I was 5 at the time and had to stay outside the hospital and play in the area outside the old R,D,and E hospital in Exeter. Back then, it was safe to leave me playing outside but seems unbelievable nowadays.
I did my apprenticeship with him when i was 15. Yesterday, his Son and Grandsons were around for tea, All electricians for the company he started up.
I left the business when i had my accident in 1979 and 4 years of recovery. I could not kneel very well after so not able to wire houses at that time.
The business is extremely busy and they all work around 60 hours a week at the moment. I do a bit of buying for them now i am at home most days for deliveries. I am trying to get them to take on my Grandaughter but there are a lot of issues employing people. One is the requirement to pay into a scheme for the training of other companies staff. They hate paperwork, preferring to just work. It is an NICEIC registered firm and works mostly on high end housing in the Million pound homes. Full of hi-tec equipment operated by smartphones. Taking on the car charging systems soon and used to do solar until that work dried up and not worth doing now.
My Brother had 6 employees in the 1970s doing night storage heating. I used to install about 30 a month average in addition to Spar and Mace shops in Devon and Cornwall and all the Whitbread pubs. Busy as hell every week.