Martyn Plummer
Martyn was born in Thornton-upon-Tees in Teeside on 18 July 1937.
Whilst giving a lecture at Newcastle University he was approached by someone who said they wanted a metallurgist to work in Malta on the dry docks on behalf of Swan Hunter. Martyn applied for the job and had a first interview in Wallsend and was flown out to Malta for second interview. He got the job as senior metallurgist for dry docks on secondment from Swan Hunter in 1966.
Martyn returned to Britain and joined Swan Hunter in 1971. His job was to formalise a group laboratory so that all the yards owned by Swan Hunter worked towards the same processes and procedures, in particular health and safety standards for those working with gas, asbestos and loud noise.
Martyn worked at Swan Hunter as general manager of health and safety until 1989 when he was made redundant.
Martyn was interviewed by Alex Magin on 22 March 2007. The interview took place at Segedunum Roman Fort, Baths and Museum and lasted for 28 minutes.
Martyn Plummer's Memories
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Transcript
So you grew up in Teesside and started working in Teesside.
Yes that’s right.
How did you come to be at Swan Hunter?
Well, that’s a long question! Do you want me go through? What happened was, I was rather a specialist in pipeline corrosion work at that time because I worked for a big company that made specialist pipelines so I came to Newcastle University to do a lecture on corrosion technology on pipelines systems for gas. I met a gentleman was saying they needed a metallurgist to work in Malta dry docks on behalf of Swan Hunters. I said I’d seen the advert in the Times paper but hadn’t got round to seriously thinking about it, so he asked me if I would consider applying for the post which was with Swan Hunters but be seconded to Malta dry docks. So I went back home and discussed it with the family they thought it was a good exciting time, so I applied for the job and was asked to attend for an interview here in Wallsend, then I was asked to attend a second interview out in Malta, so they flew me out to Malta for a second interview. So I ended up being the senior metallurgist at Malta dry docks on secondment for Swan Hunter.