Draughtsman Doug given fine send-off after 45 years with the same company

THEY often say a longserving colleague is “in with the bricks”.

Draughtsman Doug Dewar was “in with the steel” and he’s just retired after 45 years with the same firm.

Doug hails originally from Newburgh and came to Dundee in 1965 looking for work.

As an apprentice engineer, he served his time with Sturrock and Murray at Victoria Dock.

He had shown an aptitude for technical drawing so when the draughtsman left the business, Doug got the job.

Thanks to his skills, he secured a position with Jackson Steel Structures in Milton Street — it is now in Tannadice Street — and never looked back.

Architects design buildings, structural engineers design the support structure and people like Doug make sure the nuts and bolts are actually going to work.

So when you see Baldragon Academy, Sidlaw View, the new Overgate and many other well-known Dundee buildings, you’re looking at structures he played a part in creating.

Away from work, Doug

met Perth lass Jeanette Angus in 1969, they married two years later and they have been a devoted couple ever since.

They have two daughters and three grandchildren and Doug is very satisfied with life.

“I can say I genuinely enjoyed my job,” he said.

“It’s changed in a technical way down through the years and computerisation has improved many aspects but best of all was the people I worked with.”

Doug was given a fine send-off with a lunch at the Invercarse Hotel attended by more than 50 colleagues and friends.

Now that he’s got time on his hands, he intends to pursue his hobbies of cycling, shooting and photography.

Doug, centre, pictured with his wife Jeanette and, from left, Jackson Steel Structures’ managing director Stewart McArthur, engineer Stephen McArthur and director Mike Darcy.

Farewell to Doug.