At the moment I am in Spain having a bloody wonderful time. Attached a photo from out hotel balcony before darkness and scotch.

Mick Wood’s family has asked Deane Laws to alert the Vets to the fact that Mick was admitted to John Flynn Hospital (Tugun Qld) 5th October 2014 in a serious condition. Mick was well attended by family and close friends during his hospitalisation but unfortunately Mick’s son, Michael, advised Deane Laws at 9.10pm (Qld Time) on Sunday 12th October 2014 that Mick had passed away about 15 mins earlier.

FAREWELL SERVICE:

WHERE:  “Braeside Chapel”

                    251 Gooding Drive

                    Merrimac QLD

WHEN:      11am (Qld time)

                     Monday 20th October

WAKE:

Mick’s residence at 6/6 Burrabee St Burleigh Heads.

CONTACT:

(07)  5535 2417 for a family member or email Deane Laws (deanel@qld.chariot.net.au) who will forward any emails to the family.

Attached are a couple of photos containing Mick from Guam in 1975 provided by Bruce Mayberry.

• BBQ – BBQ at Guam Cable Station early in the TASI-A installation trip – L-R Mick Wood, Jim Pickworth, Don Hacker, Bill Kay, Laci Csont

• MYC – OTC Team in the Marianas Yacht Club Half Ton Challenge – L-R Charlie Hale, Mick Wood, Bob Heron, Bill Kay, Bruce Mayberry, John Vossen.

From Jim Keenan – the Opening of Seacom – Mick is absent from the photo as he may have been pouring drinks with Charlie Hale.

  Can you name the engineer from Head Office?

John Morrison remembered some of the names in the photo.

Front Row: Mick Wilden, Les ‘Spike’ Jones, Ron Borg, John Morrison (self), Dave Cowie, Jim Davis (Team Manager and allround great guy), Col Motbey, Dave Thistlewaite.

Back Row: 1. Nevyl Farrar,

                 2 (don’t think he worked for O.T.C.) but was a relative of 3 and 4 who were brothers

                 5 was a pommie guy,

                 6 Roy Davies,

                     7 Ron Abdy,

                     8 know the face can’t remember the name,

                     9 Jim Simpson.

L to R: Alf Flood, Maurie Matthysz, Nevyl Farrar, Brian Steele, Ernie Anthony, Jack Kelly, Bruce Reiner, Bob Fisher, Alex Friend and Laurie McIlree

James BAIRSTOW

Obituary

BAIRSTOW

James Percy (Jim):

25.5.1927 – 9.9.2014 Much loved husband of Patricia (dec) and father of Penny, Ian and Peter; grandfather of Tamara, Daniel, Patrick, James, Andrew, Kieran, Melissa, Cameron, Jarrad, Stephanie, Daniel and Sean; also father-in-law of Ed, Penny and Suzanne.

A gentle and gracious man.

He will be deeply missed.

From Kevan Bourke:

It is with sadness that I pass on the news from Des Kinnersley that Jim Bairstow passed away recently. Jim was one of the older vets from the Cable and Wireless era who trained and worked with Ron Cocker. I didn’t know him personally but had heard of him. I’ve attached some info written by Derek and Des at the time of Ron Cocker’s passing which gives some background on both Ron and Jim. Apparently Jim was one of the ones who opted not to return to WA after the war.

From Derek Walker:

Very sad to read about Ron Cocker’s death. Following is from my files

Ron was born 18 September 1926, joined Cable and Wireless in Perth 1944 and went to Adelaide for 14 months training as a cable operator, joining a group known as Telcom, whose purpose was to staff Far East cable stations decimated by the Japanese. After training Ron sailed from Fremantle in June 1945 for Colombo. After four months in Colombo his group left for Penang and Singapore. He came back to Perth in November 1946 and after leave went to OTC in Spring Street, Sydney for a year. leaving there for the Cottesloe cable station. He stayed there, apart from a two year stint on Cocos Island from 1962 to 1964, until Cottesloe closed in 1965, when he transferred to Applecross radio station. When Applecross closed in 1967 he transferred to Gnangara. He retired from Gnangara as a TO2 in 1986.

