# Memories Of Old Colleagues



## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

A couple of items on the site recently and a fairly sleepless night made me think of some of the characters I worked with during my time at GKA. Some may have been mentioned before.

One thing that was always with you at GKA was a pen. This was an essential part of life and you could not do anything without one. Signing this and that, jotting things down, filling in logs. The carrying of these items was a personnel thing, behind the ear, in pockets, stuck down behind your glasses arm. The best pen carrying had to go to one Ralph Beserve. He was from West Africa – I cannot remember whether it was Ghana or Nigeria. As he had nice tight curly hair he used to wear his pen rakishly stuck into said hair.

The wonderful John Bridges – one of ours who had survived the North Atlantic and several torpedo attacks. Before the days of no smoking he could always be found, as he would be under his own personal cloud – of smoke. An avid smoker and he always had a couple of packets of Capstan full strength to hand. He also liked a tipple or two. Not at work I hasten to add. 

Francis D’Costa – hailed from Goa I think. I worked closely with him in the Accounts for a longtime. We worked mainly days from 0800 – many a day I would be there and no Frank would turn up. It was not done to advise the duty overseer of his non attendance as at some time in the morning he would breeze in full of apologies. Sorry! I had to wait at home because we were expecting a delivery for the restaurant. This he ran with his wife in Weston Super Mare. He would then work like a something possessed to catch up with the back log. He eventually left and the last report of him was he had a club/restaurant in London.

Arthur Lum, our man from Hongkong. I was so pleased I did not have to work him as he was a demon with a bug key. A Japanese Hi-Mound type in a black plastic box. Always wound up to give extremely rapid dots. Not bad morse but one would say stylish and for a first trip RO it must have been a nightmare. He was at one time RO on the passenger ship Kuala Lumpur. 

Bill Madden – a very dower Scottish chap. Spoke very little and you had to almost force a Good Morning out of him. He would sit quietly – most of the time – working away. At this time we were still using the old Olympic – think – telegraph typewriters. These really had seen better days and the Engineers and RO’s doing maintenance spent many hours trying to keep them operational. They had a habit of sticking or just being a pain. One morning there is a tremendous bang as Bill picks up his typewriter and bangs it on the desk in frustration. He then proceeds to stand up walk to the window – open it – then return to his desk. Lifts said typewriter up and walks to the window and throws it out. 

Charles Raleigh Mander – actor, play write, and RO. He had several plays broadcast on the BBC. He also started a very successful Drama group within the station and they won at Edinburgh one year. Larry will know more about this. He came from a very old family near Plymouth – his middle name could give a clue. The estate was very substantial.

Jim Waldron – an ex colonial who had worked in I believe East Africa for many years with possibly the railways but as the years rolled on these men were superseded by locals and they became basically redundant. He revalidated his ticket and in later life came and joined us. He could always be found not by smoke clouds but by key clicks. He always had the widest key gap I have ever known. 
There are many more – but the subject could become boring to the reader so I will stop here. 

I hope you enjoyed a little insight to some of our characters.

Hawkey01


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Malcolm,

thanks for that. Made me laugh - the thought of this little car chained up. When I was at GND for the DOC training it was always wise to check the names of some of the vessels that appeared for the traffic lists. Some wag or other would make up some beauties. The dawning on the face of the victim for the day was sometime worth beholding. The expletives - key off of course - were very choice, when he realised. Usually a good strong Scots accent also helped.

Neville


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Neville was right it was a privelege to work with some of the guys. I remember all those except Jim Waldron. How about Jim Sheldon. If you saw just a pair of hands typing a message that was Jim. Foster Jones - 26 Atlantic convoys on a rescue ship. Pete Hawkins- nearly shot by the Dutch resistance when they thought he was German. Tony Winterburn- torpedoed while on an Arctic convoy. Spent 9 months in Russia. ( He only got his Arctic convoy medal a couple of years ago). Jim Stewart - ex marconi shore tech who could fix transmitters over the air. Ted Durman- Russian linguist. Always interesting to talk to. A lot of them are still about thank goodness.
regards
Graham Powell


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## Larry Bennett (Aug 28, 2005)

You could fill a book with stories about the GKA guys, most of them real characters. Jim Sheldon was certainly one of the more 'eccentric' of them, but there were plenty of others.

