Click on the photograph to enlarge the image.
Back row (standing L-R)
? ; Chris Horsham; Linden L Dennis; Mike Fisher; Paul Cardwell; Phil Gibson; Phil Payne; Charlie Sansom; Rich Morgan; Gerald Penson; Rob Howell; Hubert Major.
Front row (sitting L-R)
Jim Mercer; Roger Solesbury; Pat Skelton; Steve Hill; Pete Vallender; Bert Ravenhill; Jerry Williams; Brian Taylor; Pete Burgwyn; Robert Jackson; Allan Watkins; Nick Fernandez.
Can you help us identify the remaining people in the photo? Or perhaps you are in the photo and remember what it was like to be part of this apprentice intake? If so, please leave a comment below.
Comments about this page
Happy times! Looking back at the web site over the last two weeks brought back many happy memories for me. Looking at our 1966 intake photo, I recall a lot of old faces. I have met a few over the last few years, but there are some I would like to meet up with again. If you would like to contact me, my email address is:- jimbom7@yahoo.co.uk
Looking forward to hearing from you. Happy New Year to you all.
Had some great memories.
Confirm that I am the 3rd in from the bottom right!
It was a real pleasure to chat with you the Friday before last Charlie and thanks for adding this comment. It would be great to know more about the Electrical Department, your work, and the guys who worked in it (& played cards with you). Please do share further memories here Charlie by clicking on the words “Add a comment about this page” below. Cheers, Ollie
During powercuts (when Ted Heath? was in power?) myself, the late Richard Bennett, and the late Mike Quinn couldn’t work. So, we used to go into the electrical switch rooms and play cards. Me and Mike were in charge of the Electrical Department so we had a key!
Cheers Pete and thanks for clearing up the connections between yourself and the other Vallenders! Fielding’s is always remembered as “a family company” and these little details all add to that sense of it!
Hi Ollie, I don’t recall any family relationship between the two Skeltons, much the same as there being no direct relationship between myself and the other Vallenders Bruce, Ollie and Graham. Although, oddly, my Mother (who obviously became a Vallender by marriage) was Gilbert Vallender’s cousin!
Cheers Pete! We only have the mystery man on the far left of the back row left to name! On the front row it is Pete Skelton though – he was Brian Mince’s apprentice in the Photographic Department. Please feel free to share any other memories of being in this apprentice intake and hope you continue to enjoy the website!
Sorry to disagree Ollie, it’s definitely Pat Skelton. I seem to remember him being from Cinderford and I am sure he later became a fitter. Pete Skelton appears on the 1963 intake photo!
Apologies Pete, have just looked closely at the two photos and I stand duly corrected! Were Pat and Pete brothers then?
Thanks for helping us out with those names Pete! I wonder what memories this photo brought back for you? Your family were held in high esteem at Fielding’s for generations and if you’d like to share their memories, stories, and anecdotes about Fielding days, as well as your own, they’d be very welcome. Cheers! Ollie
Hello again. Got my brain in gear now! Between Mike Fisher and Phil Gibson is, if memory correct, Paul Cardwell, and far right on the front row is Nick Fernandez – I don’t recall either being around after the first year or so. Also it’s Pat Skelton in the front row (not Pete). Still struggling with the first left back row though !
Hello all, Thought I would put you out of your misery ! It’s Mike Fisher ! Mike has been living in the States for some years now and I met him about a year ago during his last visit home. Also, the chap named as Gerald Renson is in fact Penson and it’s Roger Solesbury not Salisbury. Hope this is of help. By the way, does anyone have any contact details for Jim Mercer?
Cheers Phil, thanks for adding those names. It wasn’t “Dennis Fisher” by any chance?
It’s fascinating to hear you went into the Pattern Shop and Brass Foundry. It would be great to hear more about your experiences in each of them in the 1960s and 70s. As you’ll see, we don’t have any memories of those areas in that period. Drop me an email at
oliver.taylor@gloucestershire.gov.uk
if you’d like to arrange to record your memories. Or you can add your write them straight onto the site by adding pages yourself! The page
http://www.fieldingandplatthistory.org.uk/addyourmemories
will take you through how to do this.
Back row, 2nd from the left, is Chris Horsham. 4th from the left, his surname was Fisher, can’t remember his first name. Neither of them finished the Craft School.
Killed by the “BLOCK”, I went on to the Pattern Shop,and then the Brass Foundry, under the tutelage of Fred Taylor, whom I still see from time to time along with Chris Cruse.
Thanks again Chippy! If you remember any others or any funny “Fielding’s” stories about any of the people you have remembered in these apprentice intake photos then just add them on the appropriate pages. Cheers, Ollie
I think the the person sitting in the front row between Pete Burgwyn and Allan Watkins is Robert Jackson. Can’t help with the back row at the moment. Best regards, Chippy Aston
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