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ISSUE 160 AUTUMN <strong>2012</strong><br />
OF TRUCKS AND ‘ROLLERS’<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> GAMES MAKERS • AH! BOMBAY • BRISTOL ROADSHOW
SHELLEY’S EDITORIAL<br />
Dear <strong>SPA</strong> <strong>News</strong> Readers,<br />
Welcome to this autumn issue of <strong>SPA</strong><br />
<strong>News</strong>. As I write, the glorious autumn<br />
sun is shining through my window – long<br />
may it continue, and where was it during<br />
the summer …?<br />
If you find yourself suffering from postsummer/post-Olympic<br />
blues, never fear;<br />
here is your quarterly dose of<br />
recuperative medicine! In this issue,<br />
both our feature articles are vehicle<br />
related, but you don’t have to be a<br />
petrol head to be enthralled with Tommy<br />
Thomson’s magnificent watercolours, or<br />
Tony Jenkin’s fascinating involvement<br />
with the Rolls Royce – trust me.<br />
In the last issue of the magazine we asked<br />
for contributions on your memories of<br />
India and Ceylon, and I’m pleased to say<br />
that our very own chairman Colin Morsley<br />
has done the decent thing and willingly<br />
put pen to paper about his time in India<br />
… well, we had to nag him a little, but<br />
the result was well worth it, we think –<br />
thank you, Colin!<br />
On p9, Ardella shares more useful writing<br />
tips for those budding authors amongst<br />
us; in this issue she focuses on how to use<br />
humour to add colour to your writing.<br />
She also showcases author Tom Sharpe,<br />
an absolute master of comedy.<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> Secretary<br />
Helen Page<br />
helen.page@shell.com<br />
020 7934 5129<br />
Editor<br />
<strong>Shell</strong>ey Hoppe<br />
shelley.hoppe@shell.com<br />
2 | <strong>SPA</strong> NEWS<br />
We also have our usual sterling advice<br />
from Tina Gilchrist on all things financial<br />
on p12, some very helpful suggestions<br />
about how to economise on your fuel<br />
costs on page 20, and, if this magazine<br />
doesn’t make you nod off, we have some<br />
very useful advice on page 21 to help<br />
you get a good night’s sleep.<br />
Elsewhere in the magazine you can read<br />
about the next <strong>SPA</strong> Roadshow, which is<br />
coming to Bristol on 9 October, and in<br />
Time Out (p26-27) there are special offers<br />
including a stunning new photographic<br />
exhibition at the National Gallery, and<br />
details about this year’s photo competition<br />
for members – get snapping, folks.<br />
We hope you enjoy this issue. Please<br />
continue to share your letters, thoughts,<br />
and stories with us; and as usual, we<br />
welcome any suggestions you might<br />
have for the magazine; please email<br />
them to our sub-editor, Linda Fernley:<br />
linda@southerlycommunications.com<br />
Warm wishes,<br />
<strong>Shell</strong>ey<br />
<strong>SPA</strong>, Room C2013, <strong>Shell</strong> Centre, London SE1 7NA<br />
AUTUMN <strong>2012</strong><br />
Assistant Secretary<br />
Wendy Garbutt<br />
wendy.garbutt@shell.com<br />
020 7934 5137<br />
Editor Assistant<br />
Linda Fernley<br />
linda@southerlycommunications.com<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> BENEFITS<br />
These are some of the regular benefits. You<br />
may need to show your membership card<br />
and/or quote <strong>Shell</strong> Pensioners Association.<br />
Details on the <strong>SPA</strong> website: www.shell.<br />
co.uk/spa Our message, however, is<br />
always to ‘shop around’.<br />
Insurance<br />
• Home, motor travel and pet - Select<br />
Insurance Services (Sutton Winson)<br />
0800 116 4330<br />
• 50plus Insurance (Bluefin) 0800 195<br />
8002<br />
• Health - Bupa 0800 600 500 quote<br />
9147<br />
• HMCA 01423 866985 www.hmca.<br />
shellpa.htm<br />
• RAC breakdown - 0800 092 8609 quote<br />
GE0538<br />
• Dental insurance - Denplan 0800<br />
838951<br />
Finance<br />
Financial advice - Affinity 0800 019<br />
6076 ref. <strong>Shell</strong>/Mar/<strong>2012</strong><br />
Leisure<br />
• Woodbank (Aberdeen) - 01224 884785<br />
• Quest for Adventure cruises - 0800<br />
056 5455<br />
• Lensbury Breaks - 020 8614 6444<br />
• Lensbury membership - 020 8614 6466<br />
• Fitness First - corporatemarketing@fitnessfirst.com<br />
- 01202 845812<br />
• David Lloyd Leisure - Visit your local club<br />
or www.davidlloyd.co.uk/employeeoffer<br />
ShELL SPONSORED EvENT<br />
• Hayward Gallery, paid exhibitions,<br />
Fridays only, plus 1 guest<br />
• National Gallery exhibitions, contact<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> Secretariat<br />
• Science Museum, contact <strong>SPA</strong> Secretariat<br />
• Geological Society talks www.geolsoc.<br />
org.uk/shelllondonlectures12 quote ‘<strong>Shell</strong>’<br />
www.shell.co.uk/spa<br />
www.facebook.com/shell.spa.news
138 YEARS AND<br />
cOUNTINg …<br />
Andy Cole's item in issue 159 about the<br />
ink spillage in Benzine and Bitumen<br />
Accounts rang a big bell with me because<br />
my father Len Foster spent much of his<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> life there. Andy would no doubt<br />
remember him; Dad joined <strong>Shell</strong> in 1921.<br />
When Andy was in the RAF, we were in<br />
Bournemouth as part of <strong>Shell</strong>'s wartime<br />
evacuation and narrowly missed being<br />
wiped out by a wartime bombing raid. I<br />
joined Anglo-Saxon in 1950 and from<br />
1975 was in NZ Refining, retiring in 1992<br />
after a working life of nearly 43 years.<br />
My parents joined us in New Zealand in<br />
1976 and lived here for their last 20 years.<br />
Jointly Dad and I had a <strong>Shell</strong> involvement<br />
of 138 years, working or on pension, and<br />
the clock is still ticking!<br />
michael Foster, NZ<br />
Gosh, that must be some sort of record,<br />
Michael – thanks for sharing it with us!<br />
WhAT – NO FiSh KNivES?!<br />
In the early 70s I invited some friends and<br />
their teenage son to the Guest Restaurant<br />
and the Exhibition at the rear of the Tower<br />
Entrance Hall, which provided him with<br />
information for a school project. We were<br />
all impressed that just above him in the<br />
Visitors’ Book was HRH The Sultan of<br />
Brunei. The visit was topped off with a<br />
view over London from the Viewing Gallery<br />
– always a high spot with any visitors.<br />
Looking back, our lunches were quite<br />
remarkable, whether St Helen’s Court,<br />
St Swithin’s or <strong>Shell</strong> Centre. However, I<br />
took long-retired Christopher Fairclough<br />
to the 23rd Floor Mess for lunch one<br />
year during his visit from Australia; he<br />
was taken aback that fish knives and<br />
forks were no longer provided! I also<br />
recall a residential course at Teddington<br />
in 1958 where we put our shoes outside<br />
our doors at night for cleaning.<br />
Best regards,<br />
martin Parsons (joined 1953<br />
[salary £215 pa], retired 1989)<br />
A FORmER<br />
1930S gARAgE<br />
TRANSFORmED<br />
iNTO STyLiSh<br />
hOmES<br />
I thought readers who worked out of<br />
Portslade, Dorking or Guildford depots<br />
would be interested in these pictures.<br />
They show the complete restoration<br />
of the old Manor Road Garage, East<br />
Preston in West Sussex. It was left<br />
derelict for many years after it closed,<br />
and when ‘rediscovered’ the garages<br />
at the rear were found to contain some<br />
vintage cars, including a Rolls Royce<br />
and a very early steam traction<br />
engine, now residing at Amberley<br />
Working Museum. You can see from<br />
the pictures that the developers have<br />
made a great job of restoring the<br />
grade 2 listed building into eight<br />
stylish Art Moderne residences,<br />
complete with pumps.<br />
Colin Terry, West Sussex<br />
IN THE PIcTuRE …<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> LETTERS<br />
Before ... abandoned Manor Road Garage<br />
After... Manor Road Garage appartments<br />
I joined <strong>Shell</strong> Transport & Trading Co. in 1947 straight from University with a<br />
degree in English. I started in St. Mary Axe as assistant librarian in the Photographic<br />
Library working with Betty Pennock. After a time, the unit was moved to St. Helens<br />
Court, where I continued in the library with Ann Hazelhurst and another assistant,<br />
Betty Godber. We had a large selection of photographs from all over the world,<br />
covering many general subjects as well as the oil industry, and were frequently<br />
called upon by many companies for help.<br />
After a few years I changed to working with the photographers – we had five in<br />
those days led by Derek Knight under the direction of Jack Bryson and Geoffrey<br />
Darlington. I would write up the stories behind their photographs and then<br />
caption each one before they went into the library. My assistant, who laboriously<br />
typed everything out, was Irene Palmer, whose name appeared in a recent issue<br />
of <strong>SPA</strong>.<br />
The photographers travelled the world covering all aspects of oil and gas. When<br />
abroad they would often cover local stories of interest too, e.g. head-hunters in<br />
Borneo and bull fighting in Venezuela.<br />
Unfortunately, my career was cut short as I married John Lamb who was in the<br />
Advertising section, which also came under the Publicity Dept. In those days<br />
husbands and wives were not allowed to work in the same department. John<br />
and I and three daughters spent many happy years in Kenya, New Zealand and<br />
finally Thailand, before retirement to Surrey.<br />
Pat Lamb<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> NEWS | 3
<strong>SPA</strong> LETTERS<br />
ThANK yOU!<br />
Thank you so much for your letters;<br />
we would love to be able to publish<br />
them all but we just don’t have the<br />
space. However, we thoroughly<br />
enjoy every single one of them, so<br />
please keep sending them in! Ed<br />
P.S. if emailing, please remember to<br />
tell us your location!<br />
Florida’s shell<br />
invasion<br />
The article on seashells in the last edition<br />
of <strong>SPA</strong> <strong>News</strong> reminds me of holiday in<br />
Florida earlier this year. We had booked<br />
a few days on Sanibel Island and while<br />
looking for our accommodation, noticed<br />
that we were driving down Donax Street<br />
and had already passed Cardium<br />
Street. Other streets passed were<br />
Pyrula, Oliva, Fulgur, and Nerita – all<br />
shells that have given their names to at<br />
least one <strong>Shell</strong> tanker. At first we thought<br />
that we’d come across an enclave of<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> Tanker (or possibly <strong>Shell</strong> Lubricant)<br />
retirees, but the real explanation was<br />
that the island’s beaches often yield<br />
interesting shells, especially following a<br />
storm. Sanibel is, apparently, well-known<br />
with conchologists.<br />
mike Riley, Weybridge (ex-<br />
STASCO)<br />
Thanks Mike – I bet you were relieved<br />
by the real explanation of all those<br />
shell streets?!<br />
4 | <strong>SPA</strong> NEWS<br />
ANSWER TO OUR OIL DRUM QUERY<br />
The drum and hand-pump was the original<br />
method of distributing fuels, almost<br />
worldwide. Buried tanks were issued only<br />
to customers whose offtake justified the<br />
expense of the tank and the bulk tankers<br />
required to keep them supplied.<br />
They were, and still are, used in this country<br />
by contractors whose sites move about, as<br />
well by some farmers in remote districts.<br />
They were the most common form of<br />
distribution when I was in the field in Africa.<br />
The pump illustrated was fairly sophisticated<br />
and tended to be used by retailers rather<br />
than direct consumers. Each of the<br />
chambers on top of the ensemble held<br />
exactly one gallon, and as one chamber<br />
was emptying into the customer’s tank the<br />
other was being filled by the pump<br />
attendant. This assured the customer that<br />
he was receiving what he was paying for.<br />
Naturally, the system was wide open to<br />
fiddles; I imagine that many former reps<br />
have dozens of examples of the ingenuity<br />
displayed to squeeze a few extra cents out<br />
of the barrel!<br />
Don – ‘an old African hand’<br />
Your article in the Spring <strong>SPA</strong> <strong>News</strong> about the Essex Branch brought back<br />
a host of memories. I joined <strong>Shell</strong> in 1949, and knew Iris and Joy her<br />
sister-in-law very well, as the tennis team travelled to Stanlow, Heysham<br />
and Carringinton with the cricket and football teams I was a member of.<br />
Three events from <strong>Shell</strong> haven stand out:<br />
On 1 February 1953, I was on the 6-2 shift; going through Stanford-le-Hope<br />
I picked up Jock Lennon (who died about two years ago) on my motorbike, a<br />
500cc twin B.S.A. On the marsh road we ran into water rushing across it,<br />
over a foot deep in places. When we parked up, we were organised into<br />
gangs to fill sandbags to breach in the seawall, which we did all day and<br />
managed to hold the next high tide. The refinery was obviously flooded and<br />
shut down – it was probably the hardest day’s work I did for <strong>Shell</strong>.<br />
One day in 1950, a storage tank on the East Site blew up, our plants were<br />
shut down, and we ran out hoses for the Firemen and carried cans of foam<br />
for them; a man called Brookbank received a medal for shutting a connecting<br />
valve between the tanks, while he was sprayed by firemen.<br />
In 1964 I moved on promotion from the Fertilizer plant to the Reformer on the<br />
M.E.C. site. The day after I moved the Fertilizer plant blew up. Three men I<br />
knew were killed and several injured. Tom Goody, who had replaced me,<br />
saved several people and received the B.E.M. and a gold watch. That was a<br />
near miss.<br />
Peter Watts, yarm<br />
Peter – we hope that disaster hasn’t continued to follow you around!
