Engineering lifelong learning links

When Richard Potter started an engineering diploma at Middlesbrough’s Constantine Technical College in June 1943, he forged links which would endure more than six decades.

Constantine College was the forerunner of Teesside Polytechnic, which became the University of Teesside.

The 82-year-old, known as Dick, remains in contact with all surviving members of the Engineering Cadetship Diploma course he first met when they were fresh faced 18-year-old students.

Nearly 65 years on, those friendships have stood the test of time. Dick said much of that is due to 82-year-old Ray Pixley, who lives in Sheffield and Neville Hoskins, who has since died, who were instrumental in ensuring their Constantine alumni links remained strong through reunions and newsletters.

Dick, a former Penrith Grammar School pupil, now lives in Hartlepool. He was working as a transport manager when his father told him about the course at Constantine College.

He said: ‘Bear in mind this was wartime, so the course had been set up by the Ministry of Defence and the Forces to have more engineering officers.

‘I was from a farming background - my father was a farmer and from that I had an interest in machinery and engineering. I applied for the course in the hope of coming out at the end as an engineering officer in the Army or Navy, as well as gaining an engineering qualification.’

Having completed his final exams in December 1945, he joined the Royal Engineers, before transferring to Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, eventually serving as a Lance Corporal in Tripoli, Libya.

When Dick left the forces in 1948 he wanted to continue his studies and returned to Constantine College where he gained his BSc Eng (Lond) Mechanical Engineering degree in 1951. He went on to work as an engineer until he retired.

Dick, of Hartlepool, looks back with fondness at the time he spent at Constantine College, saying: ‘We were thrown together from all over the country and we stuck together. They were a great bunch of lads.

‘It was a very intensive course, along with all the study we did daily PE with an army instructor and had swimming on Saturday mornings. Every Saturday night there was a dance for the students - those were the days of big band music.’

He added: ‘A highlight of our Golden Anniversary reunion in 1993 was a guided tour of the University, taking in the old buildings and areas which have greatly expanded.’

Dick, whose late wife Margaret was from Hartlepool, spent the first nine years of his life in Australia. He was born in New South Wales as his family uprooted from Cumbria before his birth so his dad could try farming in New South Wales – the family moved back to England when Dick was nine.

Graduates of Constantine College, Teesside Polytechnic and the University of Teesside can make contact with their former friends by registering with the University’s Alumni Association. For more details contact 01642 384255 or email alumni.office@tees.ac.uk.

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