Mick Blackburn took his time working for the gas board…
Having left school, and looking for a job, I spotted an advertisement in the paper for apprentice gas fitters with the South Eastern Gas Board. Knowing nothing about the job, I applied and was given an interview.
After the usual questions, I was mystified by being given some tools and a length of timber. I was asked to cut it in half, drill a large hole with a brace and bit, and then screw the two pieces together again.
It turned out to be a simple test to see whether I could make a reasonable job or if I would splinter the wood in all directions. After all, I would be working in customers’ houses and they would not want their property ruined. Being a practical person, I passed the test and was offered a job – I signed on the dotted line and started the following week.
Frozen at the depot
My first day was in early January, 1963, in one of the worst cold spells for many years. 1 was allocated to the depot at Haywards Heath, about seven miles from my home, so I set off on my bicycle at seven o’clock every morning to brave the icy roads. On arrival there was time for a quick warm-up in front of the old forge, which was usually blazing with old tarry boards in the disused gas works.
We clocked on using a good old mechanical time clock, which sent a thud round the building when you punched your time card. You would lose a quarter of an hour’s pay for every five minutes you were late. We kept a bent bike spoke on top of the clock. This slid neatly behind the clock’s glass door and the hands and time mechanism could be pulled back to eight o’clock, your card
punched, and the hands pushed back to the correct time – but only if the foreman wasn’t looking.
Bicycle boys
Our depot had eight fitters, but only three vans – one for the foreman and two used by fitters for deliveries and doing jobs in the outlying villages.
Everyone else had trade bikes.
These old bikes had no gears and a box on the front for carrying tools, which made them very heavy to push, let alone ride.
I worked with various fitters during my apprenticeship; some young, some nearing retirement. All of them took pride in their work and had a good sense of humour.
No two days were the same. We were out and about, our own boss for the day, and as long as the jobs were done, not even the foreman came to see us. Best of all, nobody rushed about – you couldn’t anyway with a cumbersome trade bike. A job took as long as it took, with endless cups of tea.
The spice of life
The jobs were varied and I was learning all the time. I learned how to blow lead joints with a methylated spirit blowlamp, cut and thread steel pipes, and fit cookers, water heaters and a multitude of gas appliances.
Most of all, I learned how to deal with people from all walks of life. I have worked in the homes of famous people, the rich and the poor, and learned above all to respect other people’s property and to do a good job.
As apprentices, we played all the tricks – like black grease in the earpiece of the foreman’s phone or the exploding tin can full of gas – which were guaranteed to liven up the morning.
Plenty of work
i stuck it out and passed my City and Guilds exams to become a qualified gas fitter. There was always plenty of work and plenty of variety, none more so than the change to North Sea Gas, a mammoth operation that involved the conversion of every town gas appliance in the country.
I stayed with the Gas Board, and subsequently British Gas, for 29 years. For old time’s sake, in recent years 1 have restored a South Eastern Gas Board trade bike. I have gathered together a collection of tools and appliances to show people how it used to be when time was not of the essence.