In 1960, after five years in St Helen’s<br />
Court, I was posted to the Oil Supply<br />
Department in Caracas. The head of the<br />
department, Maurice Bettany, was due to<br />
retire after 30 years in the country. Instead<br />
of a big farewell party, he asked if he<br />
could use the company aircraft to take a<br />
party of colleagues for a weekend visit to<br />
Angel Falls – the highest waterfall in the<br />
world – which he’d never managed to see<br />
in his 30 years stay. One or two older<br />
colleagues dropped out, so I was kindly<br />
invited after just six weeks in Caracas.<br />
We flew over the plateau above the falls,<br />
where Jimmy Angel, a US bush pilot,<br />
had landed his plane about 22 years<br />
earlier. From the air the plane looked as<br />
though it had just landed but in fact it<br />
iNSPiRED by DA viNCi<br />
In January I was lucky to be allocated <strong>Shell</strong> tickets to the Leonardo Da Vinci<br />
Exhibition, which was inspirational, especially Leonardo’s insight that “painting<br />
the body was easy but painting the mind is difficult, it requires elusive perception<br />
and subtle illustration”.<br />
This inspiration prompted me to submit an abstract for "Organisational Mind<br />
Management" to the Loss Prevention International Symposium, for presentation in<br />
Florence 2013; the full paper aims to illustrate organisational mind management<br />
and operational envelope risk by comparing two accidents, the Herald of Free<br />
Enterprise capsize and the S61 Helicopter crash on the Brent Spar July 1990. I<br />
was a member of the <strong>Shell</strong> team for this Spar crash; however, all the information<br />
used is in the public domain.<br />
The paper successfully passed the first evaluation and if the final manuscript is<br />
approved I will present it in Florence next year. In December 2011, I completed<br />
a Law Degree, so hopefully writing papers will be a way of passing on my experience<br />
and keeping the brain active. The full manuscript will be available in 2013.<br />
Readers may be interested in the links to the Conference and Accident Investigations:<br />
www.wp-lossprevention.eu/loss-prevention-symposia/next-loss-prevention-symposium<br />
www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/HofFEfinal.pdf<br />
www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/2-1991%20G-BEWL.pdf<br />
brian Edmonds, Farnham<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> LETTERS<br />
cOcK-OF-THE-ROcK AND WATERFALLS … VENEzuELAN TALES<br />
had got bogged down, so that Jimmy<br />
and a companion had to hike for a week,<br />
relying on local Indians to guide them<br />
back to civilisation.<br />
During our evening meal at camp in<br />
Canaima, we were visited by a tapir<br />
that apparently emerged from the jungle<br />
every night to be fed by staff. A year<br />
later, I was married to Vivienne, whom<br />
I’d met at St Helen’s Court; on returning<br />
to Caracas we visited Canaima and took<br />
a boat trip with Rudy Trufino, who’d built<br />
a house for himself and his family, by<br />
the river. He’d installed a bar for visitors<br />
and decorated the walls with various<br />
animal trophies, including a 12-foot<br />
baby anaconda skin, a five-foot<br />
rattlesnake, and a beautiful bright<br />
orange stuffed cock-of-the-rock;<br />
memorable experiences indeed!<br />
Keith Farquharson, inverness<br />
Thanks, Keith. For those of you, like us,<br />
who don’t know what a cock-of-the-rock<br />
is, see below.<br />
SHELL ‘ART<br />
ATTAcK’<br />
I thought perhaps readers of the <strong>Shell</strong><br />
Pensioners magazine might like to see<br />
the attached photograph. It is one of a<br />
series of art works made from all sorts<br />
of oddments (don’t like to use the word<br />
‘scrap!) which have been erected in<br />
parkland by the banks of the Danube<br />
Canal in Vienna. We were there on a<br />
river cruise and had taken a bike ride<br />
along the waterside cycle track.<br />
Laura Lindsay, goldsborough,<br />
North yorkshire<br />
Thanks Laura – looks like it’d give the<br />
Daleks a run for their money!<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> NEWS | 5
HELEN’S PAGE<br />
FROm ThE <strong>SPA</strong> SECRETARy<br />
At least the clocks haven’t gone back yet,<br />
but everything else seems to be closing<br />
after the summer. The Olympic flame has<br />
gone out. For the first time since we moved<br />
from <strong>Shell</strong> Centre, I was heard to say how<br />
exciting it was at Canary Wharf, at the<br />
heart of it all. If you are planning to visit<br />
London, the cable car between the O2<br />
Arena and the Excel is a must: scary but<br />
with spectacular views over the City, and<br />
a bargain at £3.40 (one-way with an<br />
Oyster card). Only the name is a little<br />
over-the-top: Emirates Air Line.<br />
As <strong>Shell</strong> Centre, too, winds down, there<br />
was a sale of the family silver – literally.<br />
Crockery, knives, forks and planters were<br />
all up for grabs. A set of cups and saucers<br />
was advertised at £5. You can imagine<br />
my disappointment when I discovered<br />
that was for one cup and saucer, not a<br />
set of 6, though member Lillian Johns<br />
pointed out these were the ones used by<br />
senior management. Another member,<br />
seeing it on our Facebook page,<br />
commented that anywhere else it would<br />
be called a car boot sale! Nevertheless,<br />
I pushed the boat out and bought one,<br />
which I’m happy to award to any member<br />
who has a good, relevant story.<br />
cup & Saucer<br />
My holiday too, seems a distant memory,<br />
the freckles faded. I was grateful to Paul<br />
Wood, Yorkshire branch, for alerting me<br />
to a fossil walk on the east coast, which<br />
he was leading on behalf of NE Yorks<br />
Geology Trust. The age range spanned 4<br />
to 74. We were captivated, finding golden<br />
ammonites, pinners and other treasures.<br />
The drawback was that Paul had some<br />
mishap involving his foot, so another guide<br />
stepped in at the last minute. I’ll be back,<br />
and I’m sure Paul will too.<br />
6 | <strong>SPA</strong> NEWS<br />
Fossil walk<br />
Still on endings, we say farewell to Wendy<br />
Garbutt, Assistant Secretary, who has<br />
decided it’s time to swim away from her<br />
sea of membership forms and queries. I’m<br />
sure many of you have contacted Wendy<br />
for information and advice. We have had<br />
a good response to our stop press request<br />
for applications in the last issue, and are<br />
now busy interviewing. I hope to be in a<br />
position to introduce Wendy’s replacement<br />
next time. However, Wendy is not deserting<br />
us altogether, and has agreed to stay on<br />
for a while to help out.<br />
Diaries – gone! We were inundated with<br />
orders, as usual, and have to thank a small<br />
band of volunteers who came in, licking<br />
and sticking, to get them all out, in<br />
particular Rosy Nash, Pauline Langley,<br />
Robin Nye and Hazel Mansfield. We even<br />
roped in our Chairman, Colin Morsley, as<br />
he had a little time after interviewing<br />
applicants. There was a mix up with the<br />
text from last year, so you may have been<br />
surprised to receive a blue instead of<br />
burgundy diary, but I’m sure you will agree<br />
it’s good to have a change of colour and<br />
the dark blue is very attractive. Apologies<br />
to those whose orders could not be fulfilled.<br />
Now we just have to work out how much<br />
we can donate to the Benevolence Fund.<br />
Every so often I am contacted by a<br />
member who is having a clear-out and<br />
wants to find a home for that beast of a<br />
tome about the history of <strong>Shell</strong>. It was<br />
offered to members in 2007 at a bargain<br />
price. Those who ordered it were<br />
shocked when it landed on their doorstep<br />
– four volumes and weighing in at nearly<br />
a stone. Those who couldn’t lift it, left it<br />
there as a decorative doorstop. One<br />
member, Ray Tincknell, came up with an<br />
ingenious idea. After being rejected by<br />
the <strong>Shell</strong> Archives, he contacted Upton<br />
House, a National Trust property,<br />
originally the home of Lord Bearsted, a<br />
son of Marcus Samuel. They have a<br />
collection of <strong>Shell</strong> memorabilia and were<br />
keen to have further information about<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> history. Has anyone found<br />
somewhere convenient to store their<br />
copy? I’m intrigued to know if anyone<br />
read it from cover to cover.<br />
But we’re not closing the curtains for<br />
winter yet and have one more exciting<br />
event this year – the roadshow at Bristol<br />
Golf Club on 9 October. Read more on<br />
page 16. I hope I will meet plenty of<br />
members from the south west there. And<br />
it will still be before the end of British<br />
Summer time.
STAREhE FUTURE and<br />
givE AS yOU LivE<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> has a long-standing relationship with Kenya’s ‘Starehe Centres’, which provide<br />
free home and secondary education to some of Kenya’s poorest, yet brightest,<br />
children. <strong>Shell</strong> initially donated two tin huts to house orphans in the slums of Nairobi<br />
in 1959 and has continued to provide support ever since.<br />
For members who shop online, there is a new opportunity to raise funds for the<br />
Starehe Centres at no cost to you. The fundraising programme is called Give as you<br />
Live, and it works whereby thousands of brands donate a percentage of their online<br />
sales to nominated charities. <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Country Chair Graham van’t Hoff said recently:<br />
“I am proud of the support that <strong>Shell</strong> and its staff have provided to Kenya’s children<br />
over the years. By giving them shelter, healthcare and an education, we give them<br />
a real chance in life.”<br />
Download Give as you Live at http://www.giveasyoulive.com/starehe or find out<br />
more about Starehe on www.starehe.org<br />
HELEN’S PAGE<br />
REmiNDER:<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> carol concert<br />
Fossil walk<br />
The <strong>Shell</strong> carol concert will be at<br />
the usual venue, St Clement Danes<br />
in the Strand, at midday on<br />
Monday 17 December. Pensioners<br />
are very welcome.<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> NEWS | 7
THE LIgHTER SIDE<br />
bRighT <strong>SPA</strong>RKS<br />
TEAChER: Why are you late?<br />
CAROL: Class started before I got here.<br />
TEAChER: John, why are you doing your maths<br />
multiplication on the floor?<br />
JOhN: You told me to do it without using tables.<br />
TEAChER: Glenn, how do you spell 'crocodile?'<br />
gLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L<br />
TEAChER: No, that's wrong<br />
gLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.<br />
TEAChER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?<br />
DONALD: H I J K L M N O<br />
TEAChER: What are you talking about?<br />
DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O.<br />
TEAChER: Winnie, name one important thing we have<br />
today that we didn't have 10 years ago.<br />
WiNNiE: Me.<br />
TEAChER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with ‘I’<br />
miLLiE: I is …<br />
TEAChER: No, Millie ... Always say 'I am'<br />
miLLiE: All right ... I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.<br />
TEAChER: Clyde, your composition on 'My Dog' is exactly<br />
the same as your brother's … Did you copy his?<br />
CLyDE: No, sir. It's the same dog.<br />
TEAChER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps<br />
on talking when people are no longer interested?<br />
hAROLD: A teacher.<br />
CLASSiFiEDS …?<br />
FREE yORKShiRE TERRiER<br />
Eight years old, hateful little b*stard. Bites!<br />
COWS, CALvES: NEvER bRED<br />
Also one gay bull for sale.<br />
FREE PUPPiES<br />
Mother is a Kennel Club registered German Shepherd; father<br />
is a Super Dog, able to leap tall fences in a single bound.<br />
FREE PUPPiES<br />
Half Cocker Spaniel, half sneaky neighbour's dog.<br />
8 | <strong>SPA</strong> NEWS<br />
THEN AND NOw<br />
The <strong>Shell</strong> Service Station in Winston-Salem, North<br />
Carolina, was a filling station constructed in 1930<br />
following a decision in the 1920s by the <strong>Shell</strong><br />
Company to begin marketing in North Carolina. The<br />
building is an example of representational or novelty<br />
architecture and was listed on the National Register<br />
of Historic Places on 13 May 1976. Preservation<br />
North Carolina, an organisation dedicated to the<br />
preservation of historic sites, spent one year and<br />
$50,000 to bring the landmark station back to its<br />
original condition.<br />
Workers removed layers of faded yellow paint to<br />
reveal the <strong>Shell</strong>'s original yellow-orange colour. The<br />
original front door was repaired and a crack fixed<br />
that had been previously sealed with nothing more<br />
than black tar. The wooden, trellised shelter that<br />
housed the car wash and allowed cars to be washed<br />
and/or serviced in the shade was reconstructed as<br />
well. <strong>Shell</strong> donated restored gas pumps and replica<br />
lamp posts to help finish off the restoration. The<br />
landmark now serves as a satellite office for<br />
Preservation North Carolina.<br />
Thanks to Bill Scott and Paddy Briggs for this submission.<br />
Then ....<br />
... and now!
WRiTE RULES 6: NO LAUgHINg MATTER...<br />
You may not regard yourself as a comic<br />
writer but even serious stories need<br />
moments of levity to lighten the mood.<br />
Sometimes a comic scene is deliberately<br />
placed before a moment of tragedy to<br />
heighten the drama through contrast.<br />
Sometimes a funny character can create<br />
variety. We don't think of Jane Austen<br />
as primarily comic but her ironic analysis<br />
of human foibles and creations such as<br />
Miss Bates and Mr. Collins demonstrate<br />
her great skills as a humorist.<br />
There is a broad spectrum of comedy<br />
from gentle, observational social comedy<br />
to far-fetched, fast-paced farce, to blacklycomic<br />
realistic drama. Farce is the staple<br />
of TV sit-com but novelists like Tom Sharpe<br />
use similar tone and techniques with slapstick<br />
elements and frenetic plots.<br />
Satire can be farcical but also uses parody<br />
and wit as weapons for social commentary.<br />
The satirist appears to approve of the very<br />
thing he wishes to attack, often reversing<br />
expected norms. A good example is The<br />
Thick of It, a TV political satire which uses<br />
the 'fly-on-the-wall' documentary form to<br />
depict bad language, bullying and callous<br />
dishonesty as the norm among politicians<br />
and their aides.<br />
Here are some more comic techniques:<br />
1. Create identification with the<br />
central character – we share their<br />
viewpoint; we empathise with their<br />
discomfort; we enjoy their bad behaviour,<br />
e.g. Kingsley Amis' lecherous, drunken,<br />
young academic Lucky Jim (1954). We<br />
live vicariously and wickedly through<br />
our favourite, naughty characters. We<br />
may not want Victor Meldrew for a next<br />
door neighbour but we enjoy his outbursts<br />
on everyday irritants; he says what we<br />
think: "I don't believe it!!"<br />
2. Create two dimensional<br />
characters, larger-than-life stereotypes<br />
with exaggerated personality traits, so<br />
we do not take any harm that befalls<br />
them seriously; in fact we enjoy their<br />
misfortunes – Victor Meldrew again.<br />
3. Comic names – these can be<br />
seaside postcard silly, e.g. Mrs<br />
Shufflebotham, or reflective of character<br />
like snobbish Hyacinth Bucket,<br />
pronounced, of course, "Bouquet".<br />
4. bathos – use high-flown, rather<br />
pompous language to describe a very<br />
ordinary event; apply Olympic jargon<br />
to the school egg and spoon race:<br />
"Tension mounts in the playground as<br />
after months of intensive training and<br />
precision egg-laying..."<br />
6. Exaggeration – slapstick action,<br />
improbable emotions and attitudes signal<br />
to the reader that you intend to be funny<br />
so they don't react in the usual way to, for<br />
example, violence. When an unfortunate<br />
chap in a Tom Sharpe novel inadvertently<br />
puts his most "precious possessions" in a<br />
blender we laugh, whereas if this were to<br />
happen in a Mafia story it would be an<br />
horrific torture scene.<br />
7. Fish out of water – placing a<br />
character in a situation alien to them is a<br />
common device, e.g. the sophisticated<br />
Flora amidst her simple country cousins in<br />
Stella Gibbon's Cold Comfort Farm<br />
(1932), or Evelyn Waugh's unworldly<br />
nature diarist, William Boot, mistaken for<br />
a foreign correspondent and sent to a war<br />
zone in Scoop (1938). Role reversals are<br />
funny too: in Absolutely Fabulous we enjoy<br />
sensible Saffy playing the adult to her<br />
delinquent mother, Edina.<br />
8. hyperbole – over-blown figures of<br />
speech. Blackadder excels in this when<br />
he tells Baldrick his brain is so small "that<br />
if a hungry cannibal cracked your head<br />
open, there wouldn't be enough to cover<br />
a small water biscuit".<br />
9. irony – the use of words to convey<br />
meaning that is the opposite of its literal<br />
meaning, e.g. “You're marrying your fifth<br />
wife?! What excellent experience for a<br />
marriage guidance counsellor.”<br />
10. Parody – a humorous imitation of<br />
serious literature or a specific genre such<br />
as Jane Austen parodying the gothic novel<br />
