Mr Fratton Station retires with a clock after 39 years
My colleague Bob Hind loves a challenge, especially if it involves local history and particularly if it is about the railway.
So when he read my piece last week about Derek Gilbert’s search for details about his grandfather, he sprang into action.
Derek, from Denmead, has inherited a mantelpiece clock presented to George Gilbert in 1934.
It was given to him when he retired after 43 years working on the railway, 39 of which were spent at Fratton station.
Derek thought he might have been stationmaster, but Bob’s research showed he was not.
What Bob did turn up was this cutting from the Evening News reporting the ‘pleasing ceremony’ in the stationmaster’s office at Fratton at which George was presented with the clock.
I wonder, in this day and age, how many men or women might spend their entire working life with the same employer?