There are countless stories of Arthur Lum - he was once asked by a young R/O what "Gung hay fat choy" meant, only to receive the response "How the **** should I know, I'm from Liverpool".

Charlie Mander attended RADA, and appeared in a few British films in the 1950s - and apparently shared a room with Pete Murray. He was a leading light in local amateur dramatics and I appeared in quite a few of his one-act and multi-act plays over the years. And indeed the GKA Drama Group won the BT drama national title in the 1980s.

Alan Padgett (FGAP) was another wonderful character - always used to try to cadge a lift into work by standing on the corner of the road where he lived and try to flag down other GKA staff on their way to work. Most of us got a bit fed up with this and changed our route to avoid him....

Arthur Smith was a drummer during the 1960s 'beat boom' and almost joined a famous band during that era - but found it more lucrative to join house bands at 'Gentlemens Clubs' or similar. He was quite a virtuoso on the anglepoise lamp using pens and pencils as drumsticks.

I was knocked off my bike on the way to work one afternoon - I had stopped at a roundabout and the car following me failed to stop in time and sent me sprawling over the handlebars......thankfully he stopped to pick me up, but the car behind swerved past me (and the other car) at high speed. When I eventually got to work (slightly shaken but otherwise unharmed), the driver of said vehicle came up to me to apologise for not stopping - but he was worried he would be too late for the appearance of the overtime sheet and he might miss out.....oh how we laughed. Not.

The list could go on and on....as could the stories....

Great times - and even though the old place has been closed nearly 11 years, still remembered with affection.

Larry +


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

From the outside, looking in, one got to recognise some people's keying but, of course, never knew their names. The same applied to R/T; there were a couple of chaps in particular at GKA who had a friendly operating style even when swamped with QRYs. But no-one ever exchanged names.
Others, beside me, will recall that John Arlott had a vocal doppelganger at GNI: very distinctive but anonymous!
Of course this applied generally to any station one used regularly. One chap at SVA used to abbreviate most of the words whilst sending at 30wpm; one had to interpolate the missing letters without losing the thread. Never knew his name either.


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## IAN M (Jan 17, 2009)

Bill Madden just never had anything to say and never smiled. I got a voluntary transfer from Wick to Burnham and my last shift was from 11pm to 9am. The train, however, left at 9am and Bill (actually I never knew his first name) kindly relieved me at 8am. 

The O/C at Wick was Bruce Mackie and I left because of the way the station was run. Unlike Burnham, there was no rotation of duties. I never had a weekend off during the year I was there and my day off was sometimes ruined by having to go into the station for an hour (overtime at 4/8d per hour) when the Thorshavn cable broke down. Also, there were split shifts which meant that, if you were due to start at 5.30pm, you might be called in to let someone have an hour off for lunch. This prevented you from going somewhere for the day, and when this happened when my folks were visiting, I asked Owen Owen to do the hour for me. He did, but, unlike Bill Madden, he charged me for the hour. 

Here is an example of my 'fixed' duty at Wick.

Sunday 12 - 6 pm
Monday 9 - 12 1 - 4.40 pm
Tuesday 8 - 2 pm 11 - midnight
Wednesday midnight - 9 am
Thursday Rest Day
Friday 5.30 pm - midnight
Saturday 12 - 2 pm 5 - 11 pm

Burnham was heaven when compared to Wick and you couldn't have asked for a better set of colleagues.


