Information Circular —
August 2009
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Items listed in chronological sequence
Geoffrey Nelson 1924-2009
The Eastern Daily Press has alerted us to the sad passing of another ex HMSO friend – Geoff Nelson – who joined the office in 1971 with his (late) wife Mary – she was the Keyholder Messenger in Norvic House during the early days. Geoff was promoted into Supplies Office Machinery where he worked, in what he always referred to as 'the good times' with Messrs McGarry, Slaughter, Reed, Storey and many others.
Geoff died at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital on 27 August 2009 and will be cremated at 1030 hours on Wednesday 9 September 2009 at Earlham Crematorium, Norwich.
David Hyde 1930-2009
We are sad to pass on the following message, received on 27 August 2009 from Lynda Marshall:
'Another HMSOldies obituary I’m afraid. Davy died two weeks ago. He had been ill for a few months. He was a former member of the RAF who joined HMSO in August 1988 as a CA in Print Procurement. He retired at 60 before privatisation. His funeral will take place on Wednesday 2 September at 12.30 pm at St Faith's Crematorium.'
18 August 2009 – From Bob Avery
Dear Reg, Still with Pocock Street I have just remembered the "S" Dept. comp room WOIV was Bert Calvert, which triggered memories of the lunch time 5-a-side inter-departmental football games on the (tarmac) recreation ground in Sawyer Street (opposite The Goldsmiths Arms ) and up popped another ex-apprentice Alan "can anyone lend me some trainers" Bignall.
But I must move on from my stone-hand days of humping eight pages of metal in a steel frame onto the stone and holding it together with wooden wedges (quoins) bashed tight with a brass shooting stick and a mallet. The new technology of metal quoins and quoin keys was just coming in. Then leaving behind using banks of seven keyboards to punch holes in paper tape (Monotype keyboards), I joined "the other side" as Ted Lucking termed it.
My first day as a Printing Officer was 5 August 1974. I was to report to Atlantic House for a posting. No one had apparently told Ken Hutchings DDPP1 he had a new member of staff, so I was dispatched to ITW Cornwall House under Brian Cook’s (HTO) Inspection team PP12. (I think Mr Cook retired in 1976, and Alan Dobson, from "S" Dept Office, took the job.)
Elsewhere on the Oldies site are histories of the building and Dave Roberts’s vivid descriptions of Cornwall House in 1948 were still valid. Suffice it to say that PP12 had four Sections and was situated on the second floor in a long room overlooking Stamford Street.
On the binding inspection section was Jim Berry (TO), John Tucker (later moved to the New Parly Press) and Keith Champ (sadly recently passed away). The three print inspection sections were Con Owen (TO) (dispersed to Norwich), Frank Pavett (later moved to Nine Elms) and Stan Jeary (specialty, checking printed flat sheets before they were released for binding); I can't remember the name of the next TO probably as he was on long term sick leave and Cyril D'Amato was deputising (Cyril also dispersed to Norwich), the other PO was Ron Redfern; the final Section was Jonnie Johnson (TO), myself, and Tony Sturgess (later moved to Nine Elms before retiring to the Isle of Wight). Tony introduced me the joys of IPCS membership and I never looked back.
In the office there was little to relieve the monotony of writing rejection slips for poor quality work, except during the half hour flexible working hours lunch break, when we would look out of the window to see if the increasingly myopic Ron Redfern survived his daily dash straight across the busy Stamford Street. He always had to "just nip over to the Post Office" for something, but the combination of two stories worth of stairs and the Post Office queues meant he didn't have time to use the zebra crossings at one end of the building or the underpass at the "bullring" roundabout at the southern end of Waterloo Bridge, (before they built the Imax cinema on it), before having to clock back in.
The job in those days not only involved quality inspection of work delivered to Cornwall House but also jobs delivered direct to Departments, so we were also expected to make Departmental visits. I particularly remember the DoE main store where they kept all the postcards for sale at historic buildings they were responsible for. These were reprinted eight different subjects at a time from old plates. As a result the colour variation and registration was usually awful. The DoE Clerk of Stationery and the poor Print Buyer in Norwich must have dreaded my visits.
Elsewhere in Cornwall House I remember that along the corridor on the second floor was Mrs Dukes, HMSO's translator. The first floor was Post and Trade and the Ground Floor, below street level, was the main store, a dark and low ceilinged maze of an environment that required an ITW warehouseman guide to get you from the main staircase to the Trade Counter and back.
On the fourth floor was the HMSO Laboratory, Brian Whitefield, Dave Scott, Geoff Sentinella and Laurie Bishop spring to mind along with the pen testing machine, perpetually writing wavy lines in black, blue, red and green to see how long the ink would last. Also through a maze of corridors and past some heavy opaque plastic doors you could get through to the Laboratory of the Government Chemist.
