David Ellis (FS 44 – 49) has written with the following:

“Having left the school in 1949, I was almost immediately called up for the mandatory National Service, which, after basic training, was served in the Royal Artillery mainly in what was then Tripolitania (now part of Libya) with the last few months spent in the Suez Canal Zone where I met up with my brother John Ellis (FS 45 – 50) also with the R.A. in a different regiment.
Upon discharge, I joined a firm of Timber Agents and brokers in Liverpool. After eighteen months in the softwood sales department specializing in Canadian lumber, I was sent to British Columbia, to work with our suppliers, where I spent twelve months in logging camps, sawmills and taking a course in grading lumber. On returning to the UK, I found that Britain was still struggling to recover from the war and as I felt my career prospects would be better in Canada, I emigrated to Vancouver in 1954 with my wife.

The first ten years were not easy as I worked for five small lumber companies, all of which went broke! I finally got a break and was appointed export sales manager for the largest wholesale lumber company in the US, based in Portland, Oregon. I remained with this company for fifteen years before joining another Portland company that wanted me to open a branch office for them in Vancouver, British Columbia. I was with them for another fifteen years, at the end of which, instead of retiring, I formed my own company (which I should have done much earlier) and kept on exporting lumber for a further seventeen years.
In 2010, I finally decided to retire at the age of 79, just short of working 60 years in the industry.

Sadly, my wife passed away some years ago. We had three children and I now have four grandchildren. I exercise daily and I travel overseas often, also regularly to the US and here at home in Canada. I have visited St. Bees a few times, the most memorable of which was as a member of the group of ex 1st XV players who assembled in the mid 1990s for the unveiling of the plaque commemorating our coach T.A. Brown.

If I knew the date well in advance, I would like to plan a visit for St. Beghians’ Day next year, as I will be travelling from Canada to attend my daughter’s wedding in Ireland in September, 2013.”

 

Home

The St. Beghian Society,    St. Bees School,    St. Bees,    Cumbria,    CA27 0DS.
         Tel: (01946) 828093      Email: osb@st-bees-school.co.uk      
Web: www.st-beghian-society.co.uk