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## John Dryden (Sep 26, 2009)

I,m not a sparkie but you guys paint a very entertaining and interesting picture,through this thread of a long gone world.
JD


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Bill Madden died from cancer of the tongue which sounds a very unpleasant way to pass away. One of the guys visited him hospital which I think was in Glasgow. After he died, they found his house full of unopened pay packets.
Arthur Lum was a great character and we became quite friendly as he lived around the corner. When he started at GKA he drove down the M4 on the hard shoulder on his Honda 90. He was stopped by the police several times but made out he spoke no English and he was from China. Actually he was born in LIverpool. They were all great characters and there was an expert in there on every subject under the sun . If you wanted to find out something, some knowledgeable character would be pointed out to you. One day, Larry will put all these stories in his book!.
rgds
Graham Powell


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## keithsparks (Sep 1, 2009)

its quite true what you say,all those years from the late fifties to the mid eighties i worked GKA and never ever got to know one of the r/o s by namesome seemed quite abrupt others quite chatty i expect it was how busy they were at the time i do remember one r/o obiously on the r/t link telling me i had quite a broad yorkshire accent i didnt know wether to be pleased or offended so i didnt reply but from then on i used to emphasise my accent just for a laugh even down to the ee by gum which incidently i have never heard a yorkshireman use ha ha.


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Excellent - thanks for the response. Graham and Larry have named a few more of our colleagues. Yes I had forgotten about Arthur being from Liverpool. I know he was out east, as they say, for a longtime. I will drag a few more up when the brain is willing. 

Hawkey01


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

A few more ex colleagues:

Fred Bland: He seemed to spend most of his time on night shifts. He was one of a few who liked the more relaxed atmosphere of the night shifts, plus it enabled him to take a few beverages at lunchtime with his good lady. I can see him now sitting with his ashtray and roll ups, usually wearing braces. His log was an endless list of ships worked. He with a few others almost vied to see who could work the most ships during a shift. I think he had been with Niarchos for many years. 

Then there were the cyclists. 
Steve Clark – who lived some 14 miles from the station but thought nothing of cycling to work on a daily basis, he was also a tri-athlete. I believe he now lives in Spain so plenty of mountains to cycle up there. Whenever we are on a mountain road there is always someone on a bike, the steeper the better it seems! 
Fraser Whyte: took to cycling and shortly after decided he would go on a cycling holiday – not as one would think somewhere with a fairly easy terrain. No, Fraser set off to Scandinavia.
Mike Potter: Another very keen cyclist - thought nothing of going down to Lyme Regis, which from here is 57 miles – for a swim. A member of the station darts team and he nearly always turned up on his bike, whatever the distance. 
Larry Summers: took up cycling and joined a local club and actively competed in road races.

The Pilots:
We had three with PPL’s 
John Hocking – who I seem to remember started with gliders and then on to power. He was the tug pilot at one time for the local Mendip gliding club. 
John Sadler – who spent many hours up in his plane – a shared ownership – based at 
Bristol airport. He has now taken to motor bikes.
Mike Ford. Also a member of the syndicate at Bristol airport. He had to give up when he had some medical problems. Now plays golf.
Wally Cockerell. Not a GKA man. I worked with him for 2 years at GIL. He was a very active flyer and was an instructor at Dunkerswell. At one time he was even thinking of doing a twin conversion. The costs were enormous so I don’t think he ever did it.

Charlie Cox: Handyman or as they became known General Assistants. A real - Jack the lad. He would do just about anything to earn cash. Nothing illegal I hasten to add.
Tom Ponting: another of our GA’s. A man with a camera – he was an avid photographer. He must have the best collection of photos from GKA. 

Joe Mccabe: our artist and cartoonist. Many of you will I am sure remember his cartoons which featured in the Marconi Mariner.


Hawkey01


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Fred and Barry Williams would work ship after ship but never moved off the loud and clear ones on 12mhz. The noise and interference was left to the rest of us to struggle with!.
regards
Graham Powell


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## Larry Bennett (Aug 28, 2005)

To be fair, I think the old place was full of characters – some eccentric, some just strange – but that was what made GKA such an enjoyable place to work. Admittedly there were those who just came to work, did their job and went home again and didn’t socialise; but these were very much in the minority. There were also those who found the place not to their liking and left pretty quickly.

As mentioned earlier, there was an expert on anything – cars, sport, gardening, stocks and shares, photography – and if they didn’t know the answer, they probably knew someone who did. The GKA Quiz team won the local quiz league regularly before a a team of ‘ringers’ was brought in from Weston super Mare! (Graham will know all about this).