in Northanger Abbey. Austen builds<br />
tension with gloomy corridors and strange<br />
wRITINg TIPS<br />
Ardella draws on her experience as a stand-up comedian and script-writer to look<br />
at the serious business of using humour in your writing.<br />
noises but when young Catherine Morland<br />
finds an ancient parchment our expectations<br />
are brought down to earth with a bump<br />
– it's a mundane laundry list.<br />
REcOMMENDED READS<br />
COMEDY OUT OF DARKNESS<br />
Born in London in 1928, after serving in<br />
the Royal Marines, Tom Sharpe moved to<br />
South Africa in 1951, where the unjust<br />
apartheid regime inspired him to write<br />
satire. He was imprisoned, then expelled<br />
in 1961. He wrote Riotous Assembly<br />
(1971), in which the murder of a Zulu cook<br />
sparks off intrigues that lead to ostriches<br />
exploding on city streets. Next came a<br />
sequel, Indecent Exposure (1973), and<br />
Porterhouse Blue (1974), which sent up the<br />
inner workings of an ancient university.<br />
His biggest success was Wilt, written whilst<br />
teaching at a technical college. Wilt, a<br />
lecturer, is accused of murdering his wife<br />
after he is seen trying to hide a blow-up<br />
doll. Sharpe wrote the first draft in 24 hours<br />
(although he spent six months revising it).<br />
Sharpe admires P G Wodehouse but his<br />
dark humour derives from hearing First<br />
World War veterans tell grim jokes of life<br />
and death in his youth. He recalls a joke<br />
about two privates marching up a hill. One<br />
asks the sergeant for a rest. He replies:<br />
“What do you want a rest for now, lad?<br />
You'll be dead in half an hour!'"<br />
Now 84, Sharpe is writing his<br />
autobiography. His most recent book<br />
The Wilt Inheritance (2010) is available<br />
in paperback.<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> NEWS | 9
BUSINESS NEwS<br />
iS EvERyThiNg<br />
TO yOUR<br />
TASTE?<br />
Faye Rose, Customer<br />
Experience Manager, <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Retail, shares the new Tell <strong>Shell</strong><br />
programme with us and asks<br />
for our help<br />
In 2011, <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Retail launched a pilot<br />
to gain feedback from customers regarding<br />
their experiences of visiting a selected<br />
number of <strong>Shell</strong> forecourts. As a result of<br />
the success of the pilot, in January <strong>2012</strong><br />
the Tell <strong>Shell</strong> programme was launched<br />
throughout all company owned <strong>UK</strong> sites.<br />
The “Tell <strong>Shell</strong>” programme provides realtime<br />
customer feedback, giving an insight<br />
into the customer’s experience and<br />
highlighting opportunities for us to improve.<br />
Customers who are part of the <strong>Shell</strong> Drivers’<br />
Club loyalty programme are prompted to<br />
provide feedback via email soon after filling<br />
up, while those not in the programme are<br />
encouraged to complete an online survey.<br />
Customer feedback can be accessed by all<br />
<strong>UK</strong> Retail staff, sales and retailers, so they<br />
can monitor the performance of each <strong>UK</strong><br />
company-owned station. The programme<br />
encourages Retailers, as well as Operations<br />
and Sales teams, to take immediate action<br />
to improve and enhance operational<br />
efficiency, and continuously improve the<br />
customer experience on site.<br />
“Adopting the Voice of the Customer<br />
programme and listening to what<br />
customers are saying in real time, and<br />
reacting according to their needs, we<br />
10 | <strong>SPA</strong> NEWS<br />
hope to provide a better level of customer<br />
service. We want to put the customer at<br />
the centre of our and our Retailers’<br />
businesses, and this programme will help<br />
us to do that,” says Melanie Lane, General<br />
Manager – <strong>UK</strong> Retail.<br />
Six-month results of Tell <strong>Shell</strong><br />
For the first half of <strong>2012</strong>, Tell <strong>Shell</strong> has<br />
provided a transparent view of what<br />
customers think of their visits to <strong>Shell</strong><br />
service stations. With over 20,000 pieces<br />
of feedback, two-thirds coming from our<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> Drivers’ Club members, the overall<br />
rating experience was 8.5/10. Many<br />
service stations achieve really excellent<br />
scores and feedback, of which they can<br />
be justifiably proud, whilst at others the<br />
opposite has been the case.<br />
The positive feedback has highlighted<br />
customers’ appreciation of many aspects<br />
of the <strong>Shell</strong> experience, including<br />
Forecourt Attendant Service, the quality<br />
of <strong>Shell</strong>’s fuels, especially <strong>Shell</strong> V-Power,<br />
new layouts and stations newly converted<br />
to <strong>Shell</strong>, our hot food range, and the<br />
installation of Costa Coffee machines in<br />
over 400 sites.<br />
Internally, we have also seen successes<br />
in Tell <strong>Shell</strong>; very positive feedback has<br />
been received about the tool, and there<br />
is a growing promptness in the action to<br />
and resolution of customers’ issues.<br />
Although 6.1% of feedback through Tell<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> was negative, this has helped us to<br />
understand what customers consider key<br />
areas for us to improve in, including:<br />
availability of clean toilets; length of<br />
queues for pumps and at the till; and staff<br />
attentiveness. Through the Tell <strong>Shell</strong><br />
programme, we know exactly which<br />
stations are failing in these areas, and<br />
are now working hard to address these<br />
problems, so that customers notice the<br />
difference and choose to use <strong>Shell</strong> even<br />
more often.<br />
will you “TELL SHELL”<br />
what you think?<br />
As you can see, we’re striving to improve<br />
every one of our sites across the country,<br />
and we’d love your help. As a <strong>Shell</strong><br />
Pensioner you’ve even more of a right to<br />
tell us what you think, because if our<br />
service stations are not up to your standard,<br />
they’re not up to ours!<br />
To tell us what you think and help us get<br />
it right for every customer, on every station,<br />
every day: visit www.shell.co.uk/tellshell<br />
and tell us how it was for you the next time<br />
you visit a <strong>Shell</strong> station.<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> is looking forward to hearing<br />
from you.
TiNA’S NEWS by Tina Gilchrist<br />
State benefits<br />
incapacity benefit – migration to<br />
Employment and Support<br />
Allowance (ESA) If you have been<br />
receiving Incapacity Benefit that is<br />
disregarded for tax purposes, there is<br />
no provision for ESA to be non taxable.<br />
This means that once you are transferred<br />
to ESA, the benefit will become a taxable<br />
benefit, and will no longer be<br />
disregarded. The migration to ESA from<br />
Incapacity Benefit will not affect anyone<br />
who reaches state pension age before<br />
6 April 2014.<br />
Care home Fees – Capital Limits<br />
The capital limits for residential care have<br />
remained at the 2011/<strong>2012</strong> limit of<br />
£23,250 upper limit in England and<br />
Northern Ireland, but have increased to<br />
£23,250 in Wales and £24,750 in<br />
Scotland. The lower limits have remained<br />
at £14,250 in England & Northern Ireland<br />
but have increased to £15,250 in<br />
Scotland. There is no lower limit in Wales.<br />
NhS-funded Nursing Care If you<br />
are assessed as needing nursing care<br />
in a care home, the NHS contribution<br />
has remained at £108.70 in England<br />
and Northern Ireland, and fixed at<br />
£120.56 in Wales. In Scotland, if you<br />
are 65 or over and assessed as requiring<br />
personal care in a care home, you can<br />
receive a fixed payment of £163 per<br />
week, with a further payment of £74 if<br />
you require nursing care (£237 per<br />
week in total). If you are below 65 you<br />
are only eligible to receive the payment<br />
of £74 for nursing care.<br />
Care home Fees – Client<br />
Contribution To clarify a point on the<br />
charging structure for people who enter<br />
local authority residential care and who<br />
are asked to make a contribution: even<br />
if you have savings that are below the<br />
lower Capital Limit, you will be expected<br />
to contribute out of your income. Income<br />
taken into account by the Local Authority<br />
includes: State Pension, Pension Credit,<br />
income related Employment and Support<br />
Allowance, most Means Tested Benefits,<br />
Occupational Pensions, Personal<br />
Pensions and Annuity Income. If you are<br />
one of a couple, the law does not allow<br />
a joint charging assessment; only the<br />
resident’s own income and capital affects<br />
the assessment. Whatever your source(s)<br />
of income, you will be left with no less<br />
than the Personal Expenses Allowance<br />
(PEA) of £23.50 per week in England,<br />
Scotland and Northern Ireland, and<br />
£24.00 per week in Wales, although<br />
your Local Authority does have discretion<br />
to allow more PEA in "special<br />
circumstances". Any difference between<br />
what you pay and the standard rate is<br />
met by the Local Authority. If you choose<br />
more expensive accommodation than<br />
the Local Authority thinks you need, you<br />
will be liable to pay the additional costs,<br />
irrespective of income and capital.<br />
Taxation<br />
Tax Return initiative If HM Revenue<br />
& Customs (HMRC) have sent you a Self<br />
Assessment Tax Return or notice to<br />
complete a tax return for the 2009/2010<br />
tax year or earlier, and you have not yet<br />
taken any action, HMRC are offering<br />
you a quick and straight forward way<br />
to bring your tax affairs up to date. There<br />
is also a dedicated telephone helpline<br />
to support you, Tel: 0845 601 8818<br />
To take part in the Tax Return Initiative<br />
you need to tell HMRC that you intend<br />
to do so. You can do this by completing<br />
an online form and sending it to HMRC<br />
either electronically or by post. It only<br />
takes a few minutes. You then need to<br />
complete and submit your late tax<br />
return(s) and pay what you owe (or<br />
claim any repayment that might be due)<br />
by 2 October <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
You can instantly submit your notification<br />
form online to HMRC using the 'submit<br />
by email' option in the form.<br />
Alternatively, you can complete and<br />
post your form to:<br />
HM Revenue & Customs, Tax Return<br />
Initiative Team, Holland House, 20 Oxford<br />
Road, Bournemouth, Dorset BH8 8DZ<br />
If you do not take advantage of this<br />
initiative, and you submit the return and<br />
pay what you owe later than 2 October,<br />
you will have to pay a fine.<br />
A reminder if you have received a paper<br />
BENEVOLENcE<br />
Self Assessment Tax Return for the<br />
2011/<strong>2012</strong> tax year, HMRC must<br />
receive it by 31 October <strong>2012</strong><br />
otherwise you will be liable for a<br />
penalty. Online returns for the<br />
2011/<strong>2012</strong> tax year do not need to<br />
be received until 31 January 2013.<br />
New Tax helpline and Service for<br />
the bereaved People who have<br />
suffered bereavement and who need to<br />
contact HM Revenue and Customs<br />
(HMRC) will now find improved and<br />
streamlined processes. The department<br />
has created a dedicated telephone<br />
helpline and address box for people<br />
who need to contact HMRC about PAYE<br />
and Self Assessment matters relating to<br />
bereavement. Family members or<br />
personal representatives who phone<br />
HMRC about tax and bereavement will<br />
also be able to speak to a dedicated<br />
team of advisors.<br />
HMRC has, in addition, simplified its<br />
guidance and letters to customers to<br />
make the process of dealing with tax<br />
following bereavement more<br />
straightforward. The main form used to<br />
finalise the tax affairs of anyone who<br />
has died, the R27, has also been<br />
redesigned to make it easier to complete.<br />
The Bereavement Helpline is 0845 300<br />
0627, where callers will be able to select<br />
option buttons to speak to a bereavement<br />
tax adviser, 8am to 8pm, Monday to<br />
Friday, and 8am to 4pm on Saturday.<br />
The address for PAYE and Self<br />
Assessment matters relating to<br />
bereavement is:<br />
HM Revenue & Customs, Pay As You<br />
Earn & Self Assessment, PO Box 4000,<br />
Cardiff CF14 8HR<br />
general<br />
Passport Fees The fee for a new<br />
passport has reduced from £77.50 to<br />
£72.50 from 3 September <strong>2012</strong>. A<br />
standard passport is 32 pages; if you are<br />
a frequent traveller and need extra space<br />
for visas, you can apply for a 48-page<br />
passport; the fee for this has reduced from<br />
£90.50 to £85.50. This is not available<br />
for child applications. A reminder that<br />
passports are free for those born on or<br />
before 2 September 1929.<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> NEWS | 11
BENEVOLENcE<br />
For further information contact the<br />
Passport Advice Line on 0300 222 0000.<br />
vehicle Check Services Before you<br />
buy a used vehicle you can now check<br />
the details online or by telephone using<br />
services from the Driver and Vehicle<br />
Licensing Agency (DVLA), as follows:<br />
1. Online vehicle enquiries You can use<br />
this service to check certain information<br />
about a vehicle that DVLA holds on its<br />
database, including: year of manufacture;<br />
date of first registration; engine capacity;<br />
colour; expiry date of the current tax disc<br />
or SORN declaration; and vehicle excise<br />
duty rate.<br />
2. Enquiries by telephone There are two<br />
premium rate telephone services that give<br />
vehicle information. Calls are charged at<br />
49p per minute. Lines are open during<br />
the following times:<br />
Driver and Vehicle General lines: Mon to<br />
Fri 8.00 am to 7.00 pm; Sat 8.00 am to<br />
2.00 pm<br />
Electronic and Driver Licensing online -<br />
Mon to Fri8.00 am to 8.30 pm; Sat 8.00<br />
am to 5.30 pm<br />
The vehicle check service gives details<br />
of date of registration, year of<br />
manufacture, engine capacity (cc), CO2<br />
emissions and confirmation of colour.<br />
Tel: 0906 185 8585<br />
The date of liability (vehicle tax due date)<br />
line gives the expiry date of the current<br />
tax disc. Tel: 0906 765 7585<br />
Ian Landeryou<br />
our new Secretary & Treasurer<br />
Tina gilchrist of cBG Solutions Ltd has been<br />
contracted by the SPBA to provide updates and a<br />
helpline on state benefits.<br />
For the helpline service, contact Tina:<br />
cBG Solutions Ltd, 44 Rydal Road, Harrogate, North<br />
Yorkshire, HG1 4SD, 01423 819452 or 07711 555931<br />
tina.gilchrist@cbgsolutions.co.uk<br />
12 | <strong>SPA</strong> NEWS<br />
SUTTON WiNSON ANNOUNCEmENT<br />
At Select Insurance Services (provided by Sutton Winson) we have a number of<br />
policies that are administered directly with Royal and Sun Alliance (RSA). These<br />
policies have been with RSA for some time and would have been taken out prior<br />
to August 2005.<br />
Since August 2005, we have had the technology to administer policies ourselves.<br />
It was always our intention to migrate the policies that were taken out before then<br />
back to us, as these are for our clients. This process started last month. If you have<br />
your car insurance with RSA through the <strong>Shell</strong> Scheme from Sutton Winson, you<br />
will receive your renewal from us this year. There will be no change to your policy<br />
or the benefits you enjoy; it will simply be us you talk to rather than RSA.<br />
We hope the migration is as smooth as possible but do not hesitate to contact us<br />
with any queries on 020 8892 4854.<br />
FACEbOOK<br />
SECURiTy<br />
We still have occasional comments from<br />
members that although they would like to<br />
join the <strong>SPA</strong> Facebook page, they are<br />
concerned about <strong>SPA</strong> members being able<br />
to see their home pages and messages<br />
etc. Just ‘liking’ a group or a page does<br />
not mean that you are willing to share<br />
information with them, as long as your<br />
privacy settings are tailored correctly.<br />
To make sure that only your ‘friends’ see<br />
your information, go to the home tab at<br />
the top right hand corner in your Facebook<br />
home page. From the drop down list, select<br />
‘Privacy Settings’. Here you will have a<br />
choice of ‘Public’, ‘Friends’ or ‘Custom’.<br />
If you merely choose ‘Friends’ then friends,<br />
and friends of friends, will be able to see<br />
your details. Instead, for a tighter degree<br />
of control choose ‘Custom’ and there you<br />
can select from four self-explanatory<br />
options. Choosing ‘Friends’ means that<br />
ONLY those people you have selected as<br />
friends will see your information.<br />
Alternatively, you can make your own<br />
select list of who you allow access to your<br />
page, or you can even choose ‘Only me’,<br />
which means that nobody will be able to<br />
see any of your details. Remember to click<br />
‘Save changes’ when you have adjusted<br />
your security settings.<br />
You can then feel free to safely ‘Like’ the<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> page, and keep tabs on the latest<br />
announcements, last minute offers, and<br />
