We moved to live in a three bedroom house by the GCE in Stoke, and now that I was redundant I worked for myself by putting an advertisement in the newspaper, which led to me getting involved in all sorts of work.
I did work for Air Kit Engineering where I reconditioned commercial air compressors, sprayed them and I also installed them which involved pipe fitting as big as 4inch + pipe, this was very interesting and I enjoyed it but it was not regular work but as required.
I did work for another company and had the use of a crew cab one of the jobs I was involved in was the modification the skids at Sherpa Vans for their new model, the skids were what the vans sat on as they went round the assembly track, this meant I would be on the side track and when the operator could he would send an empty skid to me, I would take the old ones off fit the modified ones then send it back on the line, once I used up what I had I would take them back to the shop for machining, then return and repeat the process until completion.
I did fabrication and created the new offices at Dunlop which was better than when I was painting it, I was moving round everything was a new challenge and experience.
Then I got work Machine Tool Electrical he was a one man business who was sub-contracting to a Manchester based company, this increased my travel to Nationwide, I was doing Electrical and Mechanical Engineering working from drawings, I was installing water treatment systems from scratch apart from the main tanks, I installed the pumps, filters ran the pipework, fitted the cable trays, ran the pyro and armalite cables made all the connections except for the final one in the main panel this had to be done by Ron who was qualified.
I worked on water treatment systems for the Ministry of Defence; I even did the dialyses ward at Swansea Hospital which was a delight for me, my dad was born in Swansea, I even did the alterations in the plant room at Walsgrave hospital in Coventry for their dialyses system when germs were getting in.
I really enjoyed the work there was only the two of us, it was a pub lunch every day and evening meal, we were in a pub in Ayr when England was playing Scotland; I had a good laugh with the Scots.
My wife was not happy with me being away from home although it was per job so there were breaks in-between and weekends when I did my own work for individuals, I was a good plumber and had many compliments on my neat pipework but still she wanted me to get a regular job and so I agreed.
I applied to Land Rover and the Jaguar for which I got an interview at both. I first got excepted at Land Rover where I started on fitting and setting the doors on the Range Rover while I was setting a door the airline had to be fed through the window, someone stood on the airline causing the door to slam shut on my neck, I was unable to raise my arm and had to see the nurse,
I had to go to hospital I ended up in a surgical collier having to undergo traction and repeat hospital visits, I still wanted to work but it had to be light work.
My supervisor was a nightmare, he seemed to have resentment towards me for some reason and made life as difficult as possible but he had to relent in the end I still couldn’t raise my arm, there was a suggestion box and I put a suggestion in for the doors to be jigged up on line, they were always being reworked, this would reduce that, my suggestion was implemented; I should have got £1000, but I never did, I suspect the supervisor was involved in that because he knew what I was doing.
I had a wonderful surprise when I arrived home, there was a letter from Jaguar Cars offering me a job, which I promptly excepted, I was so chuffed I went into work and handed my notice in I told my supervisor that Jaguar had offered me a job, he was totally gutted, the look on his face said it all, he said to me how did you do that? I said nothing in reply I just enjoyed my moment.
The Jag proved to be the best company ever to work for, I cannot speak highly enough about them, as a company, they had open learning for those who wanted to progress, and I was certainly in that category.
I started at Browns lane on the trim and other assembly parts; I requested a move to Radford as an engine fitter where my first job was stamping the engine numbers on the V12 engine, I let it be known that I was not a one job man and that I like to move around, they were happy to accommodate me as it was beneficial to them, the more flexible I was the more valuable I became.
I was on absentee cover and worked wherever needed including the AJ6 engine, when there was nothing to cover I would do rectification so was conversant with most processes of the build as well as rectifying faults.
There was the opportunity to attend open learning for my certificate in Supervisory Management this was outside of my normal work hours, it was a tough and intense course I learnt a lot, such as interviewing techniques, how to read body language, we had to do a 15 minute talk on anything we wanted to and we could use props, it was explained that it is easy to talk about what you know rather than something you don’t, which is kind of obvious, I did a talk on plumbing and took in some fittings to show and explain.
The hardest was a weekend away locked in a hotel for negotiations, we were spilt up into two groups, Union and Management, and we were given a subject to reach an agreement on.
The best and most challenging for me was the problem solving and report, we had to find a problem within the factory, we then had to write a report about the problem and put forward a resolution to the problem.
I had chosen to investigate the cylinder head section which was often the cause of track stoppages, I found it was due to bottlenecks forming but the guys were reluctant to talk to me, they thought I was now with management and up to no good, they refused photos to be taken and so I had to in before the shift to picture the machines.
I would be given time off my job to carry out my investigation, the problem was the shim predictors were breaking down on a regular almost daily basis exact down times were not available although three hours per week was a safe estimate according to the Electrical Maintenance Department, the main cause of machine failure was due to the electrical probes becoming brittle due to contamination plus the fact that a lot of “ghost” systems occur, i.e. faults that appear and disappear without apparent cause.
There was no allowance in the present design to accommodate for machine failure, it was built on a one way system, and this meant the heads had to be shimmed manually; production had been lost at a cost of £10,400 per hour.
I went to the plant design department we did a review of the design and came up with a workable solution, a relief roller track could be installed and they supplied me with the drawings, I then had to go and sort out the costing, it would cost £1,160. I had to put forward three recommendations, but this was my end result, it was a good result I thought, I was proud of my report and I did receive my Certificate. I was a happy camper.
The club would be open at lunchtime; we would be lined up by the gate waiting for security to open it, then a rush for a pint.
In the meantime I had got a mortgage now the house was our own, we decided to remodel so I cut out the top half of the brick wall on the landing creating an open plan stairway, took one of the kitchen windows out and installed patio doors leading directly into the garden which I landscaped, and built a 16ft x 8ft workshop at the bottom of the garden.
The Living room I built a stone fireplace leading to the alcove which housed the TV with a slide out shelf for the VCR I made the Living room into a cottage style by shaping the timber attaching them to the walls, I hand shaped pelmets for the window, fitted a new kitchen, it was how she wanted it and also increased the value with new double glazing throughout.
I also received my diploma as an Import Export Agent which I had been doing from home I was in the process of setting up my own agency, I called myself First Class Import and Export Agency and I had interested parties sending me details of their products.
I had noticed a change in my wife’s behaviour and I was sure she was having an affair, I did ask her but she insistently denied it, but she was a very good liar, this much I knew, however I let it lie but it was on my mind when I became ill with a bad chest and while I was in bed I received what I can only call a vision because I was not yet asleep, it was a vision of my wife in a location with a man, I got dressed and went there and walked in on her having sex, she could not deny it now and it had been going on for a while.
I was going to leave her I had to fix the alternator on my car, while this was taking place I had nothing but tears and apologies, I had given her everything she wanted and I had been always there for her and the kids both of which were grown up, there were even grandchildren.
I had applied to go to the USA some years back and now I was given three months to be there, I agreed to give my wife another chance, the USA would be a new start, Fords were taking over Jaguar and they were offering voluntary redundancy which I took, we sold the house and everything else we needed to, we took our cat and bird with us and set off across the pond.