Sailing down the river
Norman White
“So, do you work for Biddles full time?” I asked the chap with the bottle of wine in his hand.
“Actually I own the company,” he replied, and smiled.
Covered in confusion, I said, “That’s a conversation stopper.” But, of course, it wasn’t. And the boat kept on sailing down river.
Erica and I were guests at Norman White’s retirement party on a Salters boat on the Thames yesterday evening. Norman is a long-standing and excellent rep for Biddles, one of the UK’s leading book manufacturers, and George Ronald Publisher Ltd was one of his accounts for many years.
Norman is “old school” in all the right ways: dedicated to service, with many years of hands-on experience in different aspects of print and publishing, warm-hearted and very helpful.
Even though it was Erica who was dealing with Norman, I always used to look forward to his visits to our home in Abingdon, which doubled as George Ronald’s office until we moved to Welwyn. A cup of coffee, some banter, and discussion about developments in print and publishing lightened the day.
And Norman was also very fond of Emma (our late-lamented Border Collie), as she was of him.
So last evening we floated down the Thames from Folly Bridge in Oxford as far as the Radley School boat houses to the sound of a trad jazz band (with a Sousaphone) to celebrate Norman’s years with Biddles.
It was a lovely evening - and there was a great spirit amongst the Biddles current and former staff.
Technorati Tags: Biddles, Thames, Salters, retirement
No related posts.
2 comments
Happy Anniversary!
I love the photos - you look such a toff, and Erica looks radiant.
Actually I remember David & Barbara very proudly showing the press cuttings of your wedding when they came to give a talk in Guildford. That’s when I found out you were an Honourable!!
I enjoyed the links as well - I made the reverse boat trip from Abingdon to Oxford, bussing back, throughout my childhood when every summer holiday was spent at my paternal grandmother’s. My maternal grandfather worked for Biddles of course, beside the River Wey in Guildford, and my mother and her two sisters were also apprenticed book-binders until their marriages.
And then there’s the dear Munsiffs - Iraj was the MC at our wedding at Farnham Maltings in 1978. We also failed to celebrate our anniversary this year, despite being in France for the occasion. We were working away on the little house Bibhas has bought and by the time we realised we hadn’t eaten everywhere was closed - except a Turkish Restaurant a few villages away who kindly let us sit down to eat an indigestion-inducing doner kebab!!
Carolyn, great to hear from you.
Yes, I was a toff in those days, but I’ve mostly been de-toffed now. You’re right about Erica. She really does look radiant in the pics, but that was before we’d been married for 38 years and she’d live in Shetland and had three kids. Actually, I think she still looks beautiful and I’m still in love with her.
I love the boat trip between Abingdon and Oxford. We hired a Salter’s Steamer for our 25th wedding anniversary and had part of the day on the river, before returning home and doing a barbecue for a whole lot more people.
You’ve got some good family links with Biddles. Of course they’ve now abandoned their Guildford roots and moved to Kings Lynn (where they had had a factory for some time). There was a great “family feeling” amongst all the Biddles people on the boat.
Looking at the picture of the Munsiffs at our wedding is like looking at a little slice of India. Somehow the light in the photo is extra bright, but perhaps that’s Meherangiz…
Leave a Comment