought me within the 5O% limit insofar as grade 3 work was concerned. This was an important point because there is a 'bar' on the SL scale and the lecturer needs to have 5O% contact in order to 'go through the bar'. The following session brought me to the point where I was again transferred and so finished up at the top of the scale. A very satisfactory position. The only other significant qualification which I obtained was in pursuance of the fact that I had begun to teach National Certificate Students Applied Mechanics on a regular basis and felt under-qualified. I therefore decided to take a mechanical ONC, the subjects being:
- Mathematics - a useful refresher
- Applied Mechanics - mostly a refresher
- Applied Heat - a new subject for me
I passed the examinations and had the unusual pleasure of gaining 100% for the Applied Mechanics Practical.
The offer of in-service training had led to an interesting year of study with the chance, at the end of that year, to take the City and Guilds Teachers Certificate, which I passed and hence became entitled to Cert Ed after my name, a qualification which was very sought after by those in the profession. It occurred to me that I had altered course as it were and was no longer an Electrical Engineer but a Lecturer. I therefore decided to resign from the Institute of Technician Engineers and was no longer entitled to the title of AMITE and, at the same time decided to resign from the Association of Supervisory Electrical Engineers and was no longer entitled to AMASEE either.
Industrial colleagues tried to persuade me to take a professional qualification in safety but I decided that I would be best served by lecturing on safety rather than specialising in industrial matters. This decision seems to have been the correct one.
It was an obvious move to ask 'Harry' Fuchs to speak to the St Albans Engineering Society on the subject of 'Blue Streak' and I was asked to chair the evening. I found that it was very interesting to learn, at first hand, the reasons for the failure of our space programme. I was also interested to learn that Woomera, the location of the Australian launch pad, was named after the Aborigine name for their spear launcher ie woomera.
Gordon Nettleton also spoke to the Society. Another of the speakers who was interesting to meet, and assist, was Professor Eric Laithwaite. I spent a large part of the afternoon before his talk in helping him with his exhibits and checking that they all worked. The routine with any speaker was to take him to the Principal's Office for a glass of sherry, go to the Staff Refectory for a meal and then move to the Main Hall in time for the event. When Cyril Green was not available he usually asked me to stand in and, for this reason, I played host to Eric Laithwaite and C T Melling, Chairman of the local branch of the IEE, who was to chair the evening. The fun started when C T Melling suggested that he had a dream that his sun glasses had a crack in one lens, and this turned out to be true. When he had been dozing on the beach, he woke up and put his sun glasses on, only to find that one lens was cracked, exactly as he had seen it in his dream. He assumed that he had heard the lens crack as he sat on his jacket. At this, Eric Laithwaite almost exploded and wondered why people cannot simply accept that some events can be foreseen by some means that we cannot understand. 'C T' argued that he had made a reasonable assumption regarding the crack in the lens but finally had to admit that there was something in what the 'Prof' said since he had prior knowledge of the correct lens and the nature of the crack.
Barnes Wallis wrote to the Society saying that he would be visiting St Albans again and wondering whether we would like another talk, this time on High Speed Communications Linking The Commonwealth. Fortunately for me, Cyril Green had a prior engagement and I was asked to meet Mr and Mrs Wallis and attend to their needs. I have never met such modesty in such a genius. The Hatfield Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society were invited and there were in excess of 4OO people present. When Barnes Wallis finished speaking, every mouth in the room opened and let out some sound. I can only describe this as a spontaneous 'hooray' or 'bravo' and was followed by, again spontaneous, a long standing ovation. On the way out to their car, he suddenly stopped and his wife asked: "What is it now Barnes?" To which he replied: "Weren't they kind? Did you hear? They clapped." How any man of such brilliance could be so modest was quite beyond me.
Our second child, Laura Jane, was also born at 4 Willow Grove. We had gradually designed a house for the Mayflower Road site and it had always been assumed by us that Gordon would be our architect. When I asked him if he would take on the project he said that he would not take over our design but would arrange for a technician to draw up the design. John Buxton worked in the County Architect's Department (as did Gordon) and he collected our design sketches and, after making suitable amendments, applying the correct standards and getting our general approval, he produced drawings which summed up our ideas perfectly.