I have quite a few Joe McCabe cartoons – I’ll give him a ring to see if he will be happy to share a few on this site.

Some of the station stories are legendary and can be found on my website at www.portisheadradio.co.uk – others will have to remain off-limits due to possible litigation!

I hope to include many in my GKA history book (I actually have an interested publisher at last) but I need to find a few weeks on a tropical beach to collect my thoughts….

Larry +


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Larry,

Yes! I thought hard about what I was going to put to print. 

Cant you tell the Hydrog you need a couple of months off to gather your thoughts. I am sure they would be delighted to help out!

Look forward to the book. 

Neville


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Without appearing to be big headed about it, I thought the GKA was the biggest collection of talented individuals in the country!. 
I do not include myself in that at all. The Post Office and BT completely wasted the men that were there. We had several graduates and I believe at Anglesey ,there was one Doctorate. Several were very skilled electronic engineers and designers. It was a truly amazing place to work. 
I would be back there now if opened again.
rgds
Graham Powell


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Graham,

you malign yourself. Who else could build fantastic model engines like you. I certainly could not!

Neville


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Thanks Neville. You will have to come up and see some of them running one day.
Seriously though, there were some very talented and clever guys at GKA. One wonders how they ended up there?. 
rgds
Graham


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## chadburn (Jun 2, 2008)

Larry, I would be interested to know if you had an undergound reserve built and as to whether anyone has a working "Murray Code" Teleprinter, after all these years I still have a tape which format's into a superb picture of Concorde which I was given in 1982 at Northwood but forgot to take to Pitreive.


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Chadburn,

Larry will respond I know. However in the meantime I can tell you we had no underground rooms of any type. The land around here is wet and clay. We are below sea level. The Somerset levels are all very low lying. When the new station was built the pile driving that took place, to give the building strength was enormous. The new station had a - we were told - bomb proof roof. 

Hawkey01


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## Larry Bennett (Aug 28, 2005)

Quite correct - no underground rooms whatsoever - in fact there was a small pumping station located just outside the station buildings to get rid of any excess water from the low-lying land. Quite amazed that a housing estate on the land was even considered to be built taking into account the clay soil and water table. Money talks methinks.

In fact there are still some concrete foundations for the aerial masts still in place (outside of the housing area) - the developers couldn't dig them up in their entirety due to their size and depth.

I spoke to one of the demolition guys prior to the work on the station buildings - he was quite astounded as to the depth of the foundations for the new building, but he confirmed that the roof was not bomb-proof as we were led to believe. It looked about 3 feet thick but in reality it was demolished quite easily.

As to the teleprinter - most of the station equipment was scrapped - I believe there is one at the Fort Perch Rock Radio Museum but not sure of any others around. Whether some radio enthusiast managed to rescue one I don't know. Similarly the radio consoles were taken away for scrap despite my pleas to save a few for posterity - I came in one day and they were in the back of a lorry. 

I really must get hold of the housing estate developers - there was supposed to be a plaque/monument in place commemmorating the existence of GKA but as yet nothing has appeared.....

Larry +


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## Vital Sparks (Sep 19, 2007)

As a sparks who served only at sea I had always intended to drop in on GKA one day while on leave, but of course real life got in the way and it never happened. So I'll say hi and thanks here instead, thanks for putting up with the bad morse, lousy signal strength and half sing on the phone calls. you were a lifeline. When I swallowed the anchor only a clean break would do and it was a quite a shock a while later to discover it was all gone.


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## Larry Bennett (Aug 28, 2005)

Found the cartoons I was after - one about the 'clusters of experts' (by Brian Lea) and a couple of Joe McCabes. Enjoy!