other matters relevant to <strong>SPA</strong> members.<br />
www.facebook.com/shell.spa.news<br />
Any questions, my contact details are on<br />
page 2.<br />
Linda Fernley<br />
When you contact Tina, please mention the <strong>SPA</strong> and<br />
give her a phone number on which she can speak to<br />
you if necessary.<br />
ian Landeryou<br />
SPBA Secretary/Treasurer<br />
020 7934 5131<br />
Ian.C.Landeryou@shell.com
Born in Newquay, Cornwall, in 1942, Tony<br />
Jenkin attended Torbay Boys' Grammar in<br />
Devon, where he developed a fascination<br />
for astronomy and science, which led to<br />
his first job in the Atomic Energy Research<br />
Establishment, Harwell. He joined <strong>Shell</strong> in<br />
1971 as a group leader for shift operations<br />
at the <strong>UK</strong> Computer Centre, based in <strong>Shell</strong><br />
Centre. Tony's first love, however, was cars<br />
– not stars or computers.<br />
"I was a car fanatic from my first 1936<br />
Austin Seven days and have been ever<br />
since," says Tony. "For a few years I even<br />
owned a classic Aston Martin Lagonda,<br />
one of only 500 made."<br />
Tony's first overseas posting was to Oman<br />
where he, wife Jenny, and their three<br />
children spent three and a half years. In<br />
those days, the Sultanate offered little for<br />
a car enthusiast, with only one road<br />
running from the oil camp to the airport:<br />
"It was pretty rough and ready but worst<br />
of all the ship delivering all the new<br />
vehicles to Muscat sank off the coast<br />
leaving only three cars. I was stuck with<br />
a tiny little Fiat!" Tony must have been<br />
pleased to get posted back to<br />
Wythenshawe. In May 1979, he returned<br />
to <strong>Shell</strong> Centre to run the Computer User<br />
Training team, familiarising staff in the <strong>UK</strong>,<br />
Nigeria, Greece and Brunei/Sarawak<br />
with microcomputers.<br />
However, disaster struck in 1982 when<br />
Tony had a terrible car accident: "Luckily<br />
I was driving a Mercedes 200 which has<br />
a strong cage to protect the interior and<br />
that saved us. We all survived." Tony<br />
could not return to work for many months<br />
and was medically retired in 1985, aged<br />
only 42. "<strong>Shell</strong> gave me fantastic support,"<br />
says Tony, "during my recovery and<br />
subsequent 10 years of litigation. Later,<br />
when I worked for Manpower Services<br />
Commission, setting up an IT training<br />
centre in Basingstoke for young people,<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> donated redundant furniture."<br />
Nerves somewhat shaken by the crash,<br />
Tony took to driving a 4.5 "Big Boy", the<br />
safe and solid Mercedes 450SEL, which<br />
he kept for 13 years before buying an<br />
elegant 1951 Bentley Mark VI, steel sports<br />
saloon. "I treated myself to the Bentley<br />
when the compensation from the accident<br />
FEATURE ARTIcLE<br />
high ROLLER<br />
A serious car crash ended Tony Jenkin's career with <strong>Shell</strong> but, as Ardella Jones<br />
discovers, this did nothing to dampen his enthusiasm for prestige cars...<br />
finally came through," says Tony. He joined<br />
the Rolls Royce Enthusiasts' Club, which<br />
includes Bentley cars, and in 1996 became<br />
one of several Registrars, keeping track<br />
of over 1,000 vehicles, produced from<br />
1946 to 1955, around the world, and<br />
helping owners to access specialist<br />
knowledge and spare parts.<br />
Tony has helped organise some fantastic<br />
events, including the annual President's<br />
Picnic at Blenheim Palace which attracts as<br />
many as 300 Rolls Royces and Bentleys.<br />
"One of the most memorable was in 2004<br />
when the Royal Logistics Corps Museum at<br />
Deepcut loaned us General Montgomery's<br />
beautiful 1936 Phantom III," says Tony.<br />
"Monty used the vehicle as his battlefield<br />
staff car. He had a Silver Wraith, too."<br />
Tony also met HRH Idris Shah, Sultan of<br />
Perak in Malaysia, who brought his 1953<br />
Silver Wraith, bodied by H.J. Mulliner and<br />
lovingly restored by P & A Wood in Essex.<br />
Boats are also an interest for Tony who<br />
started cruising the Thames as a member<br />
of Lensbury Motor Cruiser Club whilst still<br />
with <strong>Shell</strong>. In his 13 years of river cruising,<br />
Tony had many adventures, including taking<br />
a single engine Seamaster 813 on the<br />
Admiral's Cruise from Teddington Lock,<br />
past the Port of London and Thames barrier,<br />
to join the Medway at Rochester, to mark<br />
Henry VIII's reign. "There was a strong<br />
incoming tide as we neared the meeting of<br />
the rivers," Tony explains, "and our little<br />
Blenheim Palace 2004: HRH Sultan Idris Shah presents flowers<br />
to the driver and wife of Monty's wartime 1936 Phantom III<br />
Gen. Montgomery with his Silver Wraith<br />
two litre diesel engine was struggling so<br />
we had to get towed by a more powerful<br />
boat." No wonder Tony preferred to stick<br />
to the upper reaches of the Thames nearer<br />
to his home in Oxford.<br />
Tony has also found time to run a successful<br />
three-acre plants nursery in Oxfordshire<br />
from 1990 until retirement proper in 2006,<br />
as well as doing voluntary work for several<br />
Christian organisations. Currently, he is the<br />
long-serving treasurer of his village chapel<br />
and Methodist Circuit Administrator. He is<br />
understandably proud of his three offspring:<br />
a Thames Valley policeman, a chef, and a<br />
school teacher married to a Dutch Professor<br />
of Astrophysics who is now Director of<br />
Jodrell Bank. Their jobs may seem varied<br />
but Dad Tony obviously set the standard<br />
with his own career, which he sums up<br />
succinctly as, "From atoms to oil to the soil!".<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> NEWS | 13
FEATURE ARTIcLE<br />
ThE DEviL'S iN ThE DETAiL<br />
Tommy Thomson, ex-<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> driver, combines the<br />
practical and the artistic<br />
in his hobby: painting<br />
vintage cars, lorries and<br />
tankers... Ardella Jones<br />
catches up with him<br />
As a schoolboy, Tommy Thomson liked to<br />
watch the big lorries thundering along the<br />
A73 North Road near his home in New<br />
Mains outside Glasgow. In the summer,<br />
he would note down the registrations and<br />
models, and sketch the huge vehicles in<br />
notebooks his grandma bought for him;<br />
during the harsh Scottish winters, he would<br />
colour in his drawings. He won first prize<br />
for art every year at school but when he<br />
left, he became a motor mechanic rather<br />
than an artist.<br />
At 17, Tommy passed his driving test first<br />
time and his dad bought him a sporty little<br />
1949 MG TC Midget in order to stop him<br />
riding a motorbike. However, Dad was<br />
unable to stop Tommy flirting with danger<br />
one way or another and the MG got him<br />
hooked on motor-racing. Tommy graduated<br />
to an E-type Jaguar and soon held the lap<br />
record at Inglestone, the local circuit.<br />
'I got it all wrong at first...<br />
I wanted to learn to mix<br />
colours properly'<br />
When Tommy married in 1974, his wife<br />
Nancy, who was soon expecting their<br />
daughter, wanted him to take up a less<br />
dangerous pastime than racing so Tommy<br />
bought a vintage lorry and started restoring<br />
it. By the 1990s, he had eight lorries in<br />
various stages of restoration, and two<br />
platform A frame drawbar trailers which fit<br />
on the back of the lorry like a flatbed with<br />
14 | <strong>SPA</strong> NEWS<br />
1500cc<br />
a turntable. Unfortunately, the firm that<br />
rented him storage premises went into<br />
receivership and he had to sell the lot.<br />
Tommy exhibited his vintage vehicles at<br />
shows and rallies and remembers vividly<br />
taking part in the North of England Run.<br />
"We'd had a battery problem on the way<br />
down from Scotland and did a makeshift<br />
repair," Tommy explains. "But overnight the<br />
acid leaked and ate into the metal. As the<br />
local mayor raised the flag to begin the<br />
rally, the battery, which was in a box on<br />
the side of the chassis, exploded. Bits flew<br />
everywhere! To get it started again, we had<br />
to use an old-fashioned starting handle<br />
turned by pulling a rope. I asked the mayor<br />
to help us pull but he declined. Luckily, an<br />
American film crew from The Teamsters'<br />
Union were there and got stuck in. The<br />
Americans had never seen anything like<br />
these old style models."<br />
Tommy continued to indulge his love of motor<br />
cars and restoration. When he was 65, he<br />
began building his last car – a one-off<br />
special: "It had been a 1932 Riley Monaco<br />
9 saloon," says Tommy, "but I fitted an alloy<br />
body, added a bigger 2.5 litre engine, a<br />
3.5 diff and new wheels." Mrs Thomson was<br />
Box Truck Steel Race Car<br />
not entirely happy with the Riley, which<br />
attracted the competitive attention of boy<br />
racers. "I was faster than them," says Tommy<br />
with some satisfaction, "and the wife knew<br />
I couldn't resist a challenge. She thought the<br />
Riley was beautiful but dangerous, and she<br />
kept waiting for the police to tell her they'd<br />
found me upside down, crashed in a park!"<br />
Ironically, it was an accident on a quiet road<br />
one summer's day caused by another driver,<br />
which ended Tommy's career with <strong>Shell</strong>. "I<br />
was paralysed down one side for 18<br />
months," says Tommy, "and <strong>Shell</strong> gave me<br />
medical retirement in 2002." He also had<br />
to give up his International Racing Licence<br />
and sell his beloved car when heart surgery<br />
eventually clipped his wings.<br />
Mrs Thomson can't get away from her<br />
husband's obsession with motor vehicles,<br />
however, as her living room is adorned with<br />
portraits of lorries. "She likes them," Tommy<br />
assures me. “There's one of am Armstrong<br />
Saurer, a Swiss-made lorry from around<br />
1934 which had an air brake system ahead<br />
of its time. Then there's a painting of an eight<br />
wheel 1948 Atkinson with a drawbar trailer<br />
and one of an early 1950s six-wheeler<br />
Leyland Comet, the official lorry of the<br />
United Africa
Claret Race Car<br />
Scottish haulier, Charles Alexander. It was<br />
used for transporting fish from Aberdeen to<br />
Liverpool and Manchester, and I managed<br />
to buy it from a scrap yard for only £10."<br />
Tommy's love of art has gone hand-in-hand<br />
with his career as a driver and in 1960,<br />
when he started working for McKay & Jardin<br />
delivering <strong>Shell</strong> products, he bought a box<br />
of watercolours for about £3, determined to<br />
teach himself to paint. "I got it all wrong at<br />
first," says Tommy modestly, "I wanted to<br />
learn to mix colours properly and use white<br />
for reflections, to paint for effect. I enjoyed<br />
painting big vehicles, tankers, buses, planes.<br />
I loved the engineering designs and the<br />
mechanical details."<br />
When Tommy joined <strong>Shell</strong> at the Bishopbriggs<br />
Oil Depot outside Glasgow in 1970 his<br />
hobby came in handy for staff leaving dos<br />
when he would draw caricatures of<br />
colleagues. "When the boss, Edgar, left I<br />
painted him as Atlas holding up a big shell<br />
with Bishopbriggs on it." Tommy put his talent<br />
to more mischievous ends when a co-worker<br />
skidded on ice and crashed into a bakery<br />
van. "I did a cartoon of the accident for the<br />
lads," chuckles Tommy, recalling the times<br />
when Health & Safety wasn't quite such a<br />
White Line Truck<br />
Hunter<br />
serious matter as it is today: "After that I did<br />
a caricature of anyone who had a crash.<br />
We called it the Kamikaze Club."<br />
Tommy has sold a few of his extremely<br />
detailed paintings, "but I'll deny it if the<br />
taxman asks," he jokes. He has also given<br />
them as mementos to friends, like Gus Davis<br />
with whom Tommy shared a lorry at<br />
Bishopbriggs. Tommy would drive on the<br />
Jaguar Reids Transport<br />
FEATURE ARTIcLE<br />
by Ardella Jones<br />
day shift and Gus at night or vice versa.<br />
Tommy has celebrated their friendship by<br />
painting a 12" x 22" picture of Gus driving<br />
the lorry – an ERF Artic with a Cummings<br />
engine and 3-axle trailer, one of only three<br />
owned by <strong>Shell</strong> around 1970. Gus is<br />
depicted on the road from the Aluminium<br />
Corporation smelting plant at Kinlochleven<br />
but he denies that it's him. "He swears it<br />
can't be him because he never drove that<br />
fast," laughs Tommy.<br />
Tommy has even exhibited his paintings at<br />
the local art school, where he attended<br />
classes for six months. "I didn't learn anything<br />
new," he says, "but I kept going to get my<br />
money's worth: I am Scottish after all!"<br />
Tommy's skill and incredible eye for detail<br />
speak for themselves and, at 74, he’s still<br />
producing numerous paintings for other<br />
enthusiasts. He may have had to stop racing,<br />
driving and all the hard, heavy work required<br />
in the restoration of vintage vehicles but it<br />
will be a very long time before Tommy<br />
Thomson puts down his paintbrush.<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> NEWS | 15
GOING GLOBAL<br />
big hiTTERS FUNDRAiSiNg FOR ARChiE!<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> played host to an Indoor sevena-side<br />
Cricket Tournament on Saturday 8<br />
September <strong>2012</strong> that aimed to raise funds<br />
for The Archie Foundation based at the<br />
Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital to<br />
raise money for sick children and their<br />
families in the North of Scotland.<br />
16 | <strong>SPA</strong> NEWS<br />
The event – which was co-sponsored by<br />
other major energy companies,<br />
including BP and Centrica–was held at<br />
<strong>Shell</strong>’s recreational centre in Aberdeen,<br />
Woodbank.<br />
For the last two years, similar events have<br />
raised more than £24,000 for the<br />
Pakistan floods appeal and for the East<br />
Africa Drought Appeal. This time <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> committed to match funds raised up<br />
to £5,000. A wealth of spectacular<br />
cricket-related prizes that were generously<br />
donated are expected to help break last<br />
year’s fundraising total.<br />
Raffle Prizes included:<br />
bACK ON ThE ROAD<br />
make a date for 9 October<br />
• A framed and signed cricket shirt from<br />
the famous 2005 Ashes-winning<br />
England Cricket Team (2005 South<br />
Africa Tour) donated by The Professional<br />
Cricketers’ Association (PCA).<br />
• A signed cricket shirt from the Scotland<br />
Cricket Team donated by Cricket Scotland.<br />
• A signed cap and ball donated by a<br />
member of the Pakistan Cricket Team.<br />
Following our first successful roadshow, you and a guest are invited to the second<br />
one at Bristol Golf Club, 9 October, 2-4pm. Come along and see what Graham<br />
van’t Hoff has to say about developments in <strong>Shell</strong> and listen to Ian Chisholm’s<br />
update on the pension fund. These short videos will be playing on a loop, so you<br />
can watch them at your leisure while you enjoy tea and cakes. There will be<br />
plenty of stallholders on hand:<br />
• Meet your PLR. Do you have any questions?<br />
• Do you understand your <strong>Shell</strong> pension and benefits?<br />
• Do you need to know about state benefits and allowances?<br />
• Do you need help with where to invest?<br />
• Have you got the right sort of insurance?<br />
• Are you fit? Do you need advice on diet and lifestyle?<br />
• Would you like to sign up to the <strong>SPA</strong> Facebook page, but don’t know how?<br />
• Have you got something you would like to appear in <strong>SPA</strong><strong>News</strong>?<br />
There will be representatives from:<br />
NHS • SPBA • PLRs • <strong>SPA</strong> Committee • Communications<br />
Pensions Administration • Age <strong>UK</strong><br />
Sutton Winson Insurance • Affinity Connect<br />
The PCA also sent this message of<br />
support to the event: "The PCA is<br />
delighted to support this tournament, and<br />
the efforts to raise money for such an<br />
important cause. On behalf of the three<br />
England captains, Andrew Strauss (now<br />
ex! Ed), Alistair Cook and Stuart Broad,<br />
we wish you all the best for an enjoyable<br />
and successful event."<br />
In addition Cricket Scotland also fielded<br />
a member of their team to attend the<br />
tournament on Saturday. Also attending<br />
was a member of the Archie Foundation<br />
team who gave a presentation on how<br />
the money raised will be making a huge<br />
difference to the lives of sick children<br />
and their families.<br />
At the close of the tournament, prize<br />
giving was carried out by members of<br />
the Scotland Cricket Team, and senior<br />
representatives from The Archie<br />
Foundation and from <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong>.<br />
Bristol Golf Club, conveniently located<br />
just off J17 of the M5, has lovely views<br />
across the Severn Estuary, in tranquil<br />
surroundings. All the stalls and video<br />
are on the ground floor.<br />
The event is free, but please let us<br />
know if you plan to attend. Contact<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> secretariat.<br />
The Bristol Golf Club, St. Swithins<br />
Park, Blackhorse Hill Almondsbury,<br />
Bristol BS10 7TP, Tel: 01454 620000<br />
Look out for roadshows in other<br />
regions, early in 2013.
