Rose Turner (1942-2024)
Rose Turner, who died in May 2024, will be very sadly missed by the bp society. She was a doyenne of the society, and a very active member in the Home Counties North (HCN) region, alongside her late husband Tony (bps news, May 2019, p8), who was for many years the HCN Treasurer. Between them, […]
Christopher (Chris) Willy (1929-2024)
It is with great sadness that we have to report the death of Chris Willy on 6 July 2024. Chris spent two action-packed decades at BP, which he joined in 1960, initially in the Middle East and latterly North Africa and London. These are summarized below by Chris’s godson and fellow bp pensioner, David Pilcher, […]
Michael Turnbull
Michael Turnbull passed away on Saturday 14 September 2024, peacefully with family at his side, at Forth Valley Royal Hospital. Janette Fraser, his daughter said “Dad was 85 and retired from BP Chemicals, Grangemouth in 1999. He worked as a chartered Chemical Engineer and was with BP from 1963, mainly in Grangemouth but with a […]
David Hunter (1935-2024)
We are saddened to report the passing of David Hunter at the age of 89. You may remember David as regional coordinator for the South East (SE) before Keith Austin took over. David was born in Woodford Green, Essex. After being evacuated to Suffolk during the war his career began with an apprenticeship at the […]
Robert (Rob) Cowley (1925-2024)
Rob Cowley sadly passed away on 13 March 2024 aged 98. His son, Andrew Cowley, kindly provided us with a summary of Rob’s 34 years’ service at BP, from starting as an assistant chemist in Sunbury in 1947, to becoming General Manager of the Computer Systems Department, a post which he held from 1976 until […]
Norman Tottenham-Smith (1923-2024)
We are saddened to report the passing of Norman Tottenham-Smith at the age of 101. We featured Norman, known affectionately as ‘Totters’, when he turned 100 in the August 2023 bps news. We understand that he was delighted with our good wishes last year and remained his age-defying, outgoing self in his New Hampshire retirement […]
David Hunter
I have received a message from John Hunter (David’s brother) who sadly informed me that David died last week (4 April). His health deteriorated last November as he suffered Prostate Cancer and Vascular Dementia, but following a few weeks in hospital, he then received very good palliative care in a nursing home until the end. […]
Sir Robert Malpas (1927-2023)
Sir Robert Malpas was a prominent business leader and engineer. Notably, he served as a main board director of ICI and a managing director of BP before his ‘retirement’ in 1989. At BP, he was the first managing director to join the main board direct from outside the company. In retirement, Sir Robert chaired PowerGen […]