Peter William Geach

Engineer by Design Peter William Geach

This is a social history of the opportunities in the 1950's to 1970's open to people prepared to work hard to progress in their chosen careers. I was trained during this time and by application and aptitude was able to progress from Craft Apprentice to Chartered Engineer. Often biographical accounts leave out how a person progressed making his own luck, positioning himself and recognising the opportunities when they came along. In this book I have described how it's done, and to be aware of the signs when a job is going sour! It happens everywhere; orders get cancelled, or don't come, there are changes in Management and perhaps more importantly management styles. I was very fortunate to work on some of the iconic projects of the time; Concorde and Tornado. When work was slowing down at the Rolls Royce Bristol Engine Division, the company I was working for at the time in the Stress Office, I emigrated with my family to New Zealand. I had a job with New Zealand Electricity at Wellington in their Research Section working on the seismic response of power generating and supply systems. I was promoted Earthquake Engineer and stayed for 5 years. When I returned to the UK the effects of the UK joining the Common Market in 1975 were by 1980 biting hard in NZ! It wasn't long after I left that New Zealand Electricity was privatised and the Earthquake Engineering Section disbanded. On returning to UK I found a general slow down, but kept busy, completing my last 13 years as a Senior Structural Design Engineer and later Senior R& D Engineer at Vosper Thornycroft (UK) Limited; a very happy fulfilling time. That company was forced by the MOD to merge with BAE Systems and is no more; like many of the other wonderful companies I had worked for in my youth.