Away from Cornwall House the world was a more troubled place and in 1976 I volunteered for my first Belfast exchange scheme transfer. I think I exchanged with John Straghan. Two weeks writing Print Orders for Northern Ireland Statutory Rules was a whole new experience, as was staying in the same Guest House as Malcolm McNeil, Supplies? and Peter Wall from Pubns who were engaged in a project for the Newtownards warehouse. I could tell Human Resources had billeted us in a class establishment as we had paper napkins with our place settings at meals. Unfortunately it was the same paper napkin for every meal, religiously straightened out and replaced!
However, not put off by that or Peter Wall's theories on "how to make money buying and selling properties in Northern Ireland, if only you could afford the insurance", I was soon to return to Belfast for the next stage in my HMSO Career. But that’s another story, or three.
Regards, Bob Avery, Systems Manager, Parly Press
11 August 2009 – From Bob Avery
Dear Reg, Sorry I missed the last foray at The Eagle, I would have only had to get there from London so no excuse really. I recognise most of the names of the attendees from my time in Norwich. Whether they remember me is another question. However I thought I would take this opportunity to share with your readers some of my earliest recollections of my time with HMSO.
Having left School at 15, and after a short spell with Linotype & Machinery, I joined HMSO as an apprentice compositor at St Stephens Parliamentary Press, Pocock Street on 6 December 1965.
The Composing room floor was divided into four Companionships (Ships): Telephone Directory Ads (Clicker, Len Hobbs); Post Office (Clicker, Tommy Empleton); Acts (Clicker, Arthur Sturdevant); and Gazette (Clicker, Les Harding). All watched over by the Overseers in their raised boxes/offices. Ted Lucking was the WOIII, with Randy Shurmer and Ken Jagelman WOIV's. As for senior staff, I remember Arthur Day being Head Reader and Len Knight as Office Manager.
In those days first year apprentices were banished to the stores under the mentorship of Stan Brightwell. Other apprentices who preceded me at the time were Norman Walker (later went to work on "the papers"), Frank Knight (still an executive with Miles33), Bob Fowler, Chris Partridge (moved on to be clicker of the Post Office ship), Peter Mills (moved on to be deputy clicker of the Gazette ship), Peter Brown (was working as a keyboard operator in Hansard Press until it closed), Terry Amos (was a Reader apprentice and also worked at Hansard Press), and Douglas Newbon. As far as I know mine was the last 7-year apprenticeship as Frank Challis, who joined the year after me, only got 5 years.
Next to the Gazette ship was the bank of about thirty Linotypes, all the operators on piece work so you dare not disturb them, so I only really remember Terry Robinson (moved to the new Parly Press until privatisation), Rodney the young mechanic (sorry I don't remember his surname) and Leslie Bell the Randon Hand (Galley proofer).
At the other end of the Comp. Room, next to the massive rubber doors into the machine room, were the two "platten" proofing presses manned by Norman Jacobs and Geoff Hooper (who was still working for TSO, as an Account Executive, until his retirement last year) and their apprentice Henry Anderson (who is still employed in the machine room at the current Parly Press).
On the Union side, it was still NGA then, Ted Brunswick was FOC and Ken Stiles was Imperial FOC
I spent some time working on the Post Office ship, making up pages of the Post Office Gazettes and Supplements, 33 picas monotype setting, requiring very steady hands, then moved onto the Acts ship, hand setting the Short Titles of Chapters in 18 point founders type. We only has the one case of 18 point so if the Short Title was too long we would run out of characters and have to start again in 14 point.
For the last year or so of my apprenticeship I was moved to "S" Department on the first floor. In the office was Charlie Wanstall HTO, Alan Dobson TO, and I was working with Tommy Chambers and Ted Upcraft. (Ted's major hobby was photography and had his own dark room set up at home).
I completed my apprenticeship in 1972 moved back to the main Comp. Room working with Henry Hawes, Dave Armstrong and Alan Saphier for a short time before transferring to the Monotype Keyboards working with Barry Felstead and (his first name escapes me) Brotherton, with Les Giltnane in the Mono Casters. In 1974 I got through the Printing Officer entrance exam and so ended my Industrial career.
I think that is enough for now, so with apologies to all those hundreds of people who worked at St Stephens at the same time who I haven't mentioned, I will sign off.
Regards, Bob Avery
Systems Manager Parliamentary Press
Hello Bob, Excellent - just what we want. Thank you. Although I did not work in the Presses (other than the odd O&M job on Payroll etc) I remember several of the names you mention. I am sure that many HMSOldies readers will be plunged back into the days we did not at the time realise were the happiest in our lives . . . Best wishes, and keep them coming! Reg
POSTSCRIPT: Dear Reg, Further to my earlier reminiscences, it's funny how names jump out at you, but I have just remembered there was another ex apprentice Stephen Pooley working in "S" Dept at the time, and in the main Comp. Room, how could I have forgotten the irrepressible Alfie Brent, Pete Buckle and Mardy Pillay. Then I was looking further through your Oldies Information and came across Terry Robinsons "92 years" article which give the names of all the Day Lino Operators I had omitted. Images of Percy Rose and Sid Metselaar etc came flooding back. Perhaps this will trigger more memories for your readers. Regards, Bob Avery
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