Stothert & Pitt were a British engineering company founded in 1785 in Bath, England. John joined them in 1958 after seeing an advert in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle and succesfully interviewing. John was an engineer and designer, S&P built Cranes (Goliath cranes for dock building) and Tanks. Before John's time S&P even built flame-throws during WW1. During World War II the company built tanks and miniature submarines for the War Office, as well as armaments. Originally John was a senior mechanic (welder) but he soon made himself known to management as the Union Rep for the 26,000 workers. A soft spoken, gentle Geordie, he stood up for workers’ rights and would brook no nonsense. He was ‘promoted’ to Health & Safety Officer, where he was responsible for the safety of all the workers and the safety of the cranes that had been built. He used to walk along the arm of the crane to ensure the crane wouldn’t collapse! Ken remembers when he was small being with his mum and brothers in the centre of Bath, near the river, and hearing a disembodied voice calling their names. They looked all around before spotting John, standing on the end of a crane, miles in the air, on the other side of the river, waving gleefully at them. He became the company engineer and safety officer. This entailed climbing up cranes and determining if they were safe or not! Constructed by Stothert and Pitt in the 1970s, one colossal hammerhead cantilever crane came in at 120m (394ft) long, 22m (72ft) high by 8.5m (28ft) wide. One of John’s responsibilities as Safety Officer was to visit sites that hired Stothert & Pitt cranes to ensure that the cranes were being properly maintained. He had no compunction about shutting down cranes if he thought they were unsafe, even in the Navy dockyards. He wouldn’t risk the workers. His travels took him to most of the navy dockyards in the UK, he was once offered an assignment in Australia but turned it down as he did not want to be away from his family for such a long time. John spent 23 plus years working for S&P.