I went to London and attended Northampton College, (now City University) for three years and graduated in 1962 with degree in Civil Engineering.
During these years I worked in the summers at Clarence Pier, Southsea, taking photos.
I began at Price's when I was 16. The pay was two shillings and sixpence an hour.
After graduation I worked as site engineer with McAlpines at Dungeness Nuclear Power station for one year. I have never been colder than the winter of 1963.
To get design experience I moved to London and joined a water treatment office.
In May 1965 I went to Vancouver, Canada and worked in a Pulp and Paper Mill design office.
I met my wife, Elizabeth, in Vancouver at this time. Elizabeth is originally from St John’s Newfoundland but moved to Montreal when she was 16.
In 1967 I moved to Montreal and we were married in 1968.
In Montreal I worked for several Engineering design offices for various projects such as High rise buildings Shopping centres and industrial and hydro structures. In 1975 I graduated with a masters degree in Structural engineering at Concordia University.
During this period I was working more and more in French.
In 1979 an internal office memo was issued looking for engineers to work on a Hydro Project in Newfoundland. I went for the interview and was accepted.
At this time we had three children aged ten, nine and six.
In 1980 the family relocated to St John’s Newfoundland.
At this time Newfoundland had discovered offshore oil fields.
The office in Newfoundland had formed a joint venture with Brown and Root in Houston Texas.
A group of us were relocated to Brown and Root offices in Houston , with families.
We spent two years there but offshore development was still in the future.
I had the choice of staying in Houston, back to Montreal or St John’s. St John’s was the choice.
Since then until retirement in 2014 I worked on various projects. One year in Paris on the Hibernia offshore gravity base structure. Three summers on a remote island off Baffin Island on a North Warning radar station. A mining project in Labrador. The Sable offshore gas field in Nova Scotia.
Three years back in Vancouver working on mining projects.
The final project was the Hebron Gravity Base structure with Exxon Mobil in St John’s.
From 1980 until now we always had our house in St John’s as base.
I have always kept in touch with David Phelan.
I went to an Oil and Gas Trade show in Houston in 1982 and ran into Mike Smyth. He was wearing a Price’s tie. He took it off and gave it to me. I will wear it in the photo.
I also kept in touch with Ivor Noot until his passing. We visited him in Bradford just before he died.
We met Cecil Rowling in Toulouse France many years ago. David Phelan goes to see him often.
I am looking forward to the events next month.
Regards,
John