The ILP's veteran Technical Director Peter Harrison this month steps into well-deserved retirement. Here he reflects on his career, how lighting has changed, and what he thinks may come next. I started my career in lighting on 31 May, 1977 (the day after my 22nd birthday) when I joined Preston Borough Council as an electrician. Although the main part of my work was to carry out repairs and installation works on the council's housing and public buildings, I did work at times on street lighting. I applied to be a technician to work on public buildings but didn't get the job. Three months later the job of street lighting technician was advertised, I applied, was successful and so, like many, stumbled into street lighting. And the rest, as they say, is history. In 1977, Preston employed a team of around five people within the street lighting section as clock winders. This team had a weekly round where they travelled around their 'patch' by bicycle, wound up mechanical solar dial time switches and checked the 100W tungsten lamp was working.
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