John Hurds - 50 Years at HCT
John Hurds has been coming to HCT for fifty years – ten years as a student and another forty years as an employee, teaching various motor vehicle related courses.
John first discovered his interest in engineering and motor vehicles as a young boy in the 1950s when he visited the local barbers and became absorbed by a 1930’s edition of Autocar and a wartime edition of Motor. John was that intrigued; he missed his hair appointment, but returned to the barbers each day to continue his reading before being sent home when the shop closed for the evening. The barber noticed John’s interest after several days and offered him the two books.
John left school aged 14 and began a pre-apprenticeship training course in 1960 at HCT covering all aspects of engineering. John remembers waiting outside from 8.30am for the Principal to come and let the students in at 9.00am each morning. If the weather was particularly wet or cold, the Principal would come and open up slightly earlier! At this time the College was still being built. One of John’s teachers was George Kemp, who was Head of the Department and also taught science. George was known to be running late for starting class, but had an unusual skill to make up for lost time. He could take two pieces of chalk, one in each hand and start writing from the outside and work his way in –with complete accuracy.
After the pre-apprenticeship John found work at H.A. Saunders Ltd – the main Austin Agents for the County and came back to study part-time as an apprentice. By 1965 the second building at the College was being developed and in 1966 John remembers the new motor vehicle workshop was completed.
In 1969 John came back to the College, but as a part-time lecturer. By 1970 he was full-time and was tasked with developing the RTITB integrated training courses. John taught maths and science alongside these courses to day release students. Interest in the motor vehicle trade grew and in 1978 the first full-time motor vehicle course was introduced.
By 1970, the motor vehicle workshop was outgrown so John and his students moved to New Town road. Taking over a condemned building, improvements and development took place there for the next 25 years. In 1982 YTS training for the motor vehicle trade began with mechanics, panel beaters, spray technicians and parts people from all over the county attending. In 1999 John started ABC training for full-time mechanics working on cars, motor cycles and commercial vehicles. Alongside teaching at the College John was part of an advisory committee for City and Guilds and RTITB. He was also a National Craftsman examiner for City and Guilds and an ICAT Assessor for RTITB. When the time came to leave New Town road, it took six caretakers six months to empty the building! John had made some improvement or brought in a new piece of kit or equipment each day for 25 years.
The College has just undergone complete re-development, so in 2009 John moved into a new Motor Vehicle workshop within the Technology Centre. John commented how nice it was to have air conditioning and all the latest modern equipment.
