Gourdie stint led to Oz escape

A mention on this page for toolmaking go-getters Edwin Elrick and George Angus appears to have prompted a sentimental journey for Ken Abbot.

The Craigie reader completed his five-year apprenticeship in toolmaking and related studies in August 1965 while working for Morphy-Richards (Astral) Ltd, based at the Gourdie Works, on Dundee’s Kingsway West.

And he says he had particular reason to enjoy Ian Wallace’s account of his Uncle Eddie and sidekick George going their own way in late 1962 – as featured on the front page of an edition of the long-defunct People’s Journal a few months later – having earlier shown their engineering skills at the city’s Timex factory.

Mr Abbot takes up his story: “Can you imagine the surprise I got when I was reading Craigie in The Courier and I came upon the article that related to the Dundee Tool and Gauge, who were my last employer.

“I had initially worked for DTG at their Cunningham Street location sometime in 1966, and at the West Gourdie Industrial Estate until I emigrated to Australia in May 1970. I noted some of the companies that they had contracts with, and from memory you could add Rolls-Royce’s aero division for whom, among other things, were jigs – which were used to check engine components during that engine’s service check. These jigs were constructed using

– in some cases – measurements of one-tenthousandth of one inch. I believe they also supplied parts that were used on oil and gas rigs.

“I served my toolmaker apprenticeship with the original company known as Astral, but they were taken over by Morphy Richards and eventually became British Domestic Appliances.”