The product was used on Naughton Park pitch (the home of Widnes Rugby Club “The Chemics”) during the severe winter of 1963 (I think this was the year of the big freeze) when all sporting fixtures were cancelled due to the snow and freezing conditions for many weeks. After the application it worked a treat and Widnes was the only football club to hold matches during that time. (I think Everton also used it at Goodison Park?). HOWEVER - after a period of time it killed the grass on the pitch and Naughton Park became a mud bath - older football fans in Widnes can still remember the name GL5!! It's name still lives on in memories........

         During the early years of working on the Pilot Plant I was involved at times in working in the R&D Lab where I made friends of Peter Beattie, Eddie Fleming and Ray Wong. I was also good friends with another chemist, Peter Quinn, who was a Moss Banker and whose mother, Mary, and father, Joe, also worked at Moss Bank at a later time. I remember Peter Quinn working on some quite novel projects to make Cystein from chicken feathers and Oxalic Acid from sawdust (in a frying pan over a bunsen burner). These were in the days of M H M Arnold who was a well know "character" in the chemical industry (and in Moss Bank) in the sixties

         From the mid sixties the plant growth meant that the supervision and technical input improved and the facility was managed by Eric Newall, Chief Chemist and gentleman. He was an "old fashioned" gent of mild manners and significant knowledge who was a great influence in my learning and was my first "boss" in the plant. As it became more of a production unit than a research facility it began to operate as a "miniature plant" and started to be operated as a financial resource - so we had to do costings and profit/loss monthly reports etc... This gave me an early insight into organising manufacture and monitoring costs etc...... Eric also gave me two pieces of advise that stayed with me through my working life..... "Most things you do in life are 10% knowledge and 90% common sense" and "When you make a mistake - own up and face the consequences and learn from it"

         And so the Pilot Plant grew into a small, multipurpose production plant over several years and I was there as it grew and was part of the success of many products that came from it. Also I grew with the plant as I learnt more and became more involved under the guidance of Eric and others. I progressed from Operator to Senior Operator to Plant Supervisor and eventually Assistant Plant Manager under Dave Caldwell (ex Vine Chemicals who was the first "proper" Plant Manager). Dave left after 3 years by which time we were responsible for managing the SPP, the Sulphonated Oils Plant (which I had some experience on earlier) and the "newly expanded" Sodium Heptonate Plant.

In 1968 Bowmans had developed a production process for making Malic Acid -the first in the world (the R&D work was done by Ray Wong -.......... note how I worked with and still see the people who were instrumental in the development of all Bowmans main products!!) and Bowmans had fought off a take-over bid by Burmah Oil and was subsequently bought by Croda Chemicals of Goole. This was the start of my working life at Croda and the the almost 38 years of service with them.

        So when Dave left Moss Bank there was no other manager on site with the knowledge and experience of the 3 plants and after some "negotiation" on salary with Fred Dyer he promoted me to Plant Manager at the tender age of 26 - he commented that it was unknown for someone so young to have such responsibility - I took that as a compliment. I knew they had little choice and thanks to Dave I started on the same salary that he left on and Fred was a "little disappointed" not to give me the job at a lower salary......