Wendy Garbutt “I was proud and inspired<br />
that London won the bid to stage the <strong>2012</strong><br />
Olympics. I applied online to be a volunteer<br />
in 2011, had an interview at the O2 arena<br />
in May, and was offered a position in<br />
October. Pre-training was extensive and<br />
well organised, starting with two gatherings<br />
of all volunteers at Wembley Arena, giving<br />
us an insight into how many crucial roles<br />
would be taken up by a volunteer workforce,<br />
alongside paid workers such as caterers,<br />
security and the media.<br />
“My role was Workforce Operations, where<br />
my HR background came in useful in<br />
dealing with a diverse number of queries<br />
and issues such as cultural and disability<br />
awareness, Code of Conduct and so on,<br />
and I met fellow team members with a<br />
similar background. I was constantly<br />
surprised and impressed by how many<br />
different roles were necessary to get the<br />
show off the ground.<br />
“Further training at Hackney College and<br />
venue-specific training at the Olympic Park<br />
made us all want the Games to get going.<br />
My shift teams were made up of interesting<br />
people from Russia, China, New York,<br />
Ireland and all over the <strong>UK</strong>. I was lucky to<br />
see hockey, basketball and water polo<br />
events over the two weeks. To see the best<br />
athletes striving for a medal was awesome,<br />
but I also enjoyed meeting the ticket holders,<br />
parents with young children, all having such<br />
a good time and hopefully being inspired<br />
to participate in sport themselves.<br />
“I have many memories of London<br />
<strong>2012</strong>, not least the roar coming from<br />
the Olympic stadium when Mo Farah<br />
had just won gold!”<br />
David Wood “It was a privilege and a<br />
pleasure to be an Olympic volunteer Games<br />
Maker – a once in a lifetime opportunity.<br />
250,000 hopefuls applied in September<br />
2010; I had my interview in March <strong>2012</strong><br />
and learnt that I was one of the 70,000<br />
successful applicants. I was allocated to the<br />
Events Services team – often referred to as<br />
the ‘Face of the Games’, since our principle<br />
role was to meet, greet and help the<br />
spectators. I was allocated to the Olympic<br />
Stadium where I attended eight shifts: six<br />
morning sessions of athletics, plus the<br />
Opening and Closing Ceremonies.<br />
“My abiding memories include:<br />
• Being both moved and entertained by<br />
the Opening Ceremony, and watching<br />
in wonder as one of the Olympic rings<br />
was forged before being raised to join<br />
four others high above our heads.<br />
• Standing outside the Stadium on the<br />
banks of the river when the boat carrying<br />
David Beckham and the Olympic flame<br />
unexpectedly emerged from the gloom.<br />
• Marvelling at the engineering ingenuity<br />
and iconic design of the Olympic<br />
cauldron as it was assembled, ignited<br />
and transformed.<br />
• Setting out at 5am from a temporary<br />
caravan site north of Hackney Marshes<br />
on a 45-minute walk to start my shift.<br />
Passing hundreds of other volunteers and<br />
workers who were preparing the Park for<br />
the arrival of up to 250,000 spectators.<br />
• Watching the excitement of adults and<br />
children alike as they climbed the steps<br />
to see inside the Stadium for the first time.<br />
• Talking to spectators as they left and<br />
hearing of their unqualified enjoyment<br />
of the occasion and their marvel at the<br />
performance of the athletes.<br />
• On Super Saturday, spotting a young<br />
father trying to control his hysterical<br />
8-year-old (who was sensitive to crowds<br />
and noise); putting them in touch with<br />
the mobility team who were able to relocate<br />
the whole family to a quieter part<br />
of the Stadium. Feeling a rush of emotion<br />
when the father later sought me out,<br />
shook my hand and thanked me.<br />
• Checking Sally Gunnell’s accreditation<br />
when she came into the Stadium with<br />
her family. (Missing Condoleezza Rice<br />
when she entered because I was facing<br />
the wrong way!)<br />
It was the greatest GB holiday of my lifetime<br />
– with everyone in the country sharing the<br />
fun as one family!”<br />
Paddy Briggs was one of eight volunteers<br />
assigned to help the Dutch National<br />
Olympic Committee and Athletes.<br />
Paddy and Dutch Olympic<br />
gold medallist in windsufing<br />
GOING GLOBAL<br />
GAMES MAKERS – THE TRuE SPIRIT OF THE OLYMPIcS<br />
Many <strong>SPA</strong> members volunteered as games Makers at the<br />
spectacular London <strong>2012</strong>; here’s some inside stories …<br />
Games Maker Wendy<br />
David 'on duty'<br />
David gets ringside view of opening ceremony<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> NEWS | 17
FEATURE ARTIcLE<br />
Ah! bOmbAy<br />
Colin Morsley recalls life in India in the early 1970s, including ingenious in-house<br />
recycling, 36-hour shifts and three-day biryanis …<br />
Taj Mahal<br />
I had been working at the Stanlow<br />
Refinery for nearly three years, since<br />
graduation, when in 1972 I was offered<br />
a two-year assignment to Burmah-<strong>Shell</strong><br />
Refineries in Bombay. My mother was<br />
born in Calcutta (as it then was) and had<br />
lived briefly in Bombay in the late 1920s,<br />
so there was a tenuous family connection.<br />
As Burmah-<strong>Shell</strong> in India was almost fully<br />
‘Indianised’ it wouldn’t be the usual<br />
‘expat experience’ and, professionally,<br />
would be quite a challenge, I thought.<br />
The Burmah-<strong>Shell</strong> Oil Storage and<br />
Distribution Company had been<br />
operating in India since before World<br />
War I. After the Second World War and<br />
Indian independence, the need for India<br />
to have its own refining capacity was<br />
recognised and several major oil<br />
companies signed refining agreements<br />
with the Indian government.<br />
Burmah-<strong>Shell</strong> Refineries was set up as a<br />
rupee subsidiary, and then started<br />
operations in 1955 in Trombay, about<br />
15 miles from the centre of Bombay, and<br />
next door to an Esso plant. It was one<br />
of a series of similar refineries built by<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> during that period, and the<br />
company had a long-term crude supply<br />
agreement to provide light Iranian crude<br />
to the refinery.<br />
By the time I arrived as a young engineer<br />
18 | <strong>SPA</strong> NEWS<br />
in September 1972, I was the only expat<br />
in the refinery apart from the MD. Many<br />
of my Indian colleagues had been<br />
recruited before start-up and had trained<br />
in the <strong>UK</strong> and Dutch refineries. Not<br />
‘we began to appreciate<br />
the huge diversity of<br />
Indian culture and cuisine’<br />
surprisingly, <strong>Shell</strong> had recruited some of<br />
the best engineers from across the<br />
diverse Indian nation and they developed<br />
considerable knowledge of the plant and<br />
its operating history. Most of the refinery<br />
equipment was, naturally, British, Dutch<br />
or US in origin; however, among other<br />
Bombay street<br />
achievements, the refinery had been<br />
ingeniously ‘debottlenecked’ and a<br />
bottling system for domestic gas was<br />
designed and built locally.<br />
By 1972 the business was being severely<br />
challenged by a pincer movement of<br />
rising crude prices (a harbinger of the<br />
first oil shock) and the negative attitude<br />
of the government (led by Mrs Indira<br />
Ghandi) to foreign-owned businesses.<br />
The government took the view that it was<br />
paying too much for crude, and limited<br />
the amount of foreign exchange<br />
proportionately. Thus we processed<br />
progressively less crude as the months<br />
went by, operating well below capacity.<br />
There was also a rigid licensing system<br />
for importing spare parts, which was<br />
partly counteracted by an impressive<br />
‘indigenous development’ programme<br />
of locally-manufactured spares, which<br />
used in-house engineering expertise to<br />
coach local suppliers. All sorts of<br />
techniques were used to recover and<br />
reuse parts as much as possible, and as<br />
I was working in refinery maintenance,<br />
this made life extremely interesting.<br />
Having negotiated an inter-government<br />
deal with Iran for crude (at a higher price<br />
than <strong>Shell</strong> was paying!), the Indian<br />
government subsequently found that the<br />
state-owned Indianoil refineries, largely<br />
based on Russian technology, were<br />
unable to cope and so asked Burmah-<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> and the other foreign companies<br />
to process some of their crude. This<br />
meant a switch from barely ticking over<br />
to running flat-out for extended periods
Bombay street<br />
– even more interesting! The worldwide<br />
crude shortages caused by the Yom<br />
Kippur War only increased the pressure.<br />
We arrived in Bombay only a few months<br />
after the end of the 1971 Indo-Pakistan<br />
war and at the tail-end of a poor monsoon.<br />
This had serious implications for the city,<br />
which received a large proportion of its<br />
electricity from hydro-electric schemes. As<br />
time wore on we suffered restrictions on<br />
the use of air-conditioning, and poor<br />
harvests due to the inadequate monsoon<br />
rains meant rising food prices, leading to<br />
labour unrest and several general strikes<br />
or “bandhs”. These were usually one-day<br />
affairs but meant that we had to stay in<br />
the plant for 36 hours at a time to maintain<br />
operations. I usually volunteered for the<br />
night shifts, which were very pleasant.<br />
We had an occasional requirement for<br />
diving operations when repairs were<br />
needed to our big salt water intake<br />
pumps, and developed a good<br />
relationship with frogmen from the Indian<br />
Navy who, not long before, had been<br />
in action in Karachi harbour. After a few<br />
successful diving operations at the<br />
refinery, the company donated a<br />
television to their mess – a huge luxury,<br />
as TV had only just started in India. We<br />
formally presented this to them on board<br />
their vessel in Bombay naval dockyard<br />
and had the opportunity to take a look<br />
at the navy’s latest ship – a locally-built<br />
licensed copy of a British “Leander” class<br />
frigate. Of even more interest sitting out<br />
in the harbour was the light cruiser INS<br />
Delhi – formerly HMNZS Achilles of<br />
‘Battle of the River Plate’ fame.<br />
My wife Nancy and I had a spacious<br />
flat in the senior staff colony near the<br />
refinery, which eventually (after some<br />
nagging of Camp Services) became<br />
quite smart and comfortable. Our<br />
neighbours were a wonderfully diverse<br />
group of Indian families from all parts<br />
of the country and of every religion. Most<br />
were very sociable and we began to<br />
appreciate the huge diversity of Indian<br />
culture and cuisine. Nancy was in<br />
demand to teach the basics of English<br />
cookery – especially roast dinners –<br />
which became a regular midweek<br />
cookery class. This eventually developed<br />
into a series of weekend lunch parties<br />
featuring delicious cuisine from the<br />
various regions of India. One particularly<br />
gorgeous biryani required the<br />
preparation to start on Thursday evening<br />
to be ready for lunch on Sunday!<br />
Everyone naturally recommended that<br />
we should visit their home region. With<br />
only two weeks’ local leave in our twoyear<br />
contract this was going to be a tall<br />
order. However, with the amount of<br />
overtime we worked during major<br />
shutdowns, my very understanding boss<br />
let us take more leave than was due.<br />
Our leaves usually coincided with one<br />
or other element of the transport system<br />
going on strike, which didn’t help with<br />
planning; however, we managed a big<br />
circuit of the South, including Bangalore,<br />
Mysore, Madras (now Chennai), and<br />
Kerala. In the latter, we stayed in Cochin<br />
and had an overnight visit to a tea<br />
plantation whose generator was<br />
powered by an old Crossley gas engine<br />
Water Taxi<br />
FEATURE ARTIcLE<br />
– probably installed by my grandfather!<br />
Later on, we spent a week in Kashmir<br />
living on a houseboat on the Dal Lake<br />
in Srinagar, and towards the end of our<br />
stay spent a few days in Delhi, from<br />
where we visited Agra, including a visit<br />
to the Taj Mahal.<br />
By the time we left Bombay in September<br />
1974, India was in deep economic<br />
trouble. A few months later, the foreign<br />
oil companies were nationalised and<br />
Burmah-<strong>Shell</strong> became Bharat Petroleum.<br />
Mrs Gandhi declared a state of<br />
emergency, which stabilised the<br />
economy but at great cost to individual<br />
freedom, especially for the working<br />
classes. We always believed that<br />
economic liberalisation and investment<br />
would enable India to move forward<br />
rapidly, and although it has taken so<br />
long, it’s great to see the progress now<br />
being made.<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> NEWS | 19
FINANcE<br />
ShELL SmARTER<br />
DRiviNg TOP TiPS<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> has demonstrated that British motorists could<br />
save up to £500 annually on fuel by adopting their<br />
smarter driving tips.<br />
20 | <strong>SPA</strong> NEWS<br />
Roof rack? No.<br />
Putting your roof rack on only when you<br />
need it could save you up to 5% more fuel.<br />
Check fuel cap<br />
Simply make sure your cap is properly<br />
screwed on after every fill up. This<br />
prevents fuel from evaporating.<br />
Avoid excess weight<br />
For every extra 100 lbs (45kg) you<br />
carry in your car, your fuel efficiency<br />
can drop by 1-2%.<br />
Plan your trips<br />
Combining trips – like popping to the shops<br />
and family taxi duty – is the easiest way to<br />
conserve fuel.<br />
Avoid rush hour<br />
It's probably the most frustrating time to<br />
drive but avoiding rush hour also means<br />
you'll spend less time stuck in traffic,<br />
burning fuel.<br />
Use cruise control<br />
Using cruise control on main roads helps<br />
you maintain a constant speed, making<br />
every drop count.<br />
Use correct oil<br />
Using your car manufacturer's recommended<br />
motor oil can improve fuel economy by 1-2%.<br />
maintain speed<br />
When you hit a downward slope,<br />
maintain steady engine revs. You'll still<br />
have good momentum if you've then got<br />
a hill to climb.<br />
Keep hydrated<br />
Drinking water and ensuring you are well<br />
hydrated helps you concentrate better.<br />
When you are focused, you tend to drive<br />
more efficiently.<br />
Service your engine<br />
A dirty engine increases fuel consumption.<br />
Start by changing worn out spark plugs<br />
and reduce consumption by up to 5%.<br />
Tyre pressure<br />
If your tyres are under inflated by just 1psi<br />
(pound per square inch), fuel efficiency can<br />
be reduced by up to 3%. So check tyres<br />
once a week or whenever you fill up.<br />
Drive smoothly<br />
Don't drive aggressively – you'll burn up<br />
to a third more fuel than driving smoothly.<br />
Try not to brake or accelerate too hard and<br />
keep your steering as even as possible.<br />
minimal air-con<br />
Avoid using air conditioning on hot or cold<br />
days. It puts added strain on your engine,<br />
increasing fuel consumption by up to 8%.<br />
Try using your car's internal ventilation<br />
system instead.<br />
Use higher gears<br />
Driving slowly in a higher gear burns less<br />
fuel. It's best to change up a gear whenever<br />
you can.<br />
Avoid high speeds<br />
The faster you go, the more wind resistance<br />
you encounter. This forces your car to<br />
consume more fuel just to maintain speed.<br />
As little as 5mph (12kmph) can affect fuel<br />
economy by up to 23%.<br />
Avoid excess idling<br />
Idling gets you nowhere, but still burns<br />
fuel. If you are in a queue for around 10<br />
seconds or more, turn your engine off until<br />
you need it.<br />
Avoid over-revving<br />
Sending your rev counter into the red isn't<br />
good. So change gear in good time when<br />
you pull away or when accelerating.<br />
Keep windows closed<br />
Driving with your window open slows you<br />
down. This usually makes you put your foot<br />
down harder, using more fuel. Instead, use<br />
your car's internal ventilation system (not<br />
air conditioning).<br />
Check air filters<br />
Car engines are tough but they still need<br />
protection from impurities to work efficiently.<br />
Replacing a clogged air filter can improve<br />
fuel economy by up to 10%.
