Profiles
Malcolm Brown – Printing Controller (Head Office)
Malcolm retired on the 27th December 2002 after more than 30 years employment with AWTA Ltd. He was the 13th employee to achieve this goal.
Malcolm Brown, 22nd December 1969 to 27th December 2002.
He has a long history with the wool industry. A dour Yorkshireman, who loves his cricket and rugby league football, Malcolm has been associated with many of the legendary names in the industry.
He first entered the industry in Bradford, UK. He worked under Edgar Priestly at the Bradford Conditioning House. He also worked for Isaac Holden Ltd in Bradford, later to become Woolcombers, in the quality control laboratory.
Malcolm’s claim to fame (apart from his achievements at cricket) is that he quickly established a reputation for being able to judge the regain of scoured wool to within 1% simply by touching and handling the wool.
Malcolm also had a short 2-year stint in the RAF, part of which he served in Singapore. He says that his service in the RAF was principally to play cricket and rugby.
He then joined Wool Testing Services in the UK where Gordon Brown trained him in the finer arts of wool testing, before he was transferred to Australia to work for WTS under John Westmore, then in competition with AWTA.
Alex Artomonow, General Manager Corporate Services, congratulates Malcolm on his retirement.
Malcolm left WTS for personal reasons and was out of work for two months before he approached AWTA for a job. Initially he was rejected but when the then Managing Director, David Ward, heard that Malcolm was in the market he rