History & Experience

Leaving school meant an apprenticeship was for me commencing as a Mechanical Engineering Technician with a long established local company producing Reciprocating Air and Gas compressors…..great….this was as close as I could get to car engines which is where my personal interests lie.

A year spent making tools in the Training Centre and learning all the basic Engineering skills like filing, hack-sawing, sheet metal, drilling, milling, shaping, turning, welding, brazing & heat treatment were skills developed during this time ........many of them I still use today.

The next year spent in the Fitting Shop followed by a couple in the Machine Shop, then helping out for a couple of months in the Design Drawing Office was the inspiration to extend my training by 2 years to do an HND, necessitating 3 blocks of 6 months, at the local college, with 6 months back at work experiencing the remaining factory & office departments was perfect for me.

Employed as a Design Draughtsman in 1984 working on rotating machinery for high pressures, 414bar, running on Helium, Hydrogen etc and gaining experience in casting design, British Standards and the need and use of computers….and all the time endeavouring to field off several rounds of redundancy up to 1988 when an opportunity to join a carpet display company presented itself, the company was new, lively, very competitive and looked exciting, and altogether different to what I knew, also I could volunteer for redundancy and go with a bit of cash in my pocket.....I couldn't go wrong!...or so I thought!

I went to an acoustic equipment company in Colchester, for 5 years, as a draughtsman it was Interesting, varied & busy with plenty of site visits etc, plus a bit of CNC programming & sys admin alongside of the normal duties…then a promotion to Section Leader…until, on one of the many 'restructuring' rounds, I lost all the members of my section....leaving me to run it…bit daft frankly….really busy as well….further cuts suggested it was perhaps time to move on. Experiences were gained in Building Services, Architectural, H&V, medium size fabrication & steelwork, galvanising, conceptual drawings, macro drawings and project management.

I went to another long established Colchester company designing parts for a new high speed diesel engine, & taking on the sys administration duites, and all was great for 8 years, in spite of the usual rounds of redundancy, until relocating to the Midlands was offered to all....time to leave...experiences gained in compact, lightweight design, surface treatments, metal processes and advanced solutions to thermal and vibration challenges.

I took the unwelcome redundancy, volunteering early, taking advantage of a fortunate opportunity to return to the original Compressor company in my hometown… brilliant! In 2005 the company carried out a site move, loosing the foundry and machine shops, exciting times and big changes ….but in 2013, after several more rounds of redundancy passed me by, restructure time again…how about relocating to the ‘Black Country all of you…how about no then!

This was the last of the big name Engineering employers in Ipswich and the same can be said for the surrounding area…so nowhere else to go now……but to be honest I’m more than a little fed up with the relentless, tiresome & seemingly inescapable redundancy lifestyle anyway…..time to do something for myself. 

With loads of ideas and the drive, practical knowledge, skills and equipment to get on and do something to generate my own income and there will never be a better time than now!

My contacts in Engineering tell me that most local small company’s have real difficulties getting hold of skilled Engineering people….so I could do a bit of subcontract design work and a bit of consultancy here and there and share my knowledge & experiences with other people and organisations.

Interesting, varied & exciting work with no chance of being made redundant…..sounds like heaven really.  

My home life has always included building, improving and repairing anything, rather than spending out on costly replacements. This could be house stuff, car or motorcycle parts or anything really....my engineeering background taught me to easliy do that.

One of my children has some lifestyle challenges to overcome and my interests, skills & creative mind has proved helpful since discovering the world of disabled aids and equipment….and it can be very frustrating….things are so expensive….I know how much things cost to make and batch sizes are small…but the price of some of this stuff is extortionate... often not very good either…maybe I need to come up with something myself…at a more realistic price…I guess I don’t have all those overheads to recover the cost of either.

So here I am!