40s and 50s Memories
1963. I then had four SHO jobs in the National
Health Service, at Charing Cross Hospital,
and the Kingsway Maternity Hospital. After
this, I went as a G.P. to Northallerton in North
Yorkshire. I married in 1964, my wife having
been a Sister in the Charing Cross Hospital.
After two years in this general practice in
Yorkshire I found I was neither doing medicine
nor earning any money. So we emigrated to
Canada in 1966 and I joined a practice in Fort
Francis in North West Ontario. This was the
only practice responsible for this large area
and also for the 220 bed hospital there. The
practice I joined had six other doctors and it
provided all medical services in the area, and
these we continually tried to improve. During
this time, from 1966 to 1978, I was appointed H.
M. Coroner for the large district of Rainy River/
Kenara which I enjoyed greatly.
When I reached the age of forty in 1978, I
became discouraged by constant interference
by the Government in medical practice and we
returned to England where I took up a fellowship
in Radiology at Leeds, Yorkshire.
In 1993, I took up an appointment as Consultant
in Radiology in Cheltenham, and retired ten
years later in 2003. We now live in Taunton and
have four children, two sons and two daughters,
all of whom live abroad.
B. CAGER
Meynell 1954
Barry Cager left King's in 1954, from
Meynell House, when Howard Padfield was
Housemaster. He records Julian Pytches as his
favourite teacher and history and geography
his best subjects. Among his friends at King's,
he remembers Alan Bendle, Brian Painter, John
May and Barry Brown.
He was a strong runner, winning both mile and
the 880 yds. He was good at tennis, winning
colours and at doubles was unbeaten with
Henry Chaun. He left King's before he was
able to achieve his hope to make the Ist XV
rugby team but continued to play both tennis
and rugby overseas, when and wherever his
eventful life allowed.
Of this life he writes:
Leaving King's in the era of National Service,
I spent my 18 months in the Royal Sussex
Regiment, and this entailed service in Korea,
which came to an end in 1957. In the five years
which followed, I was employed by NCR, the
American multinational corporation developing
new computing and communications
technology, initially in Hull, then in Lagos,
returning to Birmingham by 1963.
The next four years, I spent working with Millcliff
Advertising. This took me to various countries
in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean.
Then, in 1967, with some seven employees I
started up a vending machine and executive
catering company, Breakmate Ltd., which
proved highly successful over the next 20
years. When this company was sold in 1986,
we had 650 employees.
Breakmate was an unusual company for the late
'60s and early '70s because over 100 employees
had shares in the company. We were also the
first in the City of London to employ women on
the sales force, a fact that contributed to the
success of the company. A considerable effort
was made towards staff recreation and welfare,
the company maintaining a yacht in Ibiza, a
boat on the Thames, a thatched cottage at
Studland Bay, and even debenture tickets for
Wimbledon.
A successful career in business enabled me
to retire at the early age of 50, whereupon I
moved to Spain to concentrate on my love of
ocean sailing.
I joined the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC)
in 1988, in a purpose-built Belliure 50 yacht in
which we sailed to Barbados. After that winter
spent in the Caribbean we returned to Spain
and in 1990 we sailed to Turkey, visiting 22
Greek islands en route.
In 1992, it was back across the Atlantic again,
this time to Antigua, and the next two winters
we remained in the Caribbean, the summers
being spent in the Mediterranean, the Balearics
and the south of France.
In 1997, two retired RAF officers had started
a Round the World Rally named the Blue
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