Obituaries
We are sorry to record the following deaths of society members, and offer our condolences to their families and friends. Mr Gordon Aldred (90) of YorkMrs Margaret Anderson (92) of GlasgowMr Kenneth Atkinson (71) of HornseaMr Brian Bartlett (84) of ExeterMr Richard Beckett (80) of TenterdenMiss Margaret Birnie (85) of FalkirkMrs Isobel Booth (70) of […]
Celebrating a platinum anniversary!
It’s not often that we get to share a 70th wedding anniversary so we were delighted to hear from Craig Durham, the son of Stanley and Doris Durham, who told us his parents’ story. Craig writes: ‘My parents have been long time bp society members since they retired from the Kuwait Oil Company in 1983. […]
Brothers run marathon for Gurkha Welfare Trust in grandfather’s memory
Many of our members will remember Stephen Mullaly, a former HR director at BP. However, what you may not know is that before a successful BP career, Stephen fought as a Gurkha officer during the Second World War in Burma and played a leading part in the post-war Gurkha presence in Vietnam prior to the […]
Recollecting Mark Woolveridge and his, er, teddy bear
My thanks go to Andrew Robertson for emailing this memory of working with Mark Woolveridge. Mark died in March 2022 and we reported on his death in the February 2023 bps news. Andrew provided the following background information: ‘When BP took over Britoil, and before the organisations were fully integrated, it was necessary for the […]
Michael Hancock (1929-2023)
Michael (Mike) Hancock was born on 20 October 1929 in Earl’s Court Gardens, London. He was educated at Cheltenham College and Corpus Christi Cambridge. While visiting the Maths lab, Mike saw his first computer called Edsac. This piqued his interest in what would become the foundation of his career in the pioneering days of computer […]
(Sister) Ann Woods (1938-2023)
(Sister) Ann Woods sadly passed away on 18 March aged 84. According to her brother, Peter, ‘It was always obvious that Ann would dedicate her life to a caring profession.’ Many will remember her as ‘Sister Woods’, the medical officer at Britannic House but her life covered so much more – from midwifery in Cardiff […]
John Grundon OBE (1931-2023)
After John Grundon retired from BP in 1991, Basil Butler said of him: ‘He was a source of information wherever the company was operating but perhaps his knowledge of who was who in the Middle East, who was in favour and who was not, was particularly important and relevant. His diplomatic style and Arabic skills […]