Hello folks!
Hope this very very late addition to my blog finds you all well?
What a year this has been! One which we shall remember all our lives, no doubt.
Covid19 has changed our lives dramatically....sadly some have lost their lives to it.
All we can do is sit and wait till it fades away...we are virtually powerless and as we speak, there is talk of a new variant being found, which is an evolved version that is even more deadly and immune to mask-wearing and all the present precautions we are taking.
That said, let's move away from those miserable thoughts and chat about EMI!
On my sister blog emiradiohams.blogspot.co.uk I have had quite a few comments from ex-employees of EMI, but this blog has received none at all....at some time, hopefully during the Xmas holidays, i will decide to close one blog down and incorporate everything in just one single one.
I myself have moved out of Hayes and so have lost touch with the few EMI personnel whom I used to meet there, namely Mike Greengrow, Phil Armstrong, and very fleetingly, that art dodger of EMI, Ron Snowball himself! I'm sure he will not mind me giving him that nickname!
So, as we speak, the world is in a right mess...jobs are disappearing fast, and woebetide you if like myself, you are over 50.....even youngsters are not finding jobs and are having to run Uber cabs or pizza delivery to make ends meet.
Just a few more names have come to mind when I used to work at EMI....Ted Deer was in charge of the microwave adapters cupboard in the main Test Area at Dawley 1. He was over 50 at the time (1984) so he has probably passed away by now.
Another chap, I can only recall his first name now....called Paul, also worked in the Searchwater Test Area 1, testing the radar receiver in a quaint little RF protected cabin. Also helping him was another new engineer who joined at the time, name of Steve (surname unknown)...this new engineer worked there for around a year and then left....only to reappear in an electronics periodical as Stephanie.....unknown to us, he had left EMI and had a gender change operation and was now a woman.
Of course, nowadays that is fully accepted but back then in the 80s, it did raise a few eyebrows.
Colin Clements is a follower of this blog, whom many of you may know...he worked on the RF bench at Searchwater radar, tuning RF connectors and plotting VSWRs etc!
The fabled Frank Goulty I lost touch with soon after I left EMI in 1984....as well as Bertie Joseph, one of only a few black guys working at EMI. Brian Gordon was another one who worked briefly at Searchwater but left after a few years to emigrate to Florida, USA.
One or two other names I recall are an Indian chap called Pala, who I heard had also moved to the USA whilst I was at EMI and another guy named Chagan Patel, who worked on development work, also moved to the USA.
Finally, a young guy (at the time) who worked with us at Searchwater test, was an apprentice named Rayat (again, first name completely gone!)....our colleague Gianni Jarvis who follows this blog, may recall Rayat.....he left after his apprenticeship ended and worked for a computer company where he became Vice President, no less....I came across him recently on Facebook Messenger where he told me he left corporate life years ago and now refurbs property for a living!
Well, that has exhausted my few brain cells that still remain active, so I will bid you adieu until next time....if I don't post again before Xmas, here's wishing you all a very merry one and with all good wishes for the coming new year!
PS if you wish to email me, youre welcome....I'm on gpo888@gmail.com
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