Hello Phil, I was a technical apprentice from 1967 to 1971, when I shortened the apprenticeship to 4 years so that I could take a job at the Worcester plant. I remember Phil Luke very well. Having recently left school I remember being told off by him for calling him sir! My first placement on the shop floor was on the screw section, which was run by a section leader called Bass, but I can't remember his first name. The labourer was called Johnny. After that I too was on the 7D section under Harry Woodward. The big day came for me to take the lead in lowering a turret saddle on to a bed. Despite great care, when the saddle was moved along the bed there was an awful noise and it was scratched! Harry was far from impressed as the machine had to be stripped so that the bed could be reground! I had a placement in R&D and I remember Edgar Powell and Dilip Chawathe very well. Dilip was very bright. I think I also remember Steve Pitman. Was he an apprentice that the company had sponsored through university? You must have been in R&D when I was there. I went to work in the drawing office at Worcester and was part of the team that designed the tooling for the 10D Autoward. I left the company in 1973 to work on light commercial vehicles at British Leyland, Longbridge. I have many happy memories of H W Ward, both in Selly Oak and Worcester. I remember fellow apprentices, Trevor Hemus and Neil Buffery, who bought a house near where I was living in 1975.
