Two things that I love are the lift industry and antiques associated with the lift industry. In the last edition of Lift Industry News I was described as the hardest working person in the lift industry. This coincided with a heatwave where the UK reached 38.1°C. I am not sure that the modernisation fitter carrying a control panel upstairs on their shoulders in a block with a simplex lift during the heatwave would describe me as the hardest working but I am going to give them the chance to call me the saddest person in the lift industry!

There is a very good book called "Reminiscences of a Great Industry" written by Henry Claude Walker, Chairman of Waygood-Otis, detailing the rich history and evolution of the lift and elevator manufacturing company Waygood & Co. (later Waygood-Otis). It talks about the manufacturing base in Dartmouth Road in Forest Hill, SE23 and looks at the corporate history of the lift company before and after its merger with Otis. Sadly I lent my copy to someone and it never came back.