Harry talks about how his life choices, and how being in the right place at the right time, led to a life of travel around the world with Cunard and the role of Senior Air Traffic Controller in the North Sea. National Service It all started in July 1951. I had had a very, very […]
Overseas
A New Zealand Adventure (1949-2004)
Elizabeth wanted to see the world and emigrated to New Zealand in 1952. She had a happy life there working in offices and running a shop with her husband and looking after children in a children’s home. Homesick for the snow, she returned to England in 2004 and settled in Thetford. Starting out I started […]
An eclectic working life. Engineering and electronic systems (1959-2000)
Alun had an eclectic working life in engineering and electronic systems, including working on document standards in Europe and for the BIS. The formative years I left grammar school in 1959 with one A Level pass, not a very good one. I then went to the local civic college to try and improve on matters […]
Assumptions (20th Century)
Jeremy reflects on his life experiences around the world, especially in Africa and how his outlook changed over the decades. Why they never get it One of the things I’ve decided over decades is that nobody ever really understands someone else’s position. I think of this whenever anyone (sometimes including me) comments adversely on someone […]
Carbon paper, Canada and the civil service (1961-1996)
Lal became a secretary in Oxford and London and then went to Canada for a few years – she worked in Toronto and Vancouver. On returning to England she became a civil servant and eventually moved to Norwich with her husband. Secretarial college I left school when I was just 18 and I went to […]
Electrician (1942-1987)
Roy served an apprenticeship as an electrician with A.Pank & Son Ltd, St Giles Street, Norwich. Later he worked in Algiers servicing vehicles. In the early part of April 1942 I did fire watching duty on the roof of Garlands, London Street, Norwich. During the first German raids Orford Place, the Haymarket and other parts […]
How and why I became a Rubber Planter (1954-2009)
Roger’s National Service was in Korea and Japan. He then had a long career as a rubber planter in Malaya, working on Estates with British owners and became the senior ex-patriate manager at his company. The Malasianisation policy, among other things let him to retire to the UK. I was born in 1933 in Dover, […]
Life under the radar (1956-2023)
David was in the RAF for nearly 30 years and was posted all over the UK, including a few years at RAF Neatishead, and to parts of Europe. RAF Neatishead is now the site of the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum and, having come full circle, David now volunteers at the museum. My childhood and […]
Movies to Medicine (1957-2018)
Ruth was employed in the British film industry from the 1960s, working on publicity and in admin. She met many stars and famous directors. After a break to bring up her family she became a medical secretary, then a lady of leisure living in Nigeria with her husband. They returned to England in the late […]
My life at sea (1968-2018)
David tells us about his working life firstly on trawlers and then on supply boats. A career that took him all over the world and included being involved with the unions, encountering pirates, and providing footballs for children in Mozambique. I was born in 1952, not to a seafaring family as such, my father was […]