[Russell]

I did my time at Thornycroft at Basingstoke. It was a first class apprenticeship as they manufactured their own engines, gearboxes, front and rear axles, chassis and some cabs. i also did 6 months at their shipyard in Southampton.

I then made my career in commercial vehicles with the occasional excursion into the aircraft industry as most people did in those days as the money was good but there was no room for initiative.

I spent most of my life in the UK in the trailer industry spending time with Bristol (their BRS semi-trailer), Taskers (a bit of everything) and Doughty (mainly special trailers). I came to Western Australia when the UK vehicle industry virtually died in 1981 and and spent my time here designing fast mobile crane chassis, messing about with boats, doing a bit of training and finally running a large steel foundry.

Now retired and keeping in touch with other Thornycroft people.