19/05/2026
This takes me back to when my father used to run the workshops at Comtec.
Him and Bill, two ex engineers from the Associated Electrical Industries days at Trafford Park.
My dad, Ken, Manchester born and bred.
Bill, over in Wallasey.
Between them they knew everything.
Wood shop.
Metal fabrication.
Paint bay.
Presentation builds, long before stretched fabric and LED were even a thing.
They were what the lads called the dynamic duo.
Always together.
Always thinking the same way.
Nothing got past them.
They would sit on the wall outside with a brew, pipe in hand, talking things through.
Inside, the place ran like clockwork.
And it really did.
I remember walking in one morning.
“Morning boss,” my dad says, which I will be honest, felt strange then and still would now.
Every engineer was at a bench.
Plugs everywhere.
Ceeform, Socapex, 13 amp, all stripped down.
I asked, what’s going on.
Bill just said, we are visually checking everything.
I said, but it all gets metered regularly.
My dad looked at me and said,
That’s testing. This is inspection. Different thing entirely.
This was long before formal PAT testing.
Then I noticed a pile of fuses on the floor.
Right, and this.
My dad just said,
You spend thousands on equipment,
train people for years,
build a reputation,
and leave it all hanging on a 20p fuse.
Then added,
They get tired. Replace them.
That mindset never left me.
The detail.
The discipline.
The refusal to assume anything is probably fine.
The dynamic duo shaped how Comtec runs to this day.
And I still find myself going back to those lessons more often than not.
RIP Ken and Bill.
The dynamic duo.
