Page 161 - WHO'S WHO OF DUDLEY ROTARY

He married Jean in 1961 and, as is the practice in the Salvation Army, they served as joint
Commanding Officers at numerous Corps around the country: St Helens (1961); Coedpoeth,
(Wrexham) (1962); Clapham, London (from 1963); Newport Central Corps, Gwent (from 1965);
Bargoed in the Rhymney Valley (from 1967); Ferrybridge, Yorkshire briefly (1969 ) and nearby
Knottingley (where he built a new Hall and officers’ house in a year); then Heckmondwike,
Yorkshire (from 1970); Camborne, Cornwall (from 1972); Torquay, Devon (from 1974); Tunstall,
Stoke-on-Trent (from 1976); Bedlington, Northumberland (1979); Felixstowe, Suffolk (from
1982); Portsmouth (1983); Southampton (1987); Wrexham again (1990), then 1992 to Dudley.
Two incidents in his career stand out:
• In 1964 at Clapham Ken was called to a domestic disturbance. When he got there the wife
was being held at gunpoint by the husband. Ken strolled in, told the man not to be silly,
took his gun away and the situation was over! No fuss, no deaths, no headlines and no
medals.
• Then in October 1966, during his period at Newport, the Aberfan disaster occurred. 144
people, 116 of them children, were killed when a tip of coal waste slid onto the village. Ken
and Jean were ‘on duty’ at the scene for several days. Ken had the grim task of retrieving
and carrying the bodies of twenty children from the school to the temporary mortuary,
followed by counselling the bereaved. The experience had a profound effect on him for the
rest of his life.
Ken had a tremendous love for sport, particularly football, and his Youth Club teams were
renowned for their excellence. He was a football referee for 27 years, including experience as a
top-level linesman in Division One (the premier division of its day) before he became an officer.
Later in life he turned to cricket umpiring.

538 Erik TROMHOLT CHRISTENSEN (1939- ) (Inducted 6.12.1991; left in
1993/94.) Steel cable, stockholding. Managing Director of Denwire Ltd,
Peartree Lane, Dudley, and associated company Denwire Ropes ApS of
Søborg, Copenhagen, Denmark. In 2011 a French company, Denwire
Ropes SARL of Cosne Sur Loire, was formed. The group supplies steel wire
ropes and accessories for cranes, elevators, and many industrial and other
applications throughout Europe. Erik is Danish, having been brought up on
a farm near the town of Randers, in the north of the country. He started
work as a trainee for 3 years in the Education Administration department
of Copenhagen City Council, then studied and qualified as an accountant. This led to
management roles in a number of companies, including 3 years in Germany as head of a candle
making subsidiary of a big Danish firm. He started his own wire rope business near Copenhagen
with his wife Alice, then set up in Dudley in 1986, sharing his time between the two. He was
joined in the firm by daughter Iben and son Steven. Steven took over as MD in the UK and
Denmark in 2011 but Erik continued as a director until 2020. From 1986 Erik’s main home has
been in Priory Close, Dudley

539 Philip (‘Phil’) Francis William PARKES (1953- ) (Inducted 23.3.1992; left in 1994/95.) Office
Equipment, Retailing. Director of Midland Office Services Limited which he founded in 1985.
The business was based in Halesowen Road, Netherton until 2001 when it moved to Firs Street,
Dudley and now concentrates on the wholesale supply of office machines and equipment. Phil
was born and raised in Dudley. He left school at age 15 (in 1968) and joined B & D Typewriter
Services of Castle Hill, Dudley where he stayed until it closed in 1983. He then worked as a
partner in a firm in Stoke-on-Trent for 2 years before returning to Dudley to start his own
business, since when he has lived in Eve Lane, Upper Gornal.