Winter 2019

KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH OUR RETIRED BOC COLLEAGUES Designed and produced by AHC Winter_2019_105308

SPREADING CHRISTMAS CHEER SNOW JOKE

What you can do to combat A look back at BOC lorries loneliness this festive season stuck in the snow in Scotland

MISTLETOE AND WHINE

Christmas puns to make you groan Page 02

A message from the Contact team

Welcome to a festive Winter edition of Contact magazine.

Christmas is an exciting time, and we’ve included In Yesterday’s news on pages 4 and 5, you can read some fun additions in this magazine. On page 6 you about BOC drivers in Scotland who were trapped in can guess the year of the Christmas number one their cabs for 12 hours in 15ft snow drifts back in singles and read some Christmas-themed puns; and the 1970s. on page 7 there’s a recipe that can be enjoyed by all We hope you enjoy this magazine, and wish you all the family. the best for Christmas, and a very Happy New Year. But it’s also important for us to reflect on the things Bob Bryant and James Hiley that are most important to us. On page 3, we bring On behalf of BOC Pension Services and AHC (the attention to the important issue of loneliness, and appointed Trustee communications provider) consider what we can all do to help people.

Pension payment dates Your pension payment dates are the 6th of every month, or the next working day if the 6th falls on a weekend or a bank holiday. If you change your address or bank details, please let the Pensions Admin Team know in writing by the 24th of the month for payment on the 6th of the following month (except for the January payment where we need this by 20th December). This means we will have time to make the change before your next payment and will avoid any delay to your pension being paid. Remember, payslips are sent in March and April only unless a tax code change is applied, or the amount of pension varies by £1.00 or more over the previous month. If you’re paid in half-yearly instalments, these are made in April and October. You will also receive a payslip in October.

In this edition Yesterday’s news 4 & 5 Mulled swine recipe 7 Christmas fun 6 Christmas pudding crossword Back page Page 03 Loneliness at Christmas

When you think of Christmas, what springs to mind? Giving and receiving gifts, meeting up with family and friends, singing carols? This may be true for a lot of people, but for many others it can be a lonely time. Over nine million people in the UK say they are always or often lonely, and more than half of all people aged 75 or over live alone. According to Age UK, 1.9 million older people often feel ignored or invisible. And it’s unhealthy for us to be lonely. According to academic research published by The Association for Psychological Science in 2015, loneliness can be as harmful to our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

How you can help

Face-to-face Check on your Call in Time befriending neighbours

If you are over 60, you can You can volunteer at your local You’d be surprised how sign up for a free telephone Age UK to visit someone in many people don’t know friendship service to talk to their home, perhaps for a tea/ their neighbours. Sometimes, someone who’s keen to make a coffee and a chat, or by taking all it takes is a simple “Hello” new friend. All you have to do them to an activity. to get to know them better. is commit to one weekly phone Why not invite a neighbour call. Search Age UK ‘Call in Time’ round to try the Contact online for more information. recipe on page 7? Page 04

Yesterday’s news

Ho Ho H-Ohmeda The acquisition of an American company called Ohio Medical was a significant step in BOC’s history, as it led to the change from BOC Medishield to Ohmeda, which was then sold in 1998. John Jones, who worked in the sales team for Medishield and Ohmeda, got in touch with Contact about his time working at BOC during the change.

“The rumours about the change were that an American image consultancy was given the task of coming up with a new brand image for the two companies … They eventually came up with the name Ohmeda, and split the BOC chevrons along the middle to create a cross design with the middle section. This worked fine in the beginning but did cause issues in the Middle East that resulted in changing the logo for that region.”

“I had a really great time with the company and made fantastic friends and colleagues throughout my stay with BOC Medishield/Ohmeda. The knowledge, skills and experience with the company gave me a great platform to allow me to grow my career up to my retirement.”

