40s and 50s Memories
After the above complimentary remark on
several masters, it is important to recognise
that the Headmaster behind all these activities
was a certain R. C. Unmack. While he may
not have had an obvious direct effect on me,
he must have been an influential driving force
behind the other staff who did impact on me. I
feel that much credit should go to him in that he
must have encouraged the other staff to pursue
the practices and to display the attitudes which
they did.
Thank you King's.
G. A .MORSE
Meynell 1951
Gerald Morse left King's in 1951. He was
a member of Meynell House when Howard
Padfield was Housemaster. Among the masters
he remembers Messrs. Jacquet, King and
Morgan as those he got on well with. School
friends that he recalls particularly include Ted
Easton, Andy Mosedale and G. Coles. His
school certificate results pointed him in the
technical direction rather than the arts and this
was borne out as his working life unfolded.
Of this life he writes:
One week after leaving King's I commenced
what turned out to be a career that lasted 44
years. I now entered the "Real World" and
was I in for a rude awakening? That was an
understatement.
I started as a "Student Apprentice" in what
was then the South Western Electricity Board
(SWEB). This being a nationalised industry
and run strictly by the Trade Unions, I, as an
ex-public schoolboy, had to join a Communist
Trade Union. There was no way one could
refuse in those days. If you tried to you were
asked to leave. I am still a life member of that
Union whether I like it or not. That was how it
was in the 1950's.
I was then trained in all aspects of the electricity
supply industry including day releases at
Taunton Technical College. It was then that I
realised that I knew no more than anyone else. The apprenticeship took me through generation,
distribution, contracting, metering, accounts
and finally, how to deal with the general public.
This was when I discovered that my time at
King's had enabled me to converse easily with
anybody, rich or poor, good or bad. Believe you
me, I met them all! Spelling mistakes included!
National Service loomed and as SWEB were
not obliged to employ anyone after the age of
21 I thought of making a career in the RAF on
the engineering side. Sadly I was declared unfit
for service when I was assessed at Grade III.
SWEB then offered me a position as an
Inspector, and after a short space of time I was
promoted to Charge Inspector with 21 Inspectors
and meter fixers under me. I travelled over the
SWEB area from Brent Knoll to Glastonbury, on
to Dulverton and all of Exmoor.
This career gave me the opportunity to see
and visit many historic buildings together with
their owners, and to take tea with the rich and
famous. Here I think my knack of being able to
converse with people helped me to get through
some of the more awkward situations I found
myself in.
At this time I was authorised to work with "Live
Conductors", an activity I began to do slowly
and carefully. I did receive some nasty shocks,
some of which were down to my fault, some
down to other members of staff who should
have known better.
Over a period of time I saw that the industry
was changing and going off in a direction that
the Inspectorate were not happy about. We
were the men who made the final connections
to the mains supply and if we thought the
installation was not up the standard of the IEE
regulations, we would not connect it to the
metering equipment.
This situation continued until one day we were
to be moved to another department. I returned
to my office from a day in the field to find that my
desk had gone, and the content of the drawers
dumped in the corner of the office, and a new
set of faces were now in charge. This was also
the true face of privatisation.
However, my position, salary, and status were
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