Larry +


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

The box in the middle was known as the "wendy house" and all the supervisors are watching Rainbow. Great.That was about what it was like.
My favourite Joe cartoon was the round the world yachtsman who was approached by a Bank boat and asked if he could let them have some stores!.
There were others. The Pacific Watch selection panel and of course the Wailing Wall. Great cartoonist Joe. He's still around and just doesn't seem to change.
What about the "Tit of the year" trophy awarded to supervisors ( whether they wanted it or not.
rgds
Graham Powell


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## chadburn (Jun 2, 2008)

Thank you for your answer's Hawkey01 and Larry(Thumb)


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## 5TT (May 3, 2008)

> My favourite Joe cartoon was the round the world yachtsman


My favourite one was super glue around the radar hood 

Adrian


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Sorry no idea. He was a stockily built Welshman. I still see him from time to time usually with his grand kids. In fact, I might see him tomorrow.
The only ex GNE bloke I remember was Dick Bunting who also lives just round the corner though I haven't seen him for some time.
rgds
Graham Powell


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Malcolm,

I think that he was at GNE in his early days but I am not 100% sure. Graham may well find out.

Neville


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## NoMoss (Mar 14, 2007)

Fascinating stuff about GKA. I was only there for a year or so before taking a transfer to GNI. I grew up on the Isle of Wight so it was like coming home. Some of the names are familiar but I wasn't there long enough to get to know everyone. The overtime king used to live just outside the station and he was to be found wandering around with a little book in which he had the scraps of duties he was covering or had exchanged.
I think the John Arlott sound alike at GNI could have been Rodney Betts. 
We used to take a daily OBS from the Nab Tower and one of the keepers who lived in Niton prided himself on recognising our voices and calling us by name as soon as we answered. We never got tired of changing our voices to try and fool him. Rod's voice was the easiest to copy. One of the lads, called David Bailey would you believe, was a practical joker and replied to the Nab by talking through a metal teapot! The keeper asked if he was on single sideband.


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

I think that would be the same gentleman. I believe he was with Niarchos.
He lives in the next village.
rgds
Graham Powell


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Some of you might have seen this but I have just discovered it. Some familiar faces a lot of whom are now "silent keys".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr0Z-mtK0Do&feature=related
rgds
Graham Powell


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## Moulder (Aug 19, 2006)

NoMoss said:


> Fascinating stuff about GKA. I was only there for a year or so before taking a transfer to GNI. I grew up on the Isle of Wight so it was like coming home. Some of the names are familiar but I wasn't there long enough to get to know everyone. The overtime king used to live just outside the station and he was to be found wandering around with a little book in which he had the scraps of duties he was covering or had exchanged.
> I think the John Arlott sound alike at GNI could have been Rodney Betts.
> We used to take a daily OBS from the Nab Tower and one of the keepers who lived in Niton prided himself on recognising our voices and calling us by name as soon as we answered. We never got tired of changing our voices to try and fool him. Rod's voice was the easiest to copy. One of the lads, called David Bailey would you believe, was a practical joker and replied to the Nab by talking through a metal teapot! The keeper asked if he was on single sideband.


Always recognised Rod Betts when returning to home waters and working Niton. I also did a 'double take' when I heard the same voice in the restaurant of a training school in Bedfordshire. Had the pleasure of serving overseas with him as well and once had to extract cactus needles from his head after he'd had an unfortunate fall into a growth of cacti. 

(Thumb)


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## NoMoss (Mar 14, 2007)

Moulder said:


> Always recognised Rod Betts when returning to home waters and working Niton. I also did a 'double take' when I heard the same voice in the restaurant of a training school in Bedfordshire. Had the pleasure of serving overseas with him as well and once had to extract cactus needles from his head after he'd had an unfortunate fall into a growth of cacti.
> 
> (Thumb)


I don't think you have to explain how he came to fall into a cactus but I expect he did it slowly.


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Graham,

not seen that one before. Picked up a few faces on my first viewing.
Ernie Meaden - Frank Davis - Gill Elks - Dai Birt - Eric/Colonel Carver - sure there are others if I have a good look.
Had another look and a couple more I recognise - Ken Sheppard - Frank Mcken. One I think is a young Arthur Trolley but not sure. 

Neville - Hawkey01


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Hi Neville, I hadn't seen it before either. Frank, Dai, Eric,Arthur are all now "silent keys". Ken is till around though not seen him for years and so Frank Mcken though his wife died. I didn't know Ernie Meaden but he might be still alive as well. I came back on my bike last night behind the station site.
What a dump. Looks like a prison.....
rgds
Graham


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Graham,

I cant believe you were not there with Ernie Meaden as O'seer. Sorry to hear Frank's wife has died. I have not seen him for a longtime. 