DEEP SLEEP DEEEP SLEEEP DEEEEP SLEEEEP …<br />
It’s not unusual to have trouble sleeping as<br />
we get older because sleeping patterns<br />
naturally change. This means that many of<br />
us struggle to get to sleep or stay asleep.<br />
This takes its toll because, contrary to<br />
common belief, we still need the same<br />
amount of sleep as we did when we were<br />
younger, according to the London Sleep<br />
Centre. They advise: “If you tend to wake<br />
up in the night or very early in the<br />
morning, light exposure will cause a shift<br />
in your body clock, so you'll need to make<br />
some changes to your routine in order to<br />
break the cycle and get a good night’s<br />
sleep. In particular, try to keep regular<br />
habits and routines. Keep regular<br />
bedtimes, avoid ‘lying in’ and, if you<br />
enjoy a daytime nap, schedule this for<br />
roughly the same time each day.”<br />
Most of us have trouble sleeping from time<br />
to time, especially if we're feeling stressed<br />
or anxious. Professor Kevin Morgan,<br />
Director of the Clinical Sleep Research Unit<br />
at Loughborough University, says: “If you<br />
wake up feeling reasonably refreshed,<br />
generally function properly during the day<br />
and feel sleepy around bedtime, then you're<br />
probably getting enough sleep.”<br />
However, if you frequently feel tired<br />
throughout the day, lack of sleep could<br />
be a problem. The main symptoms of<br />
insomnia are:<br />
• Difficulty falling asleep<br />
• Waking up in the night<br />
• Waking up early in the morning<br />
• Feeling tired, irritable and having<br />
trouble concentrating during the day<br />
Insomnia is more common in women than<br />
men, and also tends to increase with age.<br />
It can also be triggered by a stressful event,<br />
health problems and medication, including<br />
beta-blockers and HRT. While the occasional<br />
bad night’s sleep is unlikely to affect you<br />
too much, insomnia can have a huge impact<br />
on your daily life.<br />
“You know that insomnia has become a<br />
problem when your day is affected,”<br />
explains Professor Williams. “Lack of sleep<br />
is associated with poor performance at<br />
work and it can affect your mood, causing<br />
problems within your relationships. Poor<br />
sleep can also affect your appetite, making<br />
you more likely to crave unhealthy foods<br />
and gain weight.”<br />
Studies show that people with insomnia are<br />
more likely to suffer from anxiety and<br />
depression, heart failure and diabetes.<br />
Sleep deprivation can also lead to accidents<br />
and injuries and can affect memory,<br />
because sleep cycles give your brain a<br />
chance to consolidate memories.<br />
Sleeping tips<br />
Experts suggest getting into good habits,<br />
such as:<br />
• Going to bed and getting up at the<br />
same time every day<br />
• Establishing a bedtime routine<br />
• Making sure that your bed and bedding<br />
are comfortable<br />
• Avoiding caffeine, nicotine and alcohol<br />
in the evening<br />
• Not eating a heavy meal late at night<br />
• Avoiding exercise in the evening<br />
• Cutting out daytime naps<br />
• Keeping your bedroom cool and dark<br />
• Do not have TV and computers in the<br />
bedroom<br />
If you tend to wake up in the night and<br />
struggle to get back to sleep, get up and<br />
HEALTH<br />
go into another room. Avoid doing<br />
anything too involved, such as work or<br />
housework, and resist the temptation to<br />
turn on the television.<br />
Instead, try reading, listening to the radio<br />
or having a warm bath. Try going back to<br />
bed 20-30 minutes later and, if you still<br />
have chronic difficulties in getting to sleep<br />
or staying asleep – which lead to daytime<br />
fatigue – do the same thing again.<br />
Where to get help<br />
If you’ve only recently started having trouble<br />
sleeping, there’s no harm in asking your<br />
pharmacist for advice. “Over-the-counter<br />
remedies can be useful, provided they aren’t<br />
used on a regular basis,” says Professor<br />
Williams. But if your sleeping problems last<br />
for more than a month and none of the<br />
self-help measures seem to help, it’s a good<br />
idea to see your GP.<br />
This advice was sourced from Age <strong>UK</strong> and<br />
the London Sleep Centre.<br />
APOLOgiES<br />
The ‘Preparing for an Operation’<br />
article in the summer issue wrongly<br />
attributed the author as Margaret<br />
Waddell. It was, in fact, Julie<br />
Thompson, HMCA Medical Insurance,<br />
who provided the useful information.<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> NEWS | 21
MEET THE BRANcHES<br />
Scotland branch<br />
With just under 900 members, including<br />
partners, Scotland has by far the biggest<br />
branch. Many members worked in Expro,<br />
while some are ex-Fleet. Chairman Sandy<br />
Bowman joined the committee four years<br />
ago. Prior to retirement he spent seven years<br />
chairman, Sandy Bowman<br />
Northern ireland branch<br />
Northern Ireland branch is the youngest of<br />
all the branches. It was formed in June of<br />
2009, thanks to some sterling initial work<br />
by Eleanor Brennan early in 2009, who<br />
managed to instil a need among the <strong>SPA</strong><br />
members. Subsequently, Helen Page came<br />
over for an inaugural branch meeting and<br />
assisted the <strong>SPA</strong> members who turned out<br />
to set up a committee.<br />
The present committee comprises:<br />
John melville – Chairman. Ex <strong>Shell</strong><br />
Tankers; ex QGPC; Ex PDO and Ex <strong>Shell</strong><br />
Expro, Aberdeen. He is just about Ex’d out<br />
but keeps on going.<br />
Alma Atkins – Secretary. Starting off with<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> Mex & BP at the Belfast terminal, Alma<br />
went through several morphs, ending up in<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> Mex House in London as Commercial<br />
Dept. Team Lead.<br />
Capt. malcolm Cowton – Treasurer<br />
22 | <strong>SPA</strong> NEWS<br />
in Nigeria, providing support for floating<br />
production, storage, and offtake (FPSO)<br />
units. Brian Welch, another ex-Nigeria man,<br />
is the newest recruit to the committee. Others<br />
include Colin Ferrier and Eleanor Brennan<br />
(also a national committee member), and<br />
Tricia Hunter the Treasurer.<br />
Their most successful event is the annual<br />
summer barbecue at Woodbank, which is<br />
always a sell-out. The venue is also popular<br />
for the New Year Sunday lunch. Because<br />
of the size of the branch and the diversity<br />
of its members, interest in other events is<br />
variable. There is a keen walking group;<br />
this is not part of the branch per se, but<br />
joins with other groups.<br />
Twenty-eight members recently renewed<br />
their first aid certificate, receiving training<br />
(where’s the receipt?!) A late-comer to <strong>Shell</strong><br />
Tankers, having spent his formative<br />
seagoing time with The Haine Steamship<br />
Co, Malcolm is involved in all things Marine<br />
from the local Seaman’s Mission to the <strong>Shell</strong><br />
Fleet reunions.<br />
John young – Committee Member and<br />
also our PLR. John goes back to the dark<br />
and distant past days of <strong>Shell</strong> Mex & BP.<br />
bobby brown – Committee Member.<br />
Bobby has been a sterling member of the<br />
committee since start-up.<br />
Alan murphy – Committee Member - the<br />
new boy on the block.<br />
We have around 140 <strong>SPA</strong> members in<br />
Northern Ireland with some 50 of those<br />
who are also NI<strong>SPA</strong> members. This, of<br />
course, does not include their spouses. We<br />
charge for NI<strong>SPA</strong> membership (now down<br />
to £5) to cover postage and production of<br />
Giant's causeway<br />
from mountain rescue on CPR (cardiopulmonary<br />
resuscitation) and survival<br />
techniques when out and about on the hills.<br />
This is probably reassuring to the walking<br />
group!<br />
Other unusual social events included a visit<br />
to a police station to see how staff and cars<br />
are controlled, and a trip to the<br />
meteorological office. Future trips include<br />
a visit to a garden centre to understand the<br />
mysteries of autumn pruning and a tour<br />
around Grampian Fire Service HQ.<br />
Sandy explained that the biggest change<br />
over the last few years is the number of<br />
members now on email – almost 80%,<br />
which cuts down the cost of paperwork,<br />
and has allowed them to keep the<br />
subscription at just £5 for two years.<br />
Top: Malcolm, John M, Bobby; Bottom: Alan,<br />
Alma, John Y<br />
newsletters, flyers etc. We would love to<br />
charge zero but there are only 15 members<br />
who have access to email or other ‘free’<br />
communication methods.<br />
Our activities are varied but usually have<br />
some local interest. We visited the site of<br />
the Battle of the Boyne and had a tour of<br />
Shanes Castle, and have recently had a<br />
trip to the Bushmills Distillery, the oldest<br />
licensed whiskey in the world. While we<br />
were in the area a visit to the Giants<br />
Causeway seemed a good idea, too.<br />
We’re always on the look out for new<br />
venues to visit and maintain an interest for<br />
our fellow pensioners. It is particularly<br />
difficult getting something to suit everyone.<br />
Outings usually involve 25-30 people, and<br />
our Annual dinner attracts around 50 – not<br />
too bad when you consider a NI<strong>SPA</strong><br />
membership of 50!
cONGRATuLATIONS – MEMBERS’ ANNIVERSARIES<br />
Blue Sapphire (65 years)<br />
Jean & Geoffrey golding of Corringham, Essex – 28 June. Geoffrey was a Planning<br />
Supervisor at <strong>Shell</strong> Haven Refinery.<br />
Ruth & Rab Suttill of Guildford, Surrey – 25 July. Rab retired from <strong>Shell</strong> Exploration<br />
& Production in 1974.<br />
Jean & Geoffrey Golding<br />
Diamond (60 Years)<br />
Irene & Walter James of Higher<br />
Bebington, 26 July. Walter worked at<br />
Stanlow in Operations for 31 years.<br />
Barbara & Reg Roberts of Dunfermline<br />
– 19 July. Reg worked for <strong>Shell</strong><br />
International prior to retirement.<br />
Iris & Roland harriott of Rochester – 21<br />
June. Roland worked in <strong>Shell</strong> Tankers <strong>UK</strong><br />
for 31 years and was a former PLR.<br />
Irene & Walter James<br />
Terry & Douglas Sorensen of<br />
Sanderstead – 9 August. Douglas worked<br />
at <strong>Shell</strong> Mex House.<br />
Dorothy & George haddock of Ellesmere<br />
Port – 14 June. They first met in<br />
Woolworths – a week later she was asked<br />
for a dance at the Mersey Iron Works<br />
Club and the rest is history. George<br />
worked in the Laboratory at Thornton<br />
Research Centre for 25 years.<br />
Dorothy & George Haddock<br />
Golden (50 Years)<br />
cONGRATuLATIONS<br />
Pat & Les Turner of Costa Blanca – 7 July.<br />
Les worked for <strong>Shell</strong> Expro for 31 years.<br />
Mary & Charlie Cater of Effingham,<br />
Surrey – 7 July. Charlie was a tanker<br />
driver at Wandsworth Terminal for 18<br />
years.<br />
Brenda & David Sullivan of Cheltenham<br />
– 14 July. Prior to retirement David<br />
worked at Gatwick Airport.<br />
100 yEARS OLD<br />
Pat & Les Turner<br />
Muriel Gater celebrated her 100th<br />
birthday on 16 June with afternoon<br />
tea with family and friends at a<br />
local hotel, her card from the Queen<br />
never far away. Her PLR, Janet<br />
Woollett, gave her a planted rose<br />
tree for her courtyard garden.<br />
Muriel lives alone in Tenderden,<br />
Kent; she is an adult dependent of<br />
her late brother, Vernon Maw, who<br />
worked in SIPC for 40 years.<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> NEWS | 23
SHELL cENTRE<br />
ThE viSiON FOR ShELL CENTRE TAKES ShAPE<br />
The <strong>Shell</strong> Centre site is set to go through an<br />
exciting redevelopment project to improve<br />
the public, cultural and retail offering on<br />
the Southbank.<br />
Why redevelop? <strong>Shell</strong> Centre is 50<br />
years old and ways of working have<br />
changed dramatically; you only have to<br />
watch the You Tube video of <strong>Shell</strong> Centre<br />
life in the 60s (www.youtube.com/<br />
watch?v=8zUQD1p9bXY ), to see long thin<br />
corridors, cellular offices and completely<br />
different technology from what we use<br />
today. <strong>Shell</strong> needs a modern open plan<br />
office environment to best support the<br />
business and no longer requires rifle ranges<br />
or hairdressing salons in the building!<br />
Following an extensive evaluation<br />
process, <strong>Shell</strong> has signed an agreement<br />
with Braeburn Estates to redevelop the<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> Centre site, excluding the Tower<br />
building, which has been refurbished in<br />
the last few years.<br />
Braeburn Estates is a joint venture between<br />
Qatari Diar and Canary Wharf Group –<br />
two world-class developers with a strong<br />
track record of delivering projects in London<br />
that help enhance and regenerate local<br />
areas. Their proposal replaces the outdated<br />
24 | <strong>SPA</strong> NEWS<br />
wing buildings with a mix of office,<br />
residential and retail buildings to deliver new<br />
interest and activity on this important site.<br />
Towards the end of last year 1,700 staff<br />
moved out of <strong>Shell</strong> Centre to Canary Wharf<br />
and The Strand to allow the redevelopment<br />
to begin. A massive recycling operation<br />
has been completed to empty the wings,<br />
which included moving 8,500 pieces of<br />
furniture, 2,100 keyboards, 1,670 monitors<br />
and 340 printers. Business critical IT routes<br />
and equipment, along with utilities, are<br />
being relocated to the Tower basement to<br />
ensure the Tower continues to operate<br />
before, during and after the redevelopment.<br />
Jubilee Gardens has been totally rebuilt<br />
and landscaped, part-funded by <strong>Shell</strong>, to<br />
a high standard with granite paving, an<br />
adventure playground, seating and colourful<br />
flower beds.<br />
Timescales Braeburn Estates has been<br />
consulting with the local community and<br />
key stakeholders to actively involve all<br />
interested parties in the initial ideas and<br />
planning process. It is anticipated that<br />
around the end of <strong>2012</strong> the detailed<br />
planning applications will be submitted,<br />
with permission granted late 2013 to<br />
mid 2014; shortly thereafter demolition<br />
and redevelopment will commence. The<br />
project is expected to complete sometime<br />
in 2017/18.<br />
What will it look like? As well as<br />
owning and occupying the Tower building,<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> has agreed to lease another 210,000<br />
sq. ft. of new office space on the site. This<br />
will allow the company to bring its entire<br />
London workforce of around 3,500 staff<br />
together on the Southbank.<br />
The new <strong>Shell</strong> office will be located on the<br />
south east corner of the site, facing York<br />
Road and Chicheley Street. The design will<br />
complement the portland stone of the Tower,<br />
and the building will step up from four floors<br />
on Chicheley Street to 10 floors, where<br />
new bridge links will connect it directly to<br />
the Tower. There will be several large roof<br />
gardens incorporated into the new office<br />
layout. The public realm will consist of<br />
covered walkways connecting the new<br />
building to the Tower.<br />
The remaining area on the site will provide<br />
a mix of offices, retail and restaurant outlets,<br />
a new public square and more than 650<br />
homes. The redeveloped site will be<br />
serviced from below ground where there<br />
