Once a year, the lads in the labs played the female staff. Above, back, from left, Ken Bendall, Bernard Thorpe, Barry Bagnall, the ref whose name Terry can’t remember and Terry. Front, Dave Merry, Lanc Buxton and Mike Swallow.
When Terry Kelly, of Duffield, started working at International Combustion Ltd, he had no idea that the company was about to launch into a period of major expansion as it strove to keep up with demand from new out-of-town power stations. Here, Terry begins the story of his time with the firm.
l STARTED work at the laboratory at International Combustion Ltd (ICL), in Sinfin Lane, Derby, in January 1959.
It was my second full-time job. Previously, I had spent 28 very happy months working in a research laboratory at British Celanese, in Spondon.
The take-over of Celanese by Courtaulds had made the future of the lab very uncertain. By a contact that I had made whilst studying at Derby and District College of Further Education, known to all as Derby Tech, I was informed of a vacancy that was due to happen as a result of the present occupant being pregnant. No maternity leave in those days! Continue reading →