Meet the Shedder: John Gibbs

1934 seems to have been a popular year for Chichester shedders to enter the world - me too!

I am a Brummie but I remember little of that City until my family returned from Hinkley where we were evacuated for the War years.

My father was a woodwork teacher so my brother and I always had a shed workshop; mostly we made 1/72nd scale model aeroplanes. From early days I knew how to use tools.

Following grammar school, I joined Joseph Lucas as a graduate apprentice. Here I had the opportunity to do a crash course on using machine tools - among them lathe work. This training has been immensely useful to me in later life.

I went on the study at Nottingham University where I changed from Electrical to Civil Engineering because maths was not my forte. Here I met my wife, Joyce, who was my lifelong support and companion for over 60 years. I have two sons.

My career in engineering has taken many turns.

My first employer was John Lang in Essex. I spent two years on site work which I found physically demanding due to an undiagnosed heart defect. I next spent two years with Nottingham City where I became familiar with the City’s sewers and I designed a bridge which was actually built later.

I then moved to the aircraft industry working at Warton on fatigue testing of the Lightning and a little on the TSR2. (Warton, near Blackpool, was an airfield built specifically for the US Air Force even before the States entered the War. It was used for maintenance and engineering. After D Day there were 800 planes on the airfield, with fighters parked under bombers and 10,000 personnel. It subsequently became part of British Aerospace. Ed).

Next I moved to London where I joined a consulting engineer in Victoria Street. Here my time was spent on design work for the Ford factory at Halewood. This included ground work, concrete design and the railway layout.

I found the daily commute to the City very tiresome and craved a new life in the south. I could now put the letters AMICE after my name which enabled me to obtain a teaching post at Portsmouth Polytechnic where I remained for 26 years, obtaining a further degree in structural engineering.

Finally, after early retirement from Portsmouth, I spent several years in the automotive industry with Daewoo designing vehicle testing machines. I was fortunate to spend some time in Korea, installing one of my machines.

So my career turned full circle - testing at Warton and again at Worthing.

I moved to Chichester in early 2020 initially to live with my son in Bognor but I now have an apartment in Chichester. I have a workshop at my son’s house and which I visit most weekends.

Over the years I have made my own furniture, including chests of drawers, chairs, beds and tables. I am a qualified antique-furniture restorer and silversmith.

I joined Chichester Men’s Shed at the outset and served as the membership Secretary for a time. Now I’m sorting through the many tools that have been kindly donated to us and helping to design and repurpose the former cricket pavilion as a workshop.