From Des Kinnersley:

Here is some further information on the “TELCOM” group mentioned in Derek Walker’s comments above.

The group was formed in 1944 to provide operators for the Cable & Wireless Far East stations, Banjoewangi (Indonesia), Saigon, Singapore, HongKong, Penang and Rangoon after they were retaken from the Japanese.  This TELCOM group was given quasi-military status and they wore khaki uniforms. The groups consisted of young Australians, New Zealanders and others from Great Britain numbering about 150 operators in total.

The Australian group consisted of South and West Australians. Some of the West Australian were: Ron Cocker, Brian Morell, Ken Clark, Jim Bairstow, Heb Farrar and George Scurry.

Some of the South Australians were : Randy Payne, Ken Banks, Ted Gunning (I think), Sherry Sherwood.

After the war most of the WA staff returned to WA although a couple opted to stay when Cable & Wireless and AWA were merged and nationalised to form OTCA. The SA staff were not so lucky as the Adelaide station was closed around 1947 and they wound up in SOR. Some like Randy Payne worked their way up into very prestigious positions.

A Cable & Wireless publication ‘ The Thin Red Lines’ has a photograph of the WA TELCOM contingent. (Page 113). Sadly, Ron Cocker was missing from the photograph as he became ill on the troopship taking the group to Colombo via Calcutta. He had to stay in Calcutta until he recovered and subsequently rejoined the rest of the group in Colombo. In the below photo Jim is the Third from the Left in the Back Row.

The below photo was supplied by Arthur Major.

Do you know any of the missing names? Are all of the names listed below correct?

Jann Kohlman, OTC Direct Connect Manager (Strategy) in 1992, passed away on the weekend from cancer. For those who know her, she is a great loss. She was a wonderful marketing professional and taken rather young in her fifties.

RIP Jann Kohlman

Jann is on the left side of the picture

Details for Jann’s funeral are:

1:30pm this Friday 1/8/14.

EASTERN SUBURBS MEMORIAL PARK, 12 Military Rd Matraville.

Please note that in lieu of sending flowers Jann’s express wishes are that you will make a donation to the NELUNE FOUNDATION. There will be envelopes at the chapel to do so as well as information about this wonderful charity which helps patients fight cancer with dignity. Jann had an active part in this charity.

Regarding speeches, please let me know the day before if you’re intending to speak. The numbers will need to be limited as we are expecting a large number of Jann’s friends on the day.
There will be a gathering after the ceremony for the CELEBRATION OF LIFE. The location TBC ASAP

Some of the old MOR staff will have memories of Charlie Carthew who ran the Telegraphists school. Some tended to deride Charlie but he really had at heart the interests of his students and also was very loyal to OTC. When you talk about mentors, I class Charlie as one of those. Everyone in his school worked hard and all had a good word to say about him.

At the time I was about half way through my Wireless Operator’s Cert. with the Marconi School which operated adjacent to the Telegraphists School. As a result I often passed Charlie and had a bit of a yarn. That was my mistake. The next thing I know Charlie says “Look, while you are doing your Certificate why not join us at OTC. and I will help you with your morse code and I’m sure I’ll be able to get you in as a telegraphist as well”. I didn’t bite the first few times but Charlie persisted and eventually I applied to join OTC and they started me filing “flimsies”.

Sure enough Charlie kept on pushing OTC and they let me join his school and in due course I went back to the Operating Room as a Telegraphist. Charlie continued taking an interest in my progress and when a position as Senior Technician came up at Fiskville I was offered the job (I think I was the only one locally available at the time who had the necessary technical qualifications). I was a bit hesitant to take it up as I had some idea of going to sea as a Wireless Op. but Charlie encouraged me and that was where I went – Best move I could have made.

Had a great time at Fiskville, terrific staff, all “spit and polish” – but we took great pride in our work and the older men always encouraged (sometimes with fairly strong language) the younger ones.

– From Denis Pickwell