Gerald and his wife recently visited Gloucester from their home in Germany. Gerald brought with him some slides of pictures he had taken in the Training School where he had been an instructor. How many apprentices of those far off days of the nineteen sixties remember Gerald?
If you were one , or if you remember operating any of these machines, then please share your memories, by clicking on the words Add a comment about this page below.
Click here to see some photographs of apprentice groups featuring Gerald.
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I was in the September1960 apprentice intake. I remember Gerald and Bert very well, both very nice men. Gerald rode a silver Vespa GS scooter to work in those days. I operated all the craft school machines that are shown in Gerald’s pictures and it was Gerald that taught me how to use lots of them. My favourite machine was the center lathe, I really enjoyed turning. I still have many tools that I made in the craft school. A wonderful learning experience.
Ed: Thanks for that Stuart. Gerry and Bert were first class tutors and I am sure that all of us who were privileged to go through the Craft School benefitted enormously from the skills they taught us. I guess we all still use some of the tools we made! John B
Hi Gerald, I hope you get to read this, the photos really bring back memories.
One incident I seem to recall during our 1963 intake, was when someone (I really can’t remember who) had not tightened up the chuck on a centre lathe and when he started it up, the rotating chuck leapt off of the lathe and tried to get to the far end of the shop!
I am sure you will remember many incidents like this.
I don’t know if you listen to any of the interviews on the ‘People’ section of the website, but a comment that we get without fail from all we interview, is that the training and experience gained at Fieldings set us all up for the rest of our careers. This certainly applies to me. You and Bert, were strict, but fair and we all benefitted from it.
Thanks Gerald
Alistair Adams.
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