Electricians reunited from days as trainees

Generations of apprentices and tradesmen remembered the 1960s and 1970s when they learned their craft at a reunion in Sleaford.
The spark is still there. Sleaford electrical apprentices reunited at the Solo Bar. EMN-170308-144352001The spark is still there. Sleaford electrical apprentices reunited at the Solo Bar. EMN-170308-144352001
The spark is still there. Sleaford electrical apprentices reunited at the Solo Bar. EMN-170308-144352001

The get together at the Solo Bar was organised by old work mates Malc Yates, Paul Bryan and Steve Choma to catch up with colleagues who had been through the books of Hall and Stinson, probably the largest electrical contractor business in the area at the time, and then subsquently formed other local firms or tried their hand further afield.

Mr Yates said: “We were all apprentices in the sixties and seventies and this piece of history may never be repeated.”

At 63, Mr Yates believed he was one of the youngest in the number and welcomed fellow tradesmen from the era who went on to work for firms such as Parker’s and Castledine’s, as well as fellow plumbers, painters and decorators.

Malc said: “We grew up together learning on the job the old fashioned way from aged 16 to 21, then often married and moved on. Many we have not seen for 50 years.

“It was a fun time like a big happy family. The system has gone, instead you go to college. Back then one day you would be at school and the next you would be on a building site and growing up quickly.”

He explained Hall and Stinson, where he began his career, at its peak employed over 70 staff and took on up to 10 apprentices a year, handling major contracts for the RAF and the prison service. Over the years it has changed hands many times until finally being taken on by McAlpine around 2000.