UCSL "OLD BOYS" MEETING
In January 2011, seven stalwart ex-members of UCSL got together for a drink and a chat.
There was:
Malcolm Savage
John Kermode
David Harmer
Dudley Bland
Barrie Griffin
John Roberts
Malcolm Rogers.
We had a kitty running and there was a little left over so the person nearest the bar (Malcolm Rogers) was allocated to hold the residue.
Dudley brought along a list of names he could remember, scribbled on the back of an envelope, and people added more as the beer unlocked their minds, so that by the time the evening was over there was a goodly list. Not all had a contact Email address or phone number though, but it was a start.
Dave Harmer volunteered to get them on to a PC, and circulated, so that more known contact details might be added, and to invite people to expand the list with their own contacts.
Exactly SIX weeks later there were about 270 names, with contact details for about 25%. People have responded with photographs, copies of PRINT OUT, or brief notes about what they have been doing since UCSL disappeared.
Sadly. of course, we have some people who have become "Absent Friends".
Given that when Unilever began to divest itself of "non core" businesses and EDS pounced in for the kill (Yee Hah, Cowboy!!) UCSL probably had about six hundred employees on the books, peaking at soemthing like 800, and over the years there may have been more than 1000 people who passed through the hallowed portals and became forever Immortal as a "UCSL'er".
Who knows what will happen next? The Web Site is a way to enable people to wallow in a bit of nostalgia, see a few pictures, see who is in touch. That may or may not grow, depending on whether you have suggestions or material you think would be interesting.
Currently it is in embryo state, and a bit sparsely populated.
There might be enough impetus for other meetings in 2011. Certainly the people named above will just have to meet, if only to spend the remnants of the kitty, but whether there is enough momentum, or will, to organise a general reunion is yet to be seen.
Certainly we have the basis for people to use the list to re-kindle friendships from the past, and that has happened already in several cases.
We have been in contact with our Chairman, Len Rawle, who has sent a mini CV for his time after UCSL. We have included that on the website, and you can see that by clicking on the button on the top bar.
Peter Jones has also responded with a copy of one issue of PRINT OUT, and you should go and see what Dick Moore has been up to for the past ten years.
With luck, other people might send in their own "Mini CV", and these will be put up on the site.