LETTER FROM JOHN GILBERT TO JIM DEBOO

LETTER FROM JOHN GILBERT TO JIM DEBOO

Date 25-12-2012

BAKER PERKINS APPRENTICE

Dear Dr Deboo.

My name is John Gilbert, I was a BAKER PERKINS apprentice from 1955 to 1961. Along with many other of your apprentices, I went to Lincoln Road Secondary School, although at the time none of us realised that society regarded us as secondary and destined for craft shop floor work at best.

When in 1954 I completed the initial pre apprentice assessment for BAKER PERKINS whilst still at school, you came to my home at 113 Cromwell Road to see my mum with the attached letter. You told her that I had done very well in all of the aptitude tests and recommended that I transfer my final year of secondary education to Peterborough Technical College where I could complete the first 2 years of a City and Guilds course in 1 year and be a year ahead when I started my apprenticeship. You then facilitated the move for me.

When I was 18 I was working on nights in one of the turning bays and you came to see me with the offer to convert from craft to drawing office apprentice. The move from shop floor to drawing office was very rare in those days and I often wonder what path my life might have taken if you had not offered me that opportunity. I have been very lucky and successful in my working life, most of which is down to the early years in your care and the quality of training and discipline that was instilled in us young men at Baker Perkins.

When, in 1988 I became responsible for the apprentices in my company, I endeavoured to give any lads that showed initiative, the opportunity to also move up from the shop floor by including a period in our project engineering department in their training schedule. I am delighted to say that a number took advantage of this and have far exceeded their early expectations and am now company directors in their own right. I like to think I helped them by giving a little support at the right time...

My sister Sheila, who was a Baker Perkins secretary during the 1950's, visited us in Wrexham recently and gave me a copy of the “NOT JUST A PLACE TO WORK” book. I found the articles by former apprentices very nostalgic and accurate. I took out my apprentice test pieces, scribing block, vee blocks etc. to show her, and looking at them wondered how Jack Hurst and his colleagues managed to train us raw lads from secondary schools, in the initial 12 months in the apprentice school to the high level of skill required to make these items.

Starting with the very first exercise, which taught us how to use a hacksaw accurately on a piece of black plate, through the chiselling and filing of blocks of rough cast iron which eventually became our vee blocks and the very accurate test pieces and finally to making all of the components for our own scribing blocks. I can remember nervously standing in front of Mr Hurst whilst he measured my test pieces and held the two part pieces up to the light to check for uneven gaps between the mating edges. Then to be taught the basic skills required for fitting, marking out, turning, milling and grinding before we were transferred to the works.

I had not seen the basic test pieces we made shown in any of the BPHS data so thought photo's of mine might be of interest to Dick and I wondered how many of the old apprentices still had these work pieces

Dick thanked me for the photo's and said that none of the test pieces appeared to have survived. So I decided to donated mine to the BPHS so that perhaps some time after we are all long gone, future generations will be able to see the skills that Baker Perkins were able to instil in us secondary school lads in our first year of training.

One photo is of my handing over all of my apprentice test pieces into the care of Dick and the BPHS. Another photo is of myself, Alan "Nobby" Clarke and Alan Cuthbert. We were at Lincoln Road Boys School together and then apprentices in the
1954/5 intakes. We have kept in touch over the years via letter and now e-mail and we met up last year for what will probably the last time as Nobby lives in Australia and Alan lives in Spain.

I wanted to get us together outside the old apprentice school for one last time, so that is another item I can now tick off my BUCKET LIST.

Nobby emigrated in the early 60's and spent most of his working life as chief sheet metal instructor at Sydney Technical College. Alan Cuthbert held senior management roles with Ford's Finance Division.

When looking at a copy of my resume I know that the skills and discipline you instilled in us as young men was the main common element in any success we achieved in later life.

Thank you again Dr Deboo, without you and Baker Perkins my life would have been very different.

Best wishes for 2013

John Gilbert