IT HAD TO BE VERY MUCH BETTER THAN GOOD

At a funeral service I attended, I was really impressed with what I heard about the life of the deceased, who I will call M. The service was very well attended by people from all over the county, indicating how well thought of the man had been.

This man was the one of the sons of a shepherd. He in turn was a shepherd. A short period in the RAF brought in into contact with the lady who became his wife. They returned to his home and produced a family that today, comprises of grandchildren and nine great grandchildren, very few of whom, had dry eyes during the service. The minister spoke of what the man had enjoyed in his life, his manual dexterity and his voracious appetite for reading. When M retired he returned to farm work.

It is what was not said the was so impressive. We knew, and so did the people who paid their last respects, that M spent a large part of his working life in an organisation that required absolute reliability and ability in the auditing of specialised working materials. His work had to be 100%, and some more.  It was not just internally checked, the accounting had to be good enough for national and international review as well. The well-being of a large working community was dependent upon M's work and he unfailingly met the exacting standards of the challenge.