Teesside Iron and Steel Memories Interview: Nicholas Barker

Background & early work:
Born 4/12/1924
Attended Middlesbrough High School in the late 1930's but because of WW2, half the school was evacuated but he stayed at home.
No schooling for 6mnths so missed his school certificate exams due in 1940
Re-started with small classes & received very good teaching in maths, history etc
In May 1941 just before taking his school certificate, a letter came to the school from Dorman Long asking if anyone was interested in joining as an apprentice draughtsman
M'Bro High School was an elite school then and most pupils went into office jobs (solicitors, insurance etc)
He'd no prospect of a job then & didn't know what a draughtsman was, but liked maths etc and applied
Went to Dorman's Bridge & Construction (B&C) offices for the entry exam with 60 others
Being good at maths, he passed easily & was 1 of 4 apprentices taken on
Started at B&C in August 1941
Greeted by a commissionaire & taken up to 1 of 2 drawing offices with about 60 draughtsmen
Spent over 3 years as an apprentice before he was allowed onto a drawing board
Making tea & running errands (including in to town for messages for senior draughtsmen)
Taking drawings to various workshops to update earlier versions
fabrication shops were huge open bays, red hot in summer & very cold in winter, very dusty & noisy because of all the riveting - no welding then (one uncle was stone deaf by 50yrs old from the riveting hammers)
Taking drawings for blueprints to be prepared in the print-room
Reading drawings & listing materials - counting & measuring rivets & bolts
All excellent basic grounding so that when allowed onto the drawing board he was already familiar with the practices
His 1st lesson in humility came there
Template shop foreman had a reputation as a disciplinarian
Young apprentices warned to avoid him
NB forgot one day and asked "Where's Charlie Lawson?"
You mean Mr Lawson, the foreman?"
Yes, that's the gadgie I'm looking for"
This is him here!"
Read the riot act - "Would you speak to your parents like that?" etc
Got on very well afterwards.
Worked as apprentice for 2/3 years under Eric Ibbotson, a very good man who was then promoted to MD, so his squad was amalgamated into a different group under Bill Salver, more of a disciplinarian
NB was unhappy as he felt he should be moving on after over 2 years, but had to stay put, though got on quite well
Fed up making tea after this time, but rarely got new apprentices
Served as apprentice for 4 years until 1945, then 6 months in the fabrication shops, 6 days a week.
Back to the drawing office until he married in 1947, but was never keen on being a draughtsman
Went to night school 3 nights/wk for almost 12 years from early apprenticeship, and was keen on the Design side & soon moved into the Design Office
Passed Structural 'A' exams in 1949 & wanted to be a Chartered Civil Engineer
Needed 3yrs site experience & couldn't get it @ Dorman's, so left for ICI Wilton in 1951 when the Essential Works Order came off - earning £700/yr, rising to £1000/yr after 12 months service
ICI were recruiting engineers in large numbers & there was not enough work for them so he sat around idly.
Not being stretched, stayed only about 4 months & returned to Dorman's Bridge dept as they had contracts for civil works for the new steelworks being built at Lackenby, Redcar & Hartlepool as well as many bridge orders
Took £50/yr salary cut to return (ICI paid big salaries)
Worked as Site Engineer on heavy foundations for the steel plant, then after 12 months was sent to Redcar Works to work on the foundations for a new blast furnace
Spent 3 yrs with Bridge Dept until he gained site experience & qualified as a Civil Engineer
Then back to the Design Office at B & C for 3 or 4 years
Long hours, often including Sundays, with much time spent on site at Lackenby, Redcar or Clay Lane
Irregular hours depending on site operations

Later Work:
Stayed with B & C until 1955 & then went to work for Wimpey as a Design Engineer.
Worked at Steetley at Hartlepool & was instrumental in Dormans securing a big contract for site construction work - met up with old colleagues
Stayed with Wimpey for 10 years on heavy civil engineering, then had a short spell in the local authority before going to Sheffield as Chief Structural Engineer with a firm of consultants called Husband's
Finally started his own Consultant Engineering office in Guisborough
Could not have achieved any of this without the excellent apprenticeship & training received at Dorman's

Health & Safety Issues:
Very little emphasis on H&S in the early days at B & C
Building the blast furnace at Redcar, there'd only be a tarpaulin to protect from falling rivets or bolts from above - no safety helmets etc
But only saw 3 accidents of note in all his site experience - one fatality at lackenby when a banksman on a temporary railway track was killed when a large load slipped, and a second at Dormans B&C when a man was trapped between rail wagons while taking a short cut.
No access restrictions in the rolling mills
Nothing to stop anyone walking across the floor next to hot metal - just had to pick their way around