Neville


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## Larry Bennett (Aug 28, 2005)

Ernie Meaden is still around - 95 and still going strong - has recently been spotted in Burnham High Street.

Larry +


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## Mayday (May 26, 2009)

Lovely to hear the stories. Probably ‘talked’ to most of you from all over the world.
I never ceased to amaze me that I could press the key, anywhere in the world and GKB asked "What can we do for you?"

Last seventeen years at sea I was on the Bay Boats, great times and missed.

John McKay.


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

I enjoyed my time at GKA very much. I don't know what Neville and Larry think but everybody seemed to get on with everybody else okay. If there was somebody you didn't cotton to, you moved somewhere else. I wasn't there in RO1 /RO2 days but it does sound very divisive. One street in Burnham is still known as RO1 alley!. We had one or two blokes who thought they were superior but they usually got shot down in flames at some time. Some of the operators were of extremely high calibre being wizards at high speed morse and key board work.
Graham Powell


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## Larry Bennett (Aug 28, 2005)

Totally agree with Graham - with over 300 R/Os on site you HAD to get on with everyone (professionally) even if socially you didn't mix with them. Of course there were colleagues you didn't quite hit it off with, which is human nature after all. If you weren't up to speed with any aspects of the job you were soon found out - no hiding place!

The RO1/RO2 situation left many staff bitter and to this day some of the 'old lags' still bring it up in conversation. I have some evidence and internal memos in my GKA history archive collection about the grading system - will look them out.

Larry +


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

I first thought of joining GKA back in the late 60's but at that time the two tier systems was the norm. Also the pay rates were not sufficient to drag me away from the sea. That is why I was with one of the Government services for awhile. The sea dragged me back - foolish youth that I was - before my first overseas posting. When I looked again at GKA there was a single tier system and the pay had increased to a reasonable level - 1970. I did spend two years at GIL when we were moving over to the computerised system - DOC - and also did various spells at other coast stations. I enjoyed all my 28 years with the service and like others, at times really wish that I was still there. Great colleagues and friends. If one did not quite gel with someone as Graham has said you just moved elsewhere in the station.

Hawkey01


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## keithsparks (Sep 1, 2009)

Well after reading some of the threads about life in the coast stations I am certainly glad I never came ashore into the service ,of course one has to have supervisors as such but a two tier system no thanks at least you was tour own boss at sea and left alone to do the job that you had studied and worked hard to achieve , I never had any problems with any master i sailde with and as for the rest of the crew they could take it or leave it.Happy days with feet up in the radio room tuned in to 500 waiting for the next tfc list reading a well thumbed book


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## Larry Bennett (Aug 28, 2005)

Still going through my GKA archives with regard to the RO1/RO2 division of working - got a few boxes to go through but in the meantime here is a short extract from my (as yet unpublished) GKA history which gives a glimpse of what actually went on in the mid-1950s:

_By now, a staff of 115, which included a number of naval telegraphists, manned the receiving station, providing a 24-hour service to merchant vessels worldwide. Basically, the civilian staff were designated as RO1 (PMG 1st class radio officer qualification) and RO2 (PMG 2nd class radio officer qualification); it was the RO1s' job to handle the cw communications, whilst the RO2s were given the responsibility of the landline and menial ships' bureau duties. However, RO2s were generously allowed to handle cw communications between the hours of 2200 and 0900 daily! The duty schedule at that time gave most of the night shift working to the RO2s, a situation which pleased the RO1s... Needless to say, there was discrimination between the RO1s and the RO2s (especially in pay differences!), but there was of course nothing to stop the RO2s from obtaining their PMG 1st class certificates whilst working at Portishead; in fact, the Post Office later granted study release time for those RO2s wishing to upgrade their certificates. The Naval operators assisted the RO1s in cw working. This RO1/RO2 separation continued until the early 1970's when the radio officer became a single grade.

