|
R Chris needed no introduction: (he said it was all lies anyway). Not really in accordance with the 4 way test. Chris started his story at a Royal Air Force Base in Kirkham, Northern England. His mother was from a small town in North Wales called Conway. His father was from Bristol in southwest England. After the war ended, they were married and moved to Bristol. Chris's older sister Sandra was born in 1946. Chris came along in 1948. In post war England their live was modest. Mom raised the family and dad rode his bike to work (no car). The TV was small and black and white with only 2 channels (BBC 1 and 2). Chris started school at age 5 St. Joseph's Primary School run by nuns and regular teachers. After 6 years (may have all been in grade 1?) what he learned was the times table. Many hours and days reciting the times table. At age 11 he graduated to St. Brendan's Grammar School. The school was in Bristol but 2 bus rides on public transit, no school buses in England. The school was run by Christian Brothers and regular teachers. Here he learned discipline as the strap and similar devises were used regularly although Chris said he was not a frequent recipient. Sport was also important at the school, particularly rugby and cricket, absolutely no soccer. In bad weather that was often, they did cross country and Chris was not a good runner. He did get into rowing and represented school at a number of regattas across England and Wales. Chris stayed at St. Brendan's the extra 2 years after age 16 to prepare for his 'A' levels in preparation for College or University. At age 18 Chris left home to go to business college in Hull. His first year was spent living with 3 other guys in a fully catered family home. For his second year they rented a house closer to college and attempted to look after themselves. 5 guys looking after themselves was chaos. The electrical meter took shillings but when cash was short they would go to the library to get warm. If you didn't feed the meter, there was no power. During the summers Chris spent most holidays at his mother's family in Conway. They were fishermen. In Conway Chris worked as a bus conductor, collecting fares from riders. He only got beat up once from drunk who didn't want to pay. Chris graduated in 1969. His first job was a trainee accountant with Imperial Chemical Industries Limited in Billingham, Teeside. He spent time in many departments, learning all aspects of cost and financial accounting, budgets and forecasts in a huge complex that manufactured manure. At the same time he was taking classes at night studying for the qualifications of cost and management accountant which he obtained in 1971. It was when he was at Imperial Chemical that he met his first wife Pat. She was part of the Comptometer operator pool. We learned that a comptometer is a mechanical adding machine (before computers). Chris and Pat were married in 1971. After 3 years with Imperial Chris moved on and joined RHM Foods Limited as Assistant Factory Accountant. They manufactured soups, pastes, essences, sauces, chutney and various other cocktail assortments. He found in the food preparation business that the smell turned him off those foods for life. In 1974 he left RHM Foods and became Chief Accountant for a chain of retail Newsagents and Confectioners. Newsfare was a private company with 3 owners. A big change from big corporate. It was also an experience in how not to run a company. 18 months later he moved again taking a position as Chief Accountant with the Walton Mole Company, a small family business that specialized in high pressure water jet cleaning equipment for heavy industry. The developed an application to clean the legs of offshore oil rigs which became a huge cash flow for them. High pressure water is dangerous. Chris had established himself in England as a senior and experienced accountant, had his first house, but obviously was looking for the next adventure. So he submitted an application for a position as Chief Accountant for the Elbow Beach Hotel in Bermuda. He was successful, so he left everything behind for a new life in Bermuda. The Elbow was a 300 room resort on a 30 acre site. They lived in a rented accommodation next door to the resort and life was good. No income tax. Chris said you had to get off the island from time to time to avoid becoming 'rock happy'. However, the main purpose of his job in Bermuda was to train a native Bermudian to take his job. Every 3 years the job would be posted and if a native Bermudian applied, it was theirs. So in 1981, Chris left Bermuda and immigrated to Canada. Why Canada? They had ruled out England as people not very pleasant (maybe due to lack of sunshine) and Canada seemed better than the United States. However, Chris got a bit of a shake up as an immigrant being told he had no Canadian experience. On arriving in Canada with only a few boxes and luggage, he was met by a friends sister who he had met briefly in Bermuda. They are now good friends. He also found cars very big in Canada, like boats. Chris was able after a short time to get a job with Safety Supply Canada, a family owned distributor of safety equipment. He started as assistant controller and moved up to Vice President Finance. The company was sold in 2003 to Acklands. It was at Safety Supply that Chris met Frances who worked in the finance department. Chris and Frances were married in 1991 and he inherited 2 daughters, Terry and Michelle. With the new owners of Safety Supply, Acklands Chris moved to their head office to assist with transition. Chris didn't like working at Acklands and in 1994 he moved to Canadian Bearings Ltd. as Vice President Finance. Another family owned business. Chris retired the first time in 2004 and they moved to Brighton. His in-laws had a place in Carrying Place so they were familiar with the area and to be closer to them. They also wanted to get out of the City. Two weeks after retirement he was back at work to assist new VP transition. Well one thing after another and 4 VP's later and tired of weekly commutes to Toronto, Chris retired a second time in 2009. Now with some free time, Chris was looking for something to do, his neighbour Bob Rudkin convinced Chris to join Rotary which he did in 2010. Chris and Frances were devastated when their older daughter died suddenly in 2010. They have 4 grandchildren and 1 great grand daughter. He is lucky to have been married to Frances for 29 years, even if he as to water the very smelly pot plant daily. |
