Framlinghamian 2023-2024 Single page - web 144dpi - Flipbook - Page 302
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the biggest shipyard in the world.
work; but success came with discoveries
at the local munition store which resulted
in an excellent rocket. He was inspired by
Colin was moved back to the UK when
electricity and took an apprenticeship at
Diana was found to have a malignant
Laurence, Scott & Electromotors (LS&E)
melanoma. It was back to East Anglia,
and quali昀椀ed as an electrical engineer.
where Colin worked in the Lowestoft
Weekends were 昀椀lled with frequenting
o昀케ce, and Diana received successful
local dance halls and riding pre-war
treatment for her cancer. The work
motorcycles. He went on to spend 昀椀ve
was varied and amongst his list of jobs
years in the merchant navy working on
was o昀昀shore work on North Sea Gas
Elder Dempster Lines and Canadian
platforms.
Paci昀椀c Empress Liners; seeing the world
before returning to Norwich to LS&E and
As a man of faith, it was no surprise to
meeting Diana, whom he married in 1960.
the family when he decided to take early
retirement and go abroad with Diana to
He brie昀氀y moved to Commercial Union,
help others. Their 昀椀rst venture was on a
and when he was overlooked for
boat to help Vietnamese boat people,
promotion, he switched to Lloyds Register
however the boat never got further than
of Shipping, which he always said was
the Mediterranean! But it was all good
the best move in his life! The family grew
experience. Diana had been a nurse, and
to four children and having undertaken
she took a course in Tropical Medicine at
an intense language course, they were
Liverpool University, which was a must
sent to Italy where he worked in the
for their next venture. They worked for
Milan o昀케ce, 昀椀rst living in an apartment in
昀椀ve years in a small mission caring for
Milan, then moving to the countryside to
orphans in Mozambique. The mission had
a rambling old house. With a caravan as
endless work for an electrical surveyor
a holiday home, the family spent weeks
who could turn his hand to anything,
away at the Italian lakes or touring the
and Diana busied herself running clinics.
major cities, and even went up to the Alps
Word moves fast when there is a health
in the caravan for skiing.
professional in town. They moved to
Uganda and attempted to set up clinics,
The cycle was broken when Lloyds
but they were fraught with bureaucracy.
needed a surveyor to start with immediate
There was another stint back in the UK
e昀昀ect in Iran, working, amongst other
due to ill health, and they were then o昀昀
things on the gas pipeline running from
to Tanzania. After three years there they
the Caspian Sea, through Iran. This was a
retired and moved to be halfway between
temporary move for the family, and they
two of their children. They spent time
were soon back in Italy but for a short time
travelling, visiting family members, one
as he was then sent to South Korea where
of whom lived in the Alps. Colin always
he oversaw the building of 11 ships for the
insisted in 昀椀tting in a ski trip, but the family
Nigerian National Shipping line in Ulsan,
got increasingly concerned and he gave
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