February 1990 Continuation of visit to Hong Kong, following participation in 'Airports into the 21st Century' Conference

Following the conference, I travelled to Sha Tin, north of Hong Kong.  Here I visited the Friends of China work by the Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF). Note - the office is on Floor 206!  I also visited the Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas.  My visit was at the time of the Chinese New Year, which as you will notice from one of the pictures, was the Year of the Horse.  A memorable visit!

 FEBRUARY 1990  'AIRPORTS INTO THE 21st CENTURY'   HONG KONG

As the ATM expert for GEC Marconi, I was sent to Hong Kong to speak at the Conference @Airports into the 21st Century.  I was setup to give a presentation on how GEC Marconi could project manage the installation and commissioning of Air Traffic Management systems  anywhere in the world.  I was given a slot in the programme just after lunch, and I remember the hall was almost empty! 

 But I had ample opportunity of looking round Hong   Kong,

 including a trip to the Peak.  and I stayed at the Hilton Hotel!  This page gives an account of my experience then, and the next page tells how I visited the OMF work in Shatin, north of Hong Kong.

 8th October 1988 Wedding of Sandy and Jeff

 October 1989 AECMA  Assembly West Berlin and East Berlin

This was a unique occasion, as it took place just before the Berlin Wall came down.  We were not aware of this, so we visited both West and East Berlin.  We had a coach to take us to East Berlin, and I remember the East Berlin police came into the coach to check our passports.  A deathly hush descended, and after they left, we said to one another 'how long do you think it will be before the Wall comes down?'  little did we know that discussions were going on at that very time, and the Wall would come down within a month!  The photo of me in front of the Wall was a once in a lifetime shot! So was the Checkpoint Charlie pic!  Note the picture of memorials to people who had been shot whilst trying to escape over the Wall..

We had a nice trip on a steamer across a lake for lunch.  It was a cushy number - but we did do some work,  as it was the Annual Assembly of the organisation representing all European Aerospace Companies!

These pics illustrate the Eat Berlin part of the visii, showing me in frnt of the Wall, memorials to those who tries to escape over the Wall, and were shot, going through Checkpoint Charlie ( the gateway from West to East Berlin), the Brandenburg Gate from the East, Flags in windows to celebrate the Anniversary of the DDR (German Democratic Republic) and a pic of our Guide while we were in East Berlin. It was a different world!

Now the relaxed part of the visit - a lnnchtime trip on a steamer

JUNE 1989  EUROCAE ROME

Eurocae is a European Civil Aviation  Committee responsible for developing documents such as technical standards for Civil Aviation. They held a meeting in Rome, which for some reason I was attending on behalf  of GEC Marconi.  We did actually hold meetings, but the pictures show that we had a good sight seeing round Rome, visiting the Spanish Steps (I read recently that you can get a fine of 400 Euros for sitting on the steps!), also the Colosseum .and St.Peter's Basilica, including climbing to the top of the cupula!   Wonderful view of the city - I doubt whether I could do it now!