Page 3 - CR Spring Newsletter 2023

3 RESIDENCES REVIEW, SPRING 2023
RESIDENT PROFILE
David Lewis and Nala
Born September 1943 during World War II in the
shipbuilding area of Govan, Glasgow. My
playground was the local bomb shelters.
I started my life living in a single flat. This being a
one small bedroom and kitchen with an outside
toilet, that was shared by other residents living in
the same building.
During my early life, the family moved often due to
my dad’s job, and I lived in nine different houses
and attended eight different schools in my first ten
years of education. This included a nine-month
period spent with the family in Hamburg,
Germany.
When the family returned from Germany, my
father brought with him, an Austin A70 car with a
left-hand drive. So, at the age of fourteen, my
father and I undertook the task of changing the
steering and transmission from left to right hand
drive; no small task as it was being done in a
farmyard with only hand tools and wheel jacks for
assistance.
During this period, my father and I became
cycling partners, played golf together and
planned the car project. By the time I was fifteen I
could personally handle most mechanical repairs
and maintenance for a car. At the age of sixteen,
the family returned to Glasgow and instead of
going back to school, I was able to use my
newfound mechanical skills to get a job at
Alexanders Motorcycle shop close to home.
I moved on quickly from the motorcycle shop,
getting an engineering apprenticeship with Rolls
Royce. The qualifications to get a Rolls Royce
apprenticeship were very high, but it turned out
that my uncle was the toolroom superintendent
and played golf with the superintendent of
apprentices. We will say no more!
I met my wife, Cathie, while working at the
motorcycle shop. She lived with her parents in a
flat directly above the shop, and directly opposite
where I lived with my parents. She really was “The
Girl Next Door”. What followed was an on again
off again romance, followed by a one-year
engagement, culminating in our marriage in
October 1966.
As a married engineer at Rolls Royce, East
Kilbride I became eligible for a local council flat.
However, at that time there were none available,
so we decided instead to purchase our own home
being a small terrace house in Renfrew, a walk
across the park from Cathie's work. Over the next
three years we had two daughters, Gillian and
Suzanne, and moved to a larger home in
Elderslie.
In February 1967, I was offered a job with Dexion
as a salesman. In 1971, now a project sales
engineer, Dexion requested that I move to their
Birmingham office. So, the move was on, and a
house was purchased in Stourport on Severn in
England. This new home cost 6,500 pounds,
which Cathie thought was far too expensive for us.
In 1977, now Project Manager Southern Region,
Dexion decided to close the Birmingham office
and requested that I move to their London office.
We sold our house in Stourport and rented
another while trying to find a suitable house in
London.
During this period, a letter arrived from Dexion
Australia offering me the job as National Logistics
Manager. Cathie was very positive and agreed
that the opportunity was too good to miss so in
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