will also be limited car parking and space<br />
for 1,000 bicycles.<br />
Just to the east of York Road new plans have<br />
also taken shape for the redevelopment of<br />
Elizabeth House (between <strong>Shell</strong> Centre and<br />
Waterloo station), which if approved later<br />
this year will also help to improve the area.<br />
This scheme by a different development<br />
group will provide two new public squares<br />
linking Waterloo Station to York Road. Plans<br />
for the <strong>Shell</strong> Centre site integrate fully with<br />
the Elizabeth House proposal and improve<br />
pedestrian links through the <strong>Shell</strong> Centre<br />
site to the South Bank and Jubilee Gardens.<br />
The ideas extend to providing improved<br />
pedestrian usage of Chichley Street and<br />
Belvedere Road through ‘shared surfaces’<br />
along the lines of the highly acclaimed<br />
project in Exhibition Road.<br />
I am interested to see how the ideas<br />
progress and once built how much the<br />
homes sell for, but doubt I will be able to<br />
afford one of the new riverfront apartments.<br />
helen Page<br />
Change<br />
of PLR<br />
Viv Perry, Pensioner Liaison Representative<br />
for Cardiff & Swansea, has been replaced<br />
by Peter Rees. Peter started in distribution,<br />
before covering various field-based jobs,<br />
including commercial fuels, lubricants and<br />
retail sales, in both the company and dealerowned<br />
markets. Tel: 01792 362334
FORTHcOMINg REUNIONS<br />
Agrichemical golf: About 35<br />
pensioners compete each autumn. Contact<br />
David Young 01883 712578.<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> venezuela Reunion is held<br />
each year in London. It is open to all<br />
personnel and their families who served<br />
anywhere in the Caracas region, i.e. the<br />
whole of the Western Hemisphere,<br />
except North America, Argentina and<br />
Brazil. Next one, 9 May 2013, contact:<br />
andylcole@talktalk.net<br />
materials: October 4 <strong>2012</strong> will be the<br />
last Materials reunion. The organisers<br />
are keen that, after 50 years, the event<br />
goes off with a bang at a Champagne<br />
reception and lunch. Contact Marion<br />
Walker: 020 8462 6780<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> mex and bP Computing<br />
Staff: September 29 <strong>2012</strong>, with an<br />
overnight stay at The Abbey Hotel,<br />
Redditch, for those who were involved<br />
in the SMBP Computing Service at Hemel<br />
Hempstead or Wythenshawe (Technical<br />
Staff or users of the LEO or UNIVAC<br />
Computer Services)<br />
Transport and Storage Division<br />
will be held in September <strong>2012</strong> in the<br />
Chester area. Contact Bob Worboys.<br />
Tel: 01244 383607, Email:<br />
bobworboys@talktalk.net<br />
Wandsworth Drivers from the 60s<br />
and 70s: the reunion will be 26 October.<br />
Contact Trevor Vickers: 020 8942 3532<br />
Ferranti Computers: David Powell-<br />
Evans worked for <strong>Shell</strong> in the late 1950s<br />
on the company's first computers, notably<br />
the Ferranti Mark1* in Holland and the<br />
Ferranti Mercury in Trent House, St. Mary<br />
Axe and would like to hold a reunion<br />
with ex-colleagues: 0208 946 1539<br />
dpe@blueyonder.co.uk<br />
SC<strong>UK</strong>/SiCC Chemicals Reunion Lunch<br />
will take place on Thursday 18 April 2013<br />
at Lensbury. Contact Jon Warnke on<br />
jgwarnke@aool.com or 01483 417387<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> Chemicals Seniors' golf Day<br />
will be 8 May 2013 in Sunningdale,<br />
Surrey. Contact Martin Edsall: mgedsall@<br />
waitrose.com<br />
Far East: April 2013 at the Lensbury Club.<br />
Organiser, Don Cheshire: 01732 454454<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> Lubricants <strong>UK</strong>/<strong>Shell</strong> Oils <strong>UK</strong>,<br />
industrial markets: The third one will<br />
be on 15 April 2013, again, probably in<br />
the Worcester area. Contact Neil Bown:<br />
nimbo@btinternet.com or 01630 647129<br />
bridge Tournament: <strong>Shell</strong> hosts an<br />
annual world bridge tournament in<br />
November. If you are interested in<br />
REuNIONS<br />
fielding a seniors’ team contact John<br />
Cumming: 01372 815162, email:<br />
seajac@globalnet.co.uk<br />
marine will be held at Lensbury on<br />
Friday 19 October for retired staff of<br />
SIM, STASCo and ST<strong>UK</strong>. Contact Rod<br />
Brown: Email rodney.g.brown@<br />
btinternet.com, Tel 020 8642 9583<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> Expro Finance: Mike Mackie<br />
and Phil Turberville are planning another<br />
reunion for staff who worked in Finance<br />
in the 70s. The venue is likely to be<br />
Woodbank in October 2013. Contact<br />
mike@mackies.org.uk<br />
50th Anniversary of the brunei<br />
Rebellion: The Royal Marines Museum<br />
in Portsmouth will be holding a<br />
commemoration on 12 December <strong>2012</strong><br />
and are keen to hear from any <strong>Shell</strong> staff<br />
who were in Brunei in 1962. Contact<br />
Colonel Ian Moore, CBE:<br />
ianmelhummoore@blueyonder.co.uk<br />
SiTCO - iTP (1980s vintage!)<br />
Reunion: Amanda Hunt would like an<br />
ITP reunion for those working in those<br />
dim and distant days. She has signed<br />
up quite a few already. London, Friday<br />
26 October in the evening, venue tba.<br />
Contact: preferably email: bunkerhunt@<br />
blueyonder.co.uk or 07595 170125.<br />
Lubricants Oil uK recent reunion<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> NEWS | 25
TIME OuT<br />
LiFE ThROUgh A LENS:<br />
wIN £250 IN THIS YEAR’S PHOTO cOMPETITION<br />
Get out the camera and start snapping.<br />
We are pleased, once again, to run a<br />
photography competition, sponsored by<br />
Select Insurance Services (provided by<br />
Sutton Winson). The theme this year is:<br />
“Active Life in Retirement” suggested by<br />
Brian Hope, Scottish branch.<br />
You may submit up to two photos, in any<br />
format, by email or post, to reach the<br />
Secretary by 31 October. The entry that<br />
best reflects the title will be awarded a<br />
gift voucher for £250; two runners-up<br />
will each receive £150 and £50<br />
vouchers. The winning entry will not be<br />
judged purely on technical quality;<br />
capturing the spirit of the title is equally<br />
important, giving everyone a fair chance.<br />
Entries will be judged by Sutton Winson<br />
and the <strong>SPA</strong> National Committee. If<br />
sending hard-copy photos, please<br />
indicate if you require them to be<br />
returned. We will display the winning<br />
photos in a future issue of <strong>SPA</strong><strong>News</strong> and<br />
on our Facebook page.<br />
Select Insurance Services provides high<br />
quality products backed by great<br />
26 | <strong>SPA</strong> NEWS<br />
Photo comp last winning entry. cream tea by Jeanette Jones<br />
customer service. Contact their team for<br />
a quote on 0800 783 3723 (0845 to<br />
1700, Mon to Fri) or visit www.<br />
suttonwinson.com/spa Home, Car, Travel<br />
and Pet insurance provided.<br />
Free tickets to ‘Seduced by Art: Photography<br />
Past and Present’ at The National Gallery<br />
As part of <strong>Shell</strong>’s corporate membership<br />
with the National Gallery, we are giving<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> members the opportunity to see<br />
‘Seduced by Art: Photography Past and<br />
Present’ for free. This groundbreaking<br />
show explores the relationship between<br />
historical painting, early photography of<br />
the mid-19th century, and some of the<br />
most exciting work being done by<br />
photographers today. Seduced by Art<br />
takes a provocative look at how<br />
photographers use fine art traditions,<br />
including Old Master paintings, to explore<br />
and justify the possibilities of their art.<br />
Far from being a general survey, the<br />
exhibition draws attention to one<br />
particular and rich strand of<br />
photography’s history, in major early<br />
works by the greatest British and French<br />
practitioners alongside photographs by<br />
an international array of contemporary<br />
artists. The show includes new<br />
photography and video specially<br />
commissioned for the exhibition and on<br />
public display for the first time, plus<br />
works rarely seen in the <strong>UK</strong>.<br />
The show includes almost 90 photographs<br />
alongside selected paintings from the<br />
National Gallery’s collection, and runs<br />
from November <strong>2012</strong> to 13 January<br />
2013. <strong>SPA</strong> members are eligible to apply<br />
for two tickets each; numbers are limited<br />
and will be allocated on a first come first<br />
serve basis. Please apply in writing or<br />
email to Helen Page. Successful applicants<br />
will be notified by the end of October.<br />
© X7796 Richard Learoyd Man with<br />
Octopus Tattoo II, 2011 Unique Ilfochrome<br />
photograph148.6 x 125.7cm © Richard<br />
Learoyd, courtesy McKee Gallery New YorK
ThE hyDRO hOTEL iN EASTbOURNE<br />
From its cliff top position above<br />
Eastbourne, the Hydro features<br />
uninterrupted views of the sea and the<br />
cliffs towards Beachy Head. There are<br />
83 ensuite bedrooms, two restaurants,<br />
multiple lounges, a cocktail bar, outdoor<br />
pool, hair salon, beauty room for spa<br />
treatments, and onsite car park.<br />
It’s a five-minute walk down to the<br />
beach, a 10-minute walk to Eastbourne<br />
town centre or 15-minute’s stroll to the<br />
base of the South Downs National Park.<br />
Local attractions include the Towner<br />
Gallery, Beachy Head and Seven<br />
Sisters, Michelam Priory, Glyndebourne,<br />
Pevensey Castle, and Charleston Manor<br />
as well as picturesque villages such as<br />
Alfriston and Firle.<br />
The hotel offers autumn and winter<br />
breaks that include 3-course dinner and<br />
DISNEY ON IcE – PASSPORT TO ADVENTURE<br />
Join Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse on a journey into the magical worlds of<br />
Disney’s The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Peter Pan and Lilo & Stitch. Discover Ariel<br />
and Sebastian’s enchanting undersea kingdom; visit the Pride Lands with Simba and<br />
Nala; soar through starry skies with Peter Pan and his sassy fairy friend Tinker Bell;<br />
and say “aloha” to fun with Lilo and Stitch.<br />
The production is touring: Glasgow: September/October; Newcastle and Manchester:<br />
October; Birmingham: October/November; Sheffield: November; and Wembley:<br />
December, January.<br />
DB Promotions are offering members 20% discount on weekday tickets. Weekend<br />
tickets are full-price but with a reduced booking fee. There are additional savings<br />
for groups of 15 or more, with the exception of Birmingham.<br />
For details and booking call 0121 308 4511 and quote “<strong>Shell</strong>” or via their website:<br />
www.dbpromotions.co.uk/partnerdiscounts-passporttoadventure.htm<br />
TIME OuT<br />
breakfast. October <strong>2012</strong> breaks from<br />
£67.50 per person per night, and<br />
winter breaks (1 November <strong>2012</strong> and<br />
28 February 28 2013) start from<br />
£57.50 per person.<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> member offer: Use the code<br />
SHELL10 to receive an additional 10%<br />
discount. Call 01323 720643 or book<br />
online at www.hydrohotel.com using<br />
your code.<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> NEWS | 27
BRANcH cONTAcTS<br />
28 | <strong>SPA</strong> NEWS<br />
East Anglia - Suffolk Punch Trust<br />
Kent branch at Bletchley<br />
North London & Herts Olympic tour<br />
Northumberland & Durham, Black Sheep<br />
Brewery & Wensleydale cheese Factory<br />
ChEShiRE<br />
Doug Brice | Tel: 0151 200 1013 | Email: dbrice@ntlworld.com<br />
1st Tuesday of the month, Talks/presentations, Whitby Social Club<br />
ChiLTERNS & ThAmES vALLEy<br />
JudithTurner | Tel: 01895 637188 | Email: judith.turner@talk21.com<br />
6 Dec Christmas lunch, Sonning Golf Club<br />
CUmbRiA & LANCAShiRE<br />
Ken Lovell | Tel: 01900 823414 | Email: kennethlovell@btinternet.com<br />
27 Sep Carnforth Railway Station, lunch and guided tour<br />
17 Oct Theatre by the Lake Keswick, matinee performance followed by<br />
cream tea<br />
3 Dec Christmas lunch, Crooklands Hotel, Kendal<br />
DEvON & CORNWALL<br />
David Watters | Tel: 01803 856648 | Email: dgwatters@connectfree.co.uk<br />
4 Dec Christmas lunch, Moorland Garden Hotel in Yelverton<br />
EAST ANgLiA<br />
Sally Brown | Tel: 01502 585023 | Email: spbrown.gilpin@virgin.net<br />
19 Oct Lunch, Crown Inn, Westleton, Suffolk<br />
6 Dec AGM and Christmas Lunch, Park Farm Hotel, Hethersett<br />
ESSEx<br />
Iris Shaw | Tel: 01375 679908 | Email: irisshaw@tiscali.co.ukt<br />
4 Oct Denbies Winery and Brewery<br />
Guest speaker each month<br />
gREATER mANChESTER<br />
(details on branch website)<br />
Bryan Clarke | Tel: 0161 456 5083 | Email: groveblue@sky.com<br />
Branch website www.spa-manchester.org.uk<br />
Regular events: flat walking every 3rd Thurs, hill walking every 2nd Weds<br />
14 Oct Saltaire Village<br />
24 Nov Ulverston Christmas Market<br />
26-30 Nov Tinsel and Turkey Holiday, Northumberland<br />
Nov tba Ulverston Christmas Market<br />
3 Dec Christmas Lunch at Sale Conservative Club<br />
5 Jun 13 Weston Super Mare – holiday, bookings being taken<br />
iSLE OF mAN<br />
David Wilson | Tel: 01624 833510 | Email: dave-wilson@manx.net<br />
iSLE OF WighT<br />
Elaine Gourlay | Tel: 01983 209617 | Email: cdpryce@onwight.net<br />
19 Oct Lunch & talk by <strong>SPA</strong> representative, Boat House, Ryde<br />
16 Nov Lunch and AGM, Pointer Inn, Newchurch<br />
7 Dec Coffee Morning, Cowes<br />
KENT<br />
Elaine Egalton | Tel: 01795 520117 | Email: elaine@egalton.co.uk<br />
18 Oct Annual Lunch, Boughton Golf Club, near Favershamt<br />
ThE mARChES<br />
Gill Stovold | Tel: 01568 760241 | Email: gill.stovold@virgin.net<br />
17 Oct Lunch and AGM, Cadmore Lodge<br />
miDShiRES<br />
Alan Chandler | Tel: 0121 705 1648 | Email: alan.16@blueyonder.co.uk<br />
24 Oct AGM & lunch, The Terrace restaurant, Brownhills<br />
6 Dec Christmas Lunch, Henley Golf Club
NORTh LONDON & hERTS<br />
Robert Hillyard | Tel: 01707 654165 | Email: robert_hillyard@hotmail.com<br />
25 Oct Ramble and pub lunch<br />
28 Nov Lunch, The Cricketers, Clavering<br />
20 Mar Lunch & AGM, Brookman’s Park<br />
NORTh & miD hANTS<br />
Malcolm Wells | Tel: 01256 346743 | Email: malcolm.j.wells@btinternet.com<br />
24 Oct Lunch, Keats Restaurant, Ampfield, near Romsey<br />
20 Nov Lunch, George Hotel, Odiham<br />
11 Dec Christmas Lunch, North Hants Golf Club, Fleet<br />
NORThERN iRELAND<br />
Alma Atkins | Tel: 02890 839003 | Email: jim@atkins7883.fsnet.co.uk<br />
29 Nov Annual Dinner Dance, Corr's Corner Hotel, Newtownabbey<br />
NORThUmbERLAND & DURhAm<br />
Doug Renton | Tel: 0191 252 5331 | Email: douglas.renton1@virginmedia.com<br />
3 Oct Pub-lunch, Castle Eden Inn, near Hartlepool<br />
11 Dec Christmas lunch<br />
SCOTLAND<br />
June Wilson | Email: sspamembershipsec@gmail.com<br />
Branch website: www.sspasite.co.uk, webmaster: Colin Ferrier<br />
24 Oct Visit to Banchory Lodge<br />
1 Nov Management briefing, Woodbank<br />
9 Nov Quiz night, Woodbank<br />
SELKENT<br />
Sylvia Sellers | Tel: 01732 455523 | Email: sylvia.sellers1@btinternet.com<br />
2 Oct Lunch and Cameo Opera<br />
15 Nov <strong>Autumn</strong> Lunch, Bromley Court Hotel<br />
SEvERN & AvON<br />
Gerry Mapson | Tel: 01452 712084 | Email: camap.gb@blueyonder.co.uk<br />
18 Oct Bristol Golf Club talk, The Silk Road<br />
22 Nov Egypt Mill: Bill talk, the Invasion of Sicily<br />
SOUTh hANTS & DORSET<br />
Colin Lambert | Tel: 01202 749676 | Email: colin_lambert@sky.com<br />
5 Dec Christmas Lunch, Cumberland Hotel, Bournemouth<br />
SOUTh WALES<br />
