The Further Adventures of Adrian Gates

Retirement, the second time around

On retirement in 1994 I started to 'service' central heating systems as I had always been interested in 'plumbing' and had carried out my resettlement in the subject. I found the practical experience both interesting and enjoyable, as the commercial pressures of time and having to make a full living were absent in my circumstance. This meant that I could concentrate on gaining a good reputation and learning as much as possible, which meant that each task took longer than was the norm.
My main hobby was still aero modelling and I built a shed in the garden for modelling which I insulated and also wired to ensure good lighting and plenty of power points. Little did I realise that I would have little time to indulge in the hobby over the next few years. My younger twins were now in third level education in Dublin and S Wales respectively and Maria had just completed a 2 year Masters Degree and CQSW at Leicester University, and was now working as a Social worker in Dublin. The older twins were working locally in Ireland.

I signed up with SERCO a few months after retiring to Ireland, agreeing to work up to 10 days a month. The main task was to help with the bid for RAF Valley and then any other bids I could assist with. I used to fly into the nearest airport, hire a car and make my way to a convenient hotel, which would become my base for the trip. The SERCO Head Quarters was at Hook near Basingstoke so I became very familiar with the hotels in the area, one of which used to sell wine in very large glasses! I was mainly involved with bids for Cranwell, Llanbedre in N Wales and Cosford. In addition I visited the RN base at Yeovil several times and assisted the Contractor during the change over from the Hunter to the Hawk. One day I received a phone call in Ireland from some one who I did not even know asking if I could travel to RAF Northolt to mainly advise on a new Company Order Book they had to produce before the introduction of the 'The Royal Flight', which was moving there from Benson I believe. To cut a long story short after making a few phone calls I flew to London the next day, hired a car and for the next 17 days worked round the clock to complete the task.
During the latter stages of the 'Valley Bid', as was to be expected, the workload increased. However the demand for my project in Ireland also increased and I found I had to work weekends to satisfy demand. This was financially rewarding but not what I wanted. It would have been difficult to reduce the effort associated with either task, as I did not know where my future would lie in later years, so I just carried on, but employed a helper. I realised that my efforts associated with boilers had been successful when 'plumbers' sought advice on heating systems, which they could not get to run properly.
About May of 1997 the result of the Valley bid was announced and a newly formed company called Brown and Root and Marshal Aerospace (BRAMA) had won the bid. With the blessing of SERCO (although hard task masters I found them to be a very good company to work for) I contacted BRAMA and in July that year commenced employment with them and travelled over to Anglesey and lived in a hotel the firm had booked for me until I could find suitable
accommodation.
I had handed over my trade tools, equipment and customer list to my helper who now appears to have established himself.

Job titles meant very little, as the very small team had about 8 months to set up a company
capable of taking over the RAF Valley Engineering and Supply responsibilities, and some Admin areas, on 1st April the following year. Alas the Personnel Manager and the other Engineer, Merv Clackett (ex RAF Valley and with Middle East Hawk experience) could not start with BRAMA until August. Most of the civilians working in MT, Supply and Admin would probably transfer to BRAMA but an additional 450 personnel would be required. These would have to be recruited, trained, clothed, paid, given job specs etc and a viable and robust organisation implemented in the short time scale. This was a tremendous challenge as personnel with aircraft experience on the Isle of Anglesey were limited, and as the RAF had found, a posting to Valley was dreaded owing to the location. How this was achieved will follow in this journal, if it is still being published! Take note of Brian's plea in his recent letter to us all.