Man of Steel

The name of the steel company that was in the process of increasing its capacity, and the workforce, was 'Hoogovens' which literally translates to 'blast furnaces'.
[Note: In recent years it amalgamated with British Steel to become Corus and is now in the hands of Mr Mittal.]

I visited the steel company's recruiting office at Beverwijk in February 1965 to apply for a job. After a week I received a job offer. Four weeks later a residence and work permit was issued and I actually started my new job on 29 March. The first days were filled with various interviews, psychological and medical tests, and being kitted out - all very reminiscent of my first days at Halton. I was offered employment in their ultra modern new 'Rod and Bar Mill' and the following couple of weeks were spent attending lectures and some on the job training. The conditions at the mill were clean and a far cry from what I had witnessed at Sheffield, which I had visited with the R.Ae.S whilst at Halton.

I was accepted for training as an all-round team member, which in essence meant that once I was proficient I would cover every function at the mill. For my first task I was put in charge of a 'Richt en Tordeer Machine", which basically unwound coils of thick wire into lengths of at least 10 metres, which were cut and then twisted thus changing the inner structure of the steel. These were collected together, bundled by weight and sent off to the building industry. I had three Spaniards in my team and together we operated two machines simultaneously. Production at the factory went on 24 hours a day, seven days a week by means of a three-shift system. I commuted from Amsterdam to Beverwijk but if I was on early shift I stayed nights at a boarding house not far from the factory. The work and the social conditions at Hoogovens were very good. As there was a huge shortage of labour in the Netherlands the company recruited labour in Spain and Italy. These so-called 'Gast Arbeiders' (Guest workers) were accommodated on a passenger liner moored close to the works and at a hotel specially built to house them.

On 19 November my family and I moved into a new house at the small village of Oudorp close to Alkmaar. The company covered all the costs involved with the move and gave an additional sum of money to help us settle in. The house was only five miles from the dune lands of the North Sea coast and we had a beautiful view of a row of four drainage mills on an old canal. Life changed immensely and became more relaxed. Work was going quite nicely until April 1966 when I had a serious accident.
Because the factory was so new there were always swarms of engineers present watching and maintaining a range of installations, which had been imported from Germany, France, Sweden and the US. There were frequent breakdowns and then all available hands were called away from their various machines to help keep the main production stream going. It was during one such session that a bundling machine broke down and I was manually counting the rods when one of them sprung up and cut into my eye. I was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery but it didn't help because I lost the sight in my right eye.

I suppose a lot changed after that. I was not permitted to work in the 'Rod and Bar Mill'; it was considered to be too dangerous so I was moved to another department. Because I had lost the ability to determine depth I was restricted in what I could do, I became somewhat frustrated and asked for a change of employment to the computer department - the IBM 360 had just entered service. My request was refused in spite of the fact that I had a 97.5% pass in a special IBM exam. Other frustrations included the withdrawal of my Heavy Vehicle licence, problems when driving, with DIY and model building. Obviously I have adapted with time. In hindsight I suppose I was lucky really because in my time at the mill there were several serious accidents including two deaths.

I decided to terminate my employment and start a small business at Amsterdam. But before I left, the steel company finally offered to transfer me to the Computer Department - I refused and that was probably one of the silliest decisions I have ever made.
On 1 November 1971, the day I left, my life underwent yet another change.