| We were privileged to welcome Noel Grayson to our meeting on 7th April. He gave us a short history of his career in the shipping industry starting 60 years ago with Brocklebank Line. He told us of voyages to India, the Seychelles and the making of the RAF air station at Gan Island. He illustrated his talk with stories and anecdotes of his trips. He achieved his Master�s Ticket in 1958 and sailed for six years as Chief Officer. Family commitments took him to a shore job in 1964 but he did regret not sailing at least one voyage in command. He worked in various office positions in London but British shipping was under some turmoil in the lat 60s and early 70s and he took a job stevedoring in the Royal Docks, lasting three years. He then took up the position of Port Captain for Universe Tankships whose tankers (considered supertankers at the time and having a loaded draught of 84 feet) plied between Kharg Island (Iran) and Bantry Bay. Further career moves bought him back to Brocklebank as Port Captain Tankers. This was short lived and he was made redundant at the age of 48. He then secured a position with the P&I Club until he retired. He also gave us a history of the Brocklebank line that started at Whitehaven in 1801 with one sailing ship and went on to be a major trader with India. Voyages often lasted many weeks and could last up to five months if the voyage incorporated a return to the UK via the USA. We were able to use our new digital projector for the first time to display Noel�s collection of postcards and photographs, which had been scanned and put on to a DVD. We are very grateful to Noel for coming and presenting an absorbing evening of personal reminiscence, images and history. |