# Lowestoft Tech 1969 to 1970



## Chris Jenkins (Mar 16, 2014)

Anyone around from Lowestoft Tech 1969 to 1970 PMG 2nd and MPT 1st class?

Pete Johnson
Simon Latham
Allan Peck
Clive Walker
Dennis Skeet
Kevin Cheeseman
Frank 
Et al...

Would be nice for a QSO !

Chris Jenkins


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## Bill.B (Oct 19, 2013)

Sorry 70-72. However your name is familiar. Didn't you stay with the Liffens in Royal Avenue? I stayed there 70-72.
Bill Bonner
Ipswich then.


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## Chris Jenkins (Mar 16, 2014)

Bill.B said:


> Sorry 70-72. However your name is familiar. Didn't you stay with the Liffens in Royal Avenue? I stayed there 70-72.
> Bill Bonner
> Ipswich then.


Hello Bill,

Yes, that's me... Did you go into Royal Avenue after me ?

If you were 70 -72 then you started just when I was leaving. Got my 1st class in June 70 then joined Megara in Shellhaven later that month.

Alec Ward went to Redifon as trainer pretty soon after I left, as far as I remember.


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## Bill.B (Oct 19, 2013)

Hi Chris
Yes I followed you. I remember you were on Megara for your first trip. I had a great time at Lowestoft and could have easily stayed. Crisp, Fennel and Halton were there. I met Alec when I joined CP Ships in 78. Mrs L and Sylvia talked about you a lot. All good though. We were lucky having such good lecturers, it was a good school. I did my Radar and joined RFA in 72' then KH in late 74 and finally CP Ships as REO. Have been working for Radio Holland in Virginia since 89. Will send you a PM later. The VDR from hell is waiting for me.
Glad it was you.
Cheers
Bill


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## Chris Jenkins (Mar 16, 2014)

*Old Times*

Sent you a PM bill (Thumb)


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Chris,

Kevin Cheeseman lives in Burnham on Sea ex GKA and unless he has retired works for Stratus a satellite company. I am not in UK at present so unable to give you his email. Saw him not too long ago and he was fine. 

Hawkey01


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## Chris Jenkins (Mar 16, 2014)

*Kevin*



hawkey01 said:


> Chris,
> 
> Kevin Cheeseman lives in Burnham on Sea ex GKA and unless he has retired works for Stratus a satellite company. I am not in UK at present so unable to give you his email. Saw him not too long ago and he was fine.
> 
> Hawkey01


Thanks Hawkeye, much appreciated. I had a chat with Kevin many moons ago when he was at GKA, but lost touch when to station went off the air. At the time he was rather depressed about the future, so good to learn he found a position.

If you do get chance to send his email I'd really appreciate it 

Regards
Chris


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Chris,

I will certainly get back to you with info. Return to the UK early April.

Neville - Hawkey01.


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## Robert Durrant (Nov 3, 2007)

Bill.B said:


> Hi Chris
> Yes I followed you. I remember you were on Megara for your first trip. I had a great time at Lowestoft and could have easily stayed. Crisp, Fennel and Halton were there. I met Alec when I joined CP Ships in 78. Mrs L and Sylvia talked about you a lot. All good though. We were lucky having such good lecturers, it was a good school. I did my Radar and joined RFA in 72' then KH in late 74 and finally CP Ships as REO. Have been working for Radio Holland in Virginia since 89. Will send you a PM later. The VDR from hell is waiting for me.
> Glad it was you.
> Cheers
> Bill


Sylvia became a nurse and later married a doctor.I spent a while in the local hospital and remember her sat on my bed serenading us with her guitar.....a really nice girl.


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## Bill.B (Oct 19, 2013)

When I stayed with the Liffen family I was Sylvia's romantic adviser. She was a really nice girl. Went to her wedding and had a ball. Was very lucky to get to stay there. Haven't seen her since the wedding.
Bill


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## Robert Durrant (Nov 3, 2007)

Bill,
When you were at Lowestoft tech was there a student on your course called Gerry?Married a Swedsh girl.


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## Chris Jenkins (Mar 16, 2014)

Robert Durrant said:


> Sylvia became a nurse and later married a doctor.I spent a while in the local hospital and remember her sat on my bed serenading us with her guitar.....a really nice girl.


Yes, a very nice girl and a great family. I think I was the first fledging RO they had as a lodger, they had art students before ( and this was the 1960' s !).

When were you at Lowestoft Robert ?

I left after my 1st Class, got my radar in 1976 at Barking and then electronics cert in 1981. Did a short spell at GKA but just couldn't make ends meet so went back to sea ending my deep sea career with Silver Line.

I loved the operating side of the job, but finally faced the inevitable and moved into the offshore sector getting in at the early days of Dynamic Positioning. Somehow I've ending up managing construction projects mainly in South Korea and Singapore shipyards, but my heart is in every bulker or tanker that disappears over the horizon, and I consider myself lucky to have been an RO. Great times.


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## Robert Durrant (Nov 3, 2007)

Hi Chris,
Lowestoft is my home town.The first house I bought was in St.Margaret's Road around the corner from Royal Avenue and not far from the Oxford Arms,no doubt you would have passed there on your way down to the tech.I knew Sylvia when I was a patient in Lowestoft hospital in the mid 1970s.I asked Bill about a lad called Gerry because he trained there in the early 1970s and he lived close to me.
You certainly lived an interesting life,Chris.Most of my sea career was with the fishing industry and North Sea oil research vessels.Lowestoft,like most fishing ports,is not recognisable now but I am fortunate to have lived and worked through the good times.


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## Chris Jenkins (Mar 16, 2014)

Robert Durrant said:


> Hi Chris,
> Lowestoft is my home town.The first house I bought was in St.Margaret's Road around the corner from Royal Avenue and not far from the Oxford Arms,no doubt you would have passed there on your way down to the tech.I knew Sylvia when I was a patient in Lowestoft hospital in the mid 1970s.I asked Bill about a lad called Gerry because he trained there in the early 1970s and he lived close to me.
> You certainly lived an interesting life,Chris.Most of my sea career was with the fishing industry and North Sea oil research vessels.Lowestoft,like most fishing ports,is not recognisable now but I am fortunate to have lived and worked through the good times.


I know what you mean, I went back a couple of years ago and could hardly find Royal Avenue.. Hard to believe that the fishing industry has all but disappeared as it was such a central part of the town. I seem to recall a fella who lived close to Royal Avenue who was keen to do the PMG course once he had taken his GCE's, and Mrs Liffen asked me to have a word of encouragement with him... For the life of me I can't remember his name though.
Yes I do recall St Margaret's ...small world isn't it.


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## Bill.B (Oct 19, 2013)

Hi Robert
I am sorry I don't remember any local lads during my time at Lowestoft. The only guys/girls I remember we're from the year ahead of us David Holmes from Felixstowe. Our year was Robert Wheeler who went to B&C, Steve Youngs who went RFA, Charles Terry RFA, Steve Cunningham ex RN, Keith Heazle and Nick Holder. There was an old guy from Clacton but he didn't make it to the second year. Only person I knew from the year behind us was Rose King. Grey cells are fading now. 
Lowestoft/Corton was the family holiday destination for years and every chance I got was mooching around the fish dock. Would have loved to do trip on a trawler but did not do it. Tried the Skipper down the road in Royal Avenue but he said it was impossible. It is very sad seeing the dock empty, same with Ipswich Dock too. I remember the fisher boys hanging around the High Street on Sunday nights dressed in their Teddy boy clothes on my way up the hill. I always though Lowestoft was a good town. It is one place I would consider living at if I ever come home from here. Sorry I couldn't help with Gerry.
Cheers
Bill


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## Robert Durrant (Nov 3, 2007)

Bill and Chris,
Many thanks to you both for replying to my query,looking back now he was probably in the 1972-74 intake.
The fish docks here have been taken up with the wind farm services so at least there is another industry prospering,but still very sad looking back at the times in the 1960s when over 100 trawlers were sailing from here.I remember in my teens the old boys yarning about the massive steam drifter fleet operating from here and Yarmouth and how things had changed.....now I am doing exactly the same!
Best wishes to you both.
Bob


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## G4UMW (May 30, 2007)

Bill, wasn't Dick Nourse in your year too?
I was a year behind you, same course as Rose King.

Robert, I think I remember a Gerry on our course - was he a red-headed bloke with a beard?

Cheers,
Rob


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## Robert Durrant (Nov 3, 2007)

Hi Rob,
Thank you for that,yes could be.I got to know him when visiting my father in law in Gorleston hospital,who was very ill.Whilst there I got chatting to Gerry who was in for treatment while in remission.Think he was with P&O Ferries.He married locally and had a guard of honour from his shipmates outside the church.Sadly he died a few years later.
Regards,
Bob.


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## G4UMW (May 30, 2007)

Hi Bob,
Yes, I can still see the face and I think his name was Gerry but I'm not tcertain. I'm not sure that he completed the course. I do remember playing basketball with him in the college gym during the liberal studies periods. 

Regards,
Rob


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## Bill.B (Oct 19, 2013)

G4UMW. The name doesn't ring a bell. I remembered another one of our course and that was Richard Gransholt (spelling) who was an Arethusa boy and a great bloke. RO1 we had a guy from Slough but he dropped out. There weren't that many of us. There was a chap from Felixstowe in Rose's year but I can' t remember his name. 
Sorry
Bill


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## G4UMW (May 30, 2007)

Bill.B said:


> There was a chap from Felixstowe in Rose's year but I can' t remember his name.


That would probably be Mike Woods. I shared a room with him and Charles Terry at the YMCA in Park Road.
Rob


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## GFZU (Jan 31, 2007)

Hi Rob
Yes I was the only one from Felixstowe at that time. I have subsequently bumped into Nigel Monument who worked for Suffolk Police in their comms section. I was with P&O shoreside at Felixstowe and we had Nigel as an RO also Dave Gosling and Dave Holmes. Dave Hibbert/d? was for a time the local Marconi engineer. I also bumped into Steve Young from Bills year durning a "sir" vessel visit to Felixstowe. Not seen Charley Terry for a few years now.

Mike


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## G4UMW (May 30, 2007)

Hi Mike,

Trust you're keeping well. 

You might be interested in this photo: http://www.radioofficers.com/galleries/more-radio-rooms/attachment/001-lowestoft-college1/

Regards,
Rob


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## Bill.B (Oct 19, 2013)

Hi Mike
Sorry I forgot your name. Glad you made it to sea. There a few photos of Steve Youngs on RFA Nostalgia and he still looks the same. Only saw him once more when Sir Bedivere was in Chatham and he was on ****. He was on her for ever. Remember Nigel Monument who did his radar with us. Lived off Heath Road. After I had gone ashore for a year received a call from Townsend Thorensen to come for an interview. Had applied three years before and forgot all about it. Went and it was a really crap day, waves breaking over the linkspan and the ferry was rolling at the berth. Decided then really didn't want the job and as it worked out CP Ships had gone non federated and the seamans union blocked the job being given to me. Good part was my then employer thought I was going to leave and I got a pay raise and a car so it all worked out for the good. Was looking forward to seeing Nigel again but never did. He was a good bloke. My how the years have passed. Charlie didn't last very long in the RFA and someone told me he was working in a children's home somewhere. I last saw him at Portland on Engadine and he was on Tidespring or Tidepool. Last I heard of Keith Heazle he was going to work for Greenham Marine in Poole. 
Bill


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## GFZU (Jan 31, 2007)

Hi all

Here are a few more names 

Paul Jackson, Yarmouth
"Syd" James, Lowestoft
Adrian Caldery, Woodbridge
Barry Elding, Norfolk 
Dave? Horgan Australia
John Matthews, Norfolk

The older student from Clacton was Tom Cochran. 

Hope I have the correct spellings, my apologies if not.

Mike


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## G4UMW (May 30, 2007)

Hi Mike,

The Aussie was Dave Horkan.

There was also Vaughn Tiller (Tiptree), Chris Brettingham (Norfolk), Dave Hibbert (?) and yours truly (Derby).

Regards,
Rob


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## Stephen James (Mar 6, 2008)

GFZU said:


> Hi all
> 
> Here are a few more names
> 
> ...


Hi all
Another name missing from that (our) class is Steve Codling, He also lived in with a local family up at the north side of town but along with several others seemed to spend more time at mine than at the lodgings...!!
We're still in-touch regularly and he's still a freelance cameraman for the SW TV companies working out of Poole.. I came back to the UK for the first time in 17 years for his wedding - he got married for the first time at the age of 55 !!!
I've been in touch with Rob and 'Dudley' on rare occasions and am still in contact with a couple of the girls from the the Child Care course at Lowestoft Tech as well.... we all used to drink in The Crown..!

Steve J.


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## G4UMW (May 30, 2007)

Steve James said:


> ...we all used to drink in The Crown..!


...and the Belle Vue! Norwich bitter at 19p a pint - happy days!


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

G4UMW said:


> ...and the Belle Vue! Norwich bitter at 19p a pint - happy days!


When I was taking my PMG at Brooks' Bar in Manchester the bitter was 1/6d a pint (about 7.5p in decimal currency) but as we were hard up students, we drank draught cider which was only 1/3d a pint. That major advantage had to be offset against a slight flaw in that it affected your concentration far more than the beer did and made it hard to keep your eyes open in afternoon lectures like radio regs and commercial charges. Its other disadvantage, being scrumpy, if the barrel was a little 'disturbed' you would spend more time in the bogs than in the lecture room.

The lower price always won.

The pub, which was on the opposite side of the Moss Lane to Hyde's Anvil Brewery, is long gone and has been replaced by a kind of park - grass and trees. What ever happened to conservation and preservation of the environment?


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

The commercial stuff is much the same, Ron, despite being 'non-organic'. I used to go for a few at lunch time with a more senior colleague with his own office. Instead of the gin I used to take to power my afternoon genius I though that cider might set a better example (the days of a decent lunch were well on the wane).

We both spent the afternoon akip but I didn't have an office in which to do so unnoticed.


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## keith heazle (Nov 17, 2014)

*Lowestoft 1970 -1972*

Hi This is the missing Keith Heazle here. Found this site with my name on whilst googling something else. Saw the comments from Bill B re my name. yes I did go and "work" for Greenham Marine for 6 months in 1973 but it didn't work out so returned to Norfolk. Then got into the Telecomms industry with Plessey, and have spent 40 years in the industry with Plessey, Standard Telephone & Cables, Mercury/C & W, BT Exact (at Martlesham) and more recently at Virginmedia. Have been lucky that I've worked all over the world doing everything for cable gangs and fibere splicing to PDH and SDH istall and comission to Network operations. Finish with VM in two weeks time due to redundancy for a well earned rest. Remember Bill and Steve Youngs from Lowestoft, and I was the one who introduced them to the RFA as I was going to join if I passed.


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## keith heazle (Nov 17, 2014)

*lowestoft 1970 - 1972*

Part 2.....Just to fill you in on some of our colleagues at the time. Mickey Grandsoult [the class clown] went on to work as a diver on the rigs offshore after Lowestoft. I met him again about 4 years later in a nightclub in Norwich splashing the cash. However a couple of years later got a call from his brother to say he'd been killed in a motorbike accident in Norfolk. Also saw Steve Youngs again as I went to school with this cousin, who got me involved in playing football for village side near Yarmouth in the late 70's but haven't heard from him since. Also ran into Steve Cunningham in the 90's at Carrow Road at a Norwich City v ****nal match [Steve was a big Gunners fan] with his son. He was running a Clock & Watch repair business in Ipswich at the time. Like me he'd had no contact with anyone since leaving Lowestoft, and Paul Jackson was the big guy with red hair and beard from Yarmouth in the year behind us.


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## keith heazle (Nov 17, 2014)

*lowestoft 910 -1972*

To Bill B if there anyway you can contact me through this website please do, it would be good to catch up. I see you are on the East Coast of the USA now. I was there in 1989 in New Jersey working on Submarine Optic Fibre systems for a year... had a great time. Also another person we had in common... Graham Bishop, my scout leader and one of your teachers at Westbourne.....died about 95/96, had a heart attack at a scout meeting.


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## Bill.B (Oct 19, 2013)

I knew you had to come up for air at last Keith. Really good to hear from you. Yep we all scattered to the wind in 72 and vanished. Did see Steve Youngs on RFA Bacchus and sailed with Charles Terry on Engadine in 74. It was you indeed who introduced us to the RFA. Always thought it was a shame the way it worked out as you were a good tech and classmate. Being the strong independent type the RFA was a bit restrictive so went off commercial and never regretted it. However always thought starting in the RFA was a really good decision and enjoyed all of it. Still miss it at times. If you were in NEw Jersey in 89 then maybe you worked with my third family. Transoceanic CAble Shop Co. I literally lived on cable ships Long Lines, Charlie Brown, Global Link, Global Sentinel and Global Mariner from 89 to 2003 until the newer Tyco ships came out and the cable laying business imploded. Who knows we may have been close. I enjoyed all my cable ship times but missed a lot of home. Didn't go to sea on them just took all the Globals out of the yard new and upgraded or made them work. Glad to hear that you have had a great career. You have always been at the back of my mind, as well as all the other 70-72 class. Good hearing of Steve CImmingham. Very sad about Nigel as he was a great bloke. Reading the posts about TS Arethusa I can see how he became like that. Just the guy to take on a tough job and keep at it. I swear he had steel skin. Can see him now rolling down the corridor at Lowestoft like Jolly Jack ashore. I remember Mr Bishop and am sad to hear of his death. He was one of the more modern teachers we had. Most were Second World War veterans but a great lot and was lucky to be in their classes. 60 years old! How did we get this old. Same for me this year too. Hope you enjoy your retirement and we all need to have a pint someday. I get home once a year from here but time flies and never have time to do much outside of family or go for a quick sail. Not sure how much longer I am going to carry on working but intend to spend as much time on a boat, or pub, in the UK as I can when I do. More family in Ipswich than USA so that's the direction we would head in. 
Now that you are " found" I guess that leaves Charlie Terry to surface.
Will PM you with contact details.
Cheers
Bill


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## Chris Jenkins (Mar 16, 2014)

*Back to the to !*

Trying to revitalise this thread... Anybody out there who went to Lowestoft Tech in the late 1960's ?
Regards
Chris Jenkins


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## minty (Jul 22, 2012)

*Gerry ?*



Robert Durrant said:


> Hi Chris,
> Lowestoft is my home town.The first house I bought was in St.Margaret's Road around the corner from Royal Avenue and not far from the Oxford Arms,no doubt you would have passed there on your way down to the tech.I knew Sylvia when I was a patient in Lowestoft hospital in the mid 1970s.I asked Bill about a lad called Gerry because he trained there in the early 1970s and he lived close to me.
> You certainly lived an interesting life,Chris.Most of my sea career was with the fishing industry and North Sea oil research vessels.Lowestoft,like most fishing ports,is not recognisable now but I am fortunate to have lived and worked through the good times.


Hi, I joined the course at Lowestoft in 1973 and there was a lad called Jerry Phillips with us. A really nice kid, curly haired and he had a London or an Essex accent.I believe he lived near Ipswich. He sadly passed away from cancerabout 15 years ago leaing a wife and two young kiddies. Happy memories of Jerry whose locals included the Spreadeagle, Trowel & Hammer and The Crown. I'm from Yarmouth tho' at the time lived in Burgh Castle. Any idea what happened to Messers, Crisp, Holton & the other lecturer ?


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## Ken T (Apr 15, 2016)

I was at Lowestoft college in 1973. Heard that George Fennel died but don't know about Bill Holton or John Crisp.
Jerry Phillips died in 1993 of Leukemia. Left a wife and three children.
Great guy.


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## minty (Jul 22, 2012)

*Lowestoft Tech*

Hi again Ken, hope you are well.
Yes, I heard about George and Jerry of course. I actually 'bumped' into Jerry in about 1990/91 when we were crossing on a ferry from Calais. He was on duty and we had a very nostalgic chat in the shack. It made the voyage pass even more quickly ! Yep, top guy Jerry, I know you and he were very close.
I had contact with Bill about 15 years ago when I was selling a house in France though I can't for the life of me recall how we were thrown together !
I made contact with Neil C a few years back who is in Qld.
Happy days mate.
Peter B Gt Yarmouth / France since 1989
[email protected]


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