The change was just one part of a 15-year career for John, who moved house five times in the same period. In 1974, the same year he joined BOC, he was married to wife Glynis. They are still happily married 45 years later, with two sons (Gareth and Rhys). John retired in 2006, and has since travelled around the world with Glynis. A highlight of this was a special visit to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 2011. Page 05

Snow joke as drivers stuck in Scottish blizzard After reading last year’s Christmas Contact, Jane McCartney got in touch to make us aware of a BOC story from 1978. Jane’s husband, Jim, along with three other drivers from BOC Motherwell, were caught in large snow drifts in the Scottish Highlands. Local newspapers reported that the Highland region was turned into a disaster area after a blizzard caused the worst weather conditions for more than 30 years. Three of the drivers, Tom Gemmell, Tom Bain, and Jim McCartney, were stranded in their tanker cabs in 15ft snowdrifts. They were unable to get out for 12 hours, until they were rescued by local farmer Jack Sinclair and his ‘Snowcat’. They were taken back to his home at Slochd Cottages near Carrbridge, where 60 other people were also sheltering from the conditions. Tom Gemmell and Tom Bain were airlifted to Inverness by Army helicopter 36 hours later, whereas Jim decided to stay at the Cottages. However, as luck should have it, when both Toms were transferred to a hotel in Inverness, the building caught fire and they had to be evacuated. The fourth tanker driver, Willie Hendry, was stranded just north of Helmsdale in the Ord of Caithness. This was a particularly treacherous spot and had claimed three lives in the same blizzard conditions. The tankers were bound for the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) site at Dounreay, with nitrogen and argon on board. According to Jane, Jim went to his tanker every day to make sure everything was in working order, because he had been hearing the news about how short Dounreay was for gas. The nitrogen and argon were of vital importance to the fast breeder reactor at Dounreay, and in the snow the reactor had to be shut down, with power lines having been blown down. Eventually, a supply was airlifted by RAF Hercules transport. It was later revealed that the stations had enough supplies for safety purposes, but there wasn’t enough to start production.

Tell your story A special thank you to John and Jane for sending their stories to Contact magazine. If you’re reading and have a piece of BOC or Gist history to share about yourself, a friend or a family member, please get in touch with us using the contact details on the back page. Page 06

Mistletoe and whine 10 Christmas-themed puns to make you groan

1. I bought my son a fridge for Christmas. I can’t wait to see his face light up when he opens it 2. Why do Santa’s helpers have to wear hi-vis jackets? Elf and safety 3. What type of hat can you hang on your Christmas tree? A bauble hat 4. How does Santa get 300 days of holiday every year? Quiz-mas: Guess the There’s a Claus in his contract year of the Christmas 5. Who hides in a bakery at Christmas? No.1 singles A mince spy 6. What would you get if you ate the For a bit of festive fun, see if you can guess the Christmas decorations? year of these Christmas number one singles. Once you’ve ‘mulled’ them over, you can find the Tinselitis answers on page 7. 7. Why doesn’t the North Pole import goods? Because it’s elf sufficient 1. Merry Xmas Everybody (Slade) 8. What is Santa’s favourite place to swim? 2. Don’t You Want Me (The Human League) The North Pool 3. Earth Song (Michael Jackson) 9. How do you know when Santa’s in the room? 4. Mistletoe and Wine (Cliff Richard) You can sense his presents 5. Christmas Alphabet (Dickie Valentine) 10. What’s the difference between the Christmas 6. Merry Christmas Everyone (Shakin’ Stevens) alphabet and the ordinary alphabet? 7. Can We Fix It? (Bob the Builder) The Christmas alphabet has Noel 8. I Want To Hold Your Hand (The Beatles) 9. Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen) 10. Mary’s Boy Child – Oh My Lord (Boney M) Page 07

Mulled swine recipe

As ‘Christmassy’ as it gets. Mulled wine, serves eight, what more could you possibly want at this time of year? A recipe to enjoy with family and friends.