Mavis Morgan | Tel: 01792 <strong>2012</strong>76 | Email: mavis-morgan@o2 co.uk<br />
4 Dec Christmas lunch, Atlantic Hotel, Porthcawl<br />
EAST SURREy<br />
Denis Reed | Tel: 020 8942 2388 | Email: denis.reed@blueyonder.co.uk<br />
27 Sep & 3 Oct Royal Opera House & backstage tour<br />
6 Nov <strong>Autumn</strong> lunch, Reigate Manor<br />
WEST SURREy<br />
Margaret Parsons | Tel: 01483 811103 | Email: mike_margaretparsons@<br />
btinternet.com<br />
4 Oct Rose Theatre, Kingston<br />
18 Oct Poppy Factory, Richmond<br />
23 Nov AGM & <strong>Autumn</strong> Lunch, Effingham Golf Club<br />
SUSSEx<br />
Clive Woollaston | Tel: 01424 437572 | Email: clivewoollaston@btinternet.com<br />
25 Oct AGM, Windsor Hotel, Worthing<br />
yORKShiRE<br />
Hanneke Wood | Tel: Contact <strong>SPA</strong> | Email: pandhwood@mac.com<br />
Jan tbc Christmas lunch, Churchill Hotel, York<br />
Feb Visit to Richmond, and Georgian theatre tour<br />
BRANcH cONTAcTS<br />
North and Mid Hants concorde<br />
experience Brooklands Museum<br />
North and Mid Hants lunch<br />
South Hants & Dorset<br />
Sussex - Highdown Gardens<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> NEWS | 29
OBITuARIES<br />
We regret to report the death of the<br />
following members. We will include<br />
in this column the death of spouses<br />
of members; however, we are totally<br />
reliant on you advising us of such<br />
details. We are not notified of last work<br />
location of the deceased pensioner, but<br />
this can be included if we are informed<br />
via spouse, former colleagues etc.<br />
Alam, Muhammad Zafar (76) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died 6 February<br />
Armitage, Mrs M (90) – widow of<br />
P.B. Armitage – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products<br />
Ltd died 7 May<br />
Atkinson, Gordon William (96) –<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products died 31 May<br />
Atkinson, Mrs. Jean (82) wife of<br />
Kenneth – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Stanlow died<br />
30 May<br />
Atkinson, Philip Michael (81) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd – <strong>Shell</strong> Centre<br />
dated 24 June<br />
babb, Miss Nesta R (63) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil Products Ltd died 18 June<br />
baillon, Austin Gabriel (92) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died 23 May<br />
bashforth, Mrs Mary (97) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil Products Ltd died 8 April<br />
bearman, Mrs R.E. (91) widow of<br />
Eric – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died<br />
14 June<br />
beswick, Peter (84) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 16 June<br />
betteley, Robert K (83) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products died 1 June<br />
bettell, Alan (77) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 17 March<br />
bevis, Brian Edward (73) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil – Stanlow Lubs Centre died 17 June<br />
bowater, Benjamin M (81) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil – Barton Lubricants died 17 May<br />
brazier, Mrs P.L (84) widow of A.J.C<br />
Brazier – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died<br />
2 June<br />
bremner, George (80) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 16 January<br />
brock, Mrs Caroline Jane (59) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil – Aberdeen died 29 April<br />
bullough, Dr John Bruce Bomiley (65)<br />
– Enterprise Oil died 7 March<br />
bush, John B (74) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products – Carrington died 26 May<br />
30 | <strong>SPA</strong> NEWS<br />
Cable, Mrs Pauline M (88) widow of<br />
John William – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products<br />
Ltd died 12 April<br />
Campbell, Howard Hindmarch (90) –<br />
SIPCo Ltd died 23 February<br />
Campbell, Barbara A (88) widow<br />
of Howard Hindmarch – SIPCo died<br />
1 April<br />
Cantwell, John W.L (83) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil Products died 30 May<br />
Clark, Mrs Ruth (82) wife of Gordon –<br />
SI-Eastern died 25 June<br />
Clarke, Mrs C.M (84) widow of A.<br />
Clarke – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died<br />
27 March<br />
Colley, Mrs Doris (89) widow of<br />
Thomas Henry – <strong>Shell</strong> International Ltd<br />
died 16 April<br />
Conners, Leslie (84) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 9 July<br />
Cording, Donald Arthur (77) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd – <strong>Shell</strong> Centre died<br />
17 May<br />
Cowley, N (66) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil –<br />
Wythenshawe died 4 August<br />
Davies, Ellis David (75) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil Products – Stanlow Refinery died<br />
30 May<br />
Davies, Mrs D.J. (69) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 21 April<br />
Dennis, Thomas Ronald (88) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died 8 June<br />
Diamond, Peter Forester (81) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died 21 May<br />
Dodwell, T.L.R. (97) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd – died 16 May<br />
Edwards, Thomas Leslie (89) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died 13 July<br />
Elliott, Maxwell (94) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 30 June<br />
English, Miss Joan Vera (87) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died 19 May<br />
Farrow, Alan R (68) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil –<br />
Lowestoft died 30 April<br />
Fisher, Mrs E.W (98) widow of A.<br />
Fisher – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products died<br />
17 July<br />
Ford, Mrs Jean (76) widow of Peter<br />
Gerald – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died<br />
28 May<br />
Frewer, Capt Peter John (77) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil Products – <strong>Shell</strong> Centre died 16 May<br />
Frost, John Colin (68) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd – Lowestoft died 23 June<br />
gilchrist, Hector D (86) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil Products Ltd – Stanlow Refinery<br />
died 27 April<br />
goodchild, William A (87) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died 9 April<br />
gordon, Mrs Marjorie Elizabeth (88)<br />
widow of I.E.S. Gordon – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 3 May<br />
gosling, Walter Joseph (92) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd – died 25 June<br />
grinstead, George Frederick (86) –<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products died 12 April<br />
hall, Lawrence Richard (91) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died 30 May<br />
hardick, Kenneth C (89) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil Products Ltd died 23 May<br />
harding, Mrs Rose Violet (89)<br />
widow of A. Harding – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 12 June<br />
harries, Tudor (91) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 24 July<br />
hatch, Alan (83) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products died 19 July<br />
henley, Desmond George (85) –<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died 20 May<br />
hickey, John (87) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 16 January<br />
hill, Mrs B.T (85) widow of J.F. Hill –<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died 19 June<br />
hodgson, Mrs K (84) widow of G.J.<br />
Hatherley – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products died<br />
25 March<br />
holland, Mrs Dorothy (88) wife of<br />
Dutchy – S<strong>UK</strong>O – Stanlow died 3 July<br />
holyman, Miss Barbara L (90) –<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died 22 May<br />
honeyman, Ian Henry (65) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil – Killingholme Terminal died<br />
3 July<br />
houston, Alan Carswell (79) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil – Thornton died 2 July<br />
howell, Ronald Dennis (88) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died 27 June<br />
hutchinson, R.F.A. (101) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil Products Ltd died 16 May<br />
isted, George Albert (87) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil – Stanlow Refinery died 22 June<br />
Johnston, J.M. (65) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd – Carrington died 3 March<br />
Jones, Miss Phyllis (92) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 28 June
Jones, Peter (74) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil –<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> Mex House –Strand died 8 July<br />
Kemp, Mrs P.A. (87) widow of S.G.<br />
Kemp – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died<br />
13 May<br />
Lang, Alfred Thomas (80) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil – Haydock Terminal died 17 March<br />
Lewis, Brian (76) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil –<br />
Jarrow Terminal died 2 July<br />
Lincoln, Alan (78) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil –<br />
Teesport Refinery died 19 April<br />
Loible, John Elliott (85) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 6 July<br />
Long, Mrs. Rosemary (91) widow of<br />
L. Long – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died<br />
22 May<br />
Low, William John (80) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 16 June<br />
mackenzie, William M.C (86) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died 25 June<br />
marks, James (89) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 10 June<br />
marks, L (85) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products<br />
Ltd died 26 April<br />
maywood, Raymond E (79) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd – <strong>Shell</strong> Haven<br />
Refinery died 13 April<br />
mcgough, John James (86) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil – Barton Lubricants died 2 April<br />
milne, A.W (86) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil –<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> Centre died 6 June<br />
moore, John Peter (81) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 19 June<br />
morgan, Mrs H (91) widow of J.L.<br />
Morgan – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products died<br />
1 May<br />
munby, R.K (92) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 29 May<br />
Nelson, Cyril James (82) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil Products Ltd – Fleet <strong>Shell</strong> Tankers<br />
died 4 June<br />
Nicholson, William (86) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil Products Ltd died 19 July<br />
O’brien, Dennis (87) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 10 July<br />
Pallett, Mrs D.M. (94) widow of L.C.<br />
Pallett – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died<br />
13 June<br />
Patton, W (74) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products<br />
– Stanlow Refinery died 4 August<br />
Perkins, Mrs E.P (82) – widow of J.J.<br />
Perkin – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died<br />
25 June<br />
Pritchard, Derek (85) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
– Stanlow Refinery died 11 June<br />
Proctor, Mrs Margaret (73) – widow<br />
of Charles Brian – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 15 June<br />
Pyle, Andrew Cyril (64) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 5 May<br />
Raeburn, Robert (81) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products – <strong>Shell</strong> Centre died 10 May<br />
Reeve, Mrs N.C. (97) widow of G.H.<br />
Reeve – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died<br />
7 June<br />
Reeves, Alan Herbert (73) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil – Stanlow Refinery died 6 July<br />
Revie, Henry Hudson (90) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil Products Ltd died 30 May<br />
Richards, Mrs Gladys (90) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil Products Ltd died 13 May<br />
Roberts, David Lewis (93) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil Products Ltd died 28 July<br />
Robinson, Dr Allan (66) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd – Thornton died 21 May<br />
Rosher, Peter Harold (85) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil Products Ltd died 3 April<br />
Rothney, Mrs Margaret W (81)<br />
widow of Walter – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 11 May<br />
Rowden, Miss Susan (77) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil Products Ltd died 7 May<br />
Russell, Mrs Doreen (81) widow of<br />
Henry Ernest – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products<br />
Ltd died 30 May<br />
Rutter, Philip J (90) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 23 May<br />
Sansom, Gordon Albert (78) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd – Plymouth Terminal<br />
died 26 July<br />
Sayers, John Edward (67) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil – Stanlow Refinery died 1 August<br />
Seldon, B (82) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
Haven Terminal died 6 May<br />
Shaw, Anthony V.M (75) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil Products died 8 June<br />
Sherman, J.S. (85) – SMBP died 26<br />
April<br />
Skeldon, Colin Frederick (89) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died 20 May<br />
Smart, Mrs Barbara Mary (79) widow<br />
of C.A. Smart – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products<br />
Ltd died 11 May<br />
Smith, Anthony John (81) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil Products Ltd – <strong>Shell</strong> Centre died<br />
18 June<br />
OBITuARIES<br />
South, Mrs Dorothy (84) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil Products Ltd died 17 June<br />
Sykes, Mrs C (89) widow of<br />
Raymond – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd<br />
died 25 June<br />
Thompson, A (76) widower of Mrs E.<br />
Barker – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died<br />
20 April<br />
Thornton, Mrs Shirley Patricia<br />
(77) widow of Patrick – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products Ltd died 16 June<br />
Townsend, Montegue R (73) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil – Reading Terminal died 10<br />
April<br />
Trenery, Maurice (78) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil<br />
Products – <strong>Shell</strong> Haven Terminal died<br />
27 July<br />
Turner, John T (87) – <strong>Shell</strong> Tankers<br />
(<strong>UK</strong>) Ltd died 9 February<br />
Warner, Mrs E.M. (74) widow of P.<br />
Warner – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products died<br />
21 July<br />
Waterman, William Robert (79) –<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd – <strong>Shell</strong> Centre<br />
died 16 May<br />
Whittle, Mrs Marie V (83) widow of<br />
William – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd<br />
died 2 June<br />
Wilkins, Donald James (83) – <strong>Shell</strong><br />
<strong>UK</strong> Oil – Teesport Refinery died 10<br />
June<br />
Wills, Mrs Doris (85) widow of Derek<br />
– <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd died 4 June<br />
Worrall, Mrs Doris (78) wife of Keith<br />
– S<strong>UK</strong> Thornton Resesarch died 17<br />
May<br />
Wright, Bernard (86) – <strong>Shell</strong> Research<br />
Ltd died 19 December 2011<br />
Writer, Mrs Kathleen (84) widow of<br />
D.A. Writer – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Oil Products Ltd<br />
died 31 July died 31 July<br />
Wynne-Jones, Dave (80) – <strong>Shell</strong> <strong>UK</strong><br />
Oil – Barton Lubricants died 16 March<br />
<strong>SPA</strong> NEWS | 31
SHELL.cO.uK/<strong>SPA</strong>