Ex-Station Manager Don Mulholland recalls the RO1 and RO2 situation prevalent during the 1950’s and 1960’s;

“I do not recall any major problems. Basically RO2’s were on a lower pay scale, as would be the case if they served on a liner. As I recall some arrangements were made in the School to help RO2s. It was common practice in the PO and in the Civil Service to have long protracted pay scales in each grade; sometimes it would take many years to rise to the top. As an example, say, a RO2 might have started at £4 a week and progressed through to say £4.75 (new money) and an RO1 would start at say £5.50. There was the incentive to progress. 

When I started it was on five pound ten shillings in January 1949. But I came in as an RO1 straight from the Post Office; probably the last of the breed. Just before the war PO recruitment for the WTS was halted, as teleprinters supplanted morse and there was no further need for telegraphists. As I had been a Sorter Clerk and Telegraphist before the war I was able to transfer after the war, and after I had attended Hull Tech to get a PMG 1. My prior morse work was done in the Royal Corps of Signals. 

As to division of work I seem to recall that RO1s did broadcasts and search points whilst RO2s were relegated to working points. Both grades shared other work. Oh, perhaps Bureau and Control were also RO1’s work but cannot be sure - so long ago and my memory isn’t what it was.”_

Methinks a degree of rose-tinted glasses from a former station manager - I am sure the staff thought it somewhat differently!

Larry +


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

At coast stations, RO1's did the single op WT periods. Us other ranks did the hard work on RT - distress watch, broadcasts and worked ships during the same duty rotation on RT. - ie multi-tasking.

Before re-organisation, it would have been impossible to progress to RO1, hence the need for change I suppose.

David
+


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

What was the difference between RO1 and RO2? Was it 1st ans 2nd Class tickets?

John T.


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## Gareth Jones (Jul 13, 2007)

trotterdotpom said:


> What was the difference between RO1 and RO2? Was it 1st ans 2nd Class tickets?
> 
> John T.


 After a reorganisation of the grade (I believe in the early 1960's) a significant pay rise was awarded to the GPO radio operators, the importance of distress working was used to claim parity with the diplomatic wireless service operators. The price to pay was that all new entrants after that time would be graded RO2 and paid significantly less. When the balance of staff reached a state of one third RO1 and two thirds RO2, promotions from RO2 to RO1 would begin. As previously commented "dead mans shoes"!

I was one of the first RO2's, I stayed as an RO2 for 4 years before it dawned on me that it would take about 20 years for the numbers of RO1 to fall to the required level. So I left.

I remember a GPO news circular coming round which proudly claimed a small pay rise for the very low paid - lift operators - doormen - and RO2's ! 

There was no significant difference in qualifications although RO2's with PMG 2 certificates would be accepted, they would be given the same training as 1st class PMG entrants and had to achieve the same standards, but they would have to achieve passing PMG 1 cert before promotion to RO1 could take place.

It was a very devisive and unfair system - some of the iniquites have already been pointed out - what infuriated me personally was the division with regard to coast station distress working, RO1's had to cover W/T and RO2's covered R/T. Since the bulk of casualties were usually R/T only coasters - it meant that should a casualty occur at night (only 2 men on duty one RO1 and one RO2) the RO2 was expected to cover all the R/T working and the landline work (which was extensive when a casualty occurred) while the RO1 simply sat and made his broadcast every 30 mins. In reality the RO1's usually pitched in and helped out but they didn't all do it, I remember one man who shall be nameless saying he wouldnt help out because if anything went wrong he might be held to blame for leaving his W/T point.

Six months after I left, the system was changed and the RO2 grade got rid of. All those RO2's with PMG2 certificates were sent on a conversion course to get their PMG1 certs.


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

The system was gone by 1975 when I started there but it was very divisive.
Typical of the Post Office somehow. The system of promotion upset a lot of us as well. It certainly didn't depend on your output or ability.
rgds
Graham Powell


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

There was of course a big turnover in RO2's. It was not unusual for a QTO TR from a ship ex-Hull to be received with a PS that said 'sorry - won't be there on Monday' !!!

David
+


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Alex sounds like quite a character. The service was full of them. Alan Padgett with his mains driven morse key. Always cadging lifts. I can hear that thing clacking now and lights dimming in sympathy. Ashfold who always found his own ships and never took ones from the searchpoints. Ray Welsby who discovered that a certain combination of tx selection keys would ring the alarm bells and thus keep the supervisors busy. ( Would never tell us what it was). 
He would come in for 30 minutes overtime as he lived next to the station.
Three hundred individuals and BT wanted team working. No way Jose!...
rgds
Graham Powell


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

This thumbnail is I think late 70's. The telephone dial dates it somewhat ! It is the main RT point at GKZ. I can count 15 functions, the most important of which is the 2182 speaker by Keith's forehead. This was the domain of the RO2. The WT point had the 500 speaker, Tx selection, a receiver, and a typewriter to take greens. This was the domain of the RO1.

Getting back to characters, there was a national flood awareness exercise recently. Pictures of Sutton on Sea were on national TV. There was a clip of primary school children being evacuated by bus. In 1953 floods, the Sutton school children were also evacuated by bus. The road out of Sutton was of course under water, but more alarmingly had deep ***** either side. (it still does !) Eric Robinson walked in front of the bus with a long pole sounding out where the road went. This was the end of a cold January.

He was back at work in the Mobile three days later !!

David
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## Mimcoman (May 18, 2008)

"Another stalwart at GND was Alex Watters"
A real gentle man and gentleman.

Alex retired around 1980/81, if I remember. At his going away do, Ken Foster (the then GND Station Manager) said that, during his time in the (GPO) CRS service, Alex was the only person he had known who had never ever been off work sick.

Don MacPherson, though, told me that when he was on his break during on one 2-person night shift, Alex came through and asked him to come and see what he'd done, as Don would never see this again. Don said that the whole operating room was in darkness because every last light and piece of equipment had been switched off!

(Before any one asks, the loudspeaker watches for 500/2182 were still ok as their receivers were remote from the ops room.)

Alex was, unfortunately, another one of those who had only a very short period of retirement after leaving the service.


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## Mimcoman (May 18, 2008)

Hi, Neville:

Yes I read your posting, which prompted my post.

Hope all is well with you.

Rgds/Bill


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

I presume you GND men have seen this about the GND building.......which is good news. Might even be something left to remember us by !!

David
+
Not a GND man


Work is now to be started on the actual Station building to make it wind and watertight which will take most of this year to complete. He did mention that the building was listed under the Historic Scotland Charter and that very little could be done to the actual external look of the building. I advised him that I was the person responsible for attaining the listing with Historic Scotland. Thinking I may be ejected from the building when I revealed this fact but Hugh came up to me and shook my hand.

Thieves stripped the building of all the lead etc and there is a lot of work to be done.

They hope to have the building completed in 2012 and Hugh asked me if it is possible to get some memorabilia of the service so the operating room can have a part of it showing how it was in the 60/70's. He asked if it was possible to locate one of the W/T operating desks that could be refurbished. I was offered a desk which one of the ROA members had in his garage but that was in the early days of trying to save the station. He did say I was welcome to it if I could get it picked up at my own cost. I don't know if it is still available. If you could enquire for me, I would be obliged. I lost all my emails of the early correspondenc re the station.


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## david.hopcroft (Jun 29, 2005)

Private msg on its way.

Try this......

www.fathomsystems.co.uk


David
+


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## BobDixon (Oct 17, 2008)

Ancestry.co.uk have just added the GPO Appointment books for the period 1737 to 1969 to their databases. Probably need a subscription to look at the records (their is a trial one) but I think initial searches will be possible free of charge. 

http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1933 is the link. Do a search using only the keyword radio and some old WTS colleagues might be found. (More specific keywords like wts or burnham or wick radio will narrow things down.)


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Bob,

yes had a look and thought I would try for 7 days free trial. However to even do this you have to give your Credit card number etc, incase you decide to continue with the membership. I will not do that - always suspicious of that type of site.

Neville - Hawkey01


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