Preparation time – 20 mins Cooking time – 1 hr 25 mins Serves – 8 Ingredients 2 celery sticks, chopped | 1 large onion, peeled and quartered 1 large carrot, chopped | 1 teaspoon black peppercorns 2 kilograms smoked gammon joint | 500 millilitres mulled wine 250 grams muscovado sugar | 2 oranges, rind and juice 1 tablespoon whole cloves Method 1. Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 2. Put the gammon in a large pan, and add vegetables and peppercorns. Cover with cold water and gently bring to the boil over a medium heat. Reduce the heat, skim off any surface scum, then half cover and simmer for 20 minutes per 450g (1lb), plus 20 minutes, topping up with water as necessary. 3. Meanwhile, make the glaze. Pour the mulled wine into a pan. Add the sugar, orange rind and juice, and a couple of pinches of salt. Stir to combine. Place the pan over medium heat. Once the

wine comes to a boil, reduce to a simmer and stir occasionally

until the wine glaze is thick, syrupy and has reduced by half 1978 10. 1991, and

(about 20 to 30 minutes). Remove the pan from the heat. 1975 9. 1963, 8. 2000, 7.

Remove the orange rind and allow the glaze to cool. 1985, 6. 1955, 5. 1988, 4. 1995, 3. 1981, 2. 1973, 1. 4. When the gammon is done, remove from heat, skim off any Answers Quiz-mas

remaining scum and put it into a large roasting tin.

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5. Using a small, sharp knife, remove the rind from the gammon, L

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N IN RS leaving behind a layer of fat, about 5mm thick. Score the KIA

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remaining fat all over in a diamond pattern and stick a clove RO OA HE YO

DIN E OV CM TI

into the centre of each diamond. Spoon the glaze evenly ROBO

TN IE RE

TO ORON NT over the gammon. Add a ladleful of stock from the pan to the ECHELO

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roasting tin to keep the ham moist during cooking. Cover the MT DON EU IC NT GY

RAC STS

exposed meat of the joint with cooking foil, then roast in the BU

ACH SE OI TA

RE oven for about 30 minutes until glossy, browned and sticky. LD S

6. Rest for 10-15 minutes and serve either hot or cold, carved into REAP

thin slices. Crossword Solution Crossword Pudding mix

There are lots of different types of clue in this tasty teaser! We’ve got straight, cryptic, anagram, general knowledge and missing links (such as 8 Across, where the answer is a word that links with all three listed words). All of the anagram clues give words that can precede or follow CHRISTMAS!

Across

1 Harvests variety of pears (5) 6 Irish equivalent of prime minister (9) 8 Conductor • London • Trolley (3) 9 UK motoring organisation (inits) (3) 11 Peer ___, Ibsen play (4) 12 Choc • Cream • Pack (3)

13 Thick Japanese noodle (4) Designed and produced by AHC Winter_2019_105308 16 Aztec, he longs to keep level (7)

18 City where Dorothy’s dog seized boy (7) 12 3

20 Like a mechanical man (7) 45 22 Took possession of (a home) (5,2) 67 23 SORE (anag) (4) 8910 26 Buffoon takes head off fish (3) 27 Urban development won’t change (4) 11 12 13 29 Korean car maker (3) 14 15

30 Trendy‑sounding tavern (3) 16 17 18 19 31 Show supporting weight (9) 32 STEER (anag) (5) 20 21 22 Down 23 24 25 26 27 28

2 I DONE IT (anag) (7) 29 30 3 SERPENT (anag) (7) 31 4 SALT (anag) (4) 5 Held back by resourceful fawn (4) 6 Measure of ale equivalent to four 32 hogsheads (3) 7 Owned shadowy part (3) 8 Strictly according to rules (2,3,4) 10 WONTON CUD (anag) (9) 14 MY ERR (anag) (5) GET IN TOUCH 15 La ___ e Mobile, aria from Verdi’s Rigoletto (5) Contact magazine 17 Flood • Moon • Well (3) BOC Pension Services, The Priestley Centre, 19 ___ up, accelerate (3) 10 Priestley Road, The Surrey Research Park, 21 Battery • Knight’s • Phone (7) Guildford GU2 7XY 22 SEA GEMS (anag) (7) 24 Drink discovered in bottles I purloined (3) Freephone: 0800 220 105 25 Nearly the heart of a nobleman (4) Landline: 01483 244 747 27 MITE (anag) (4) Web: www.bocpensions.co.uk

28 ___ Day Like This, Elbow hit (3) Answers on page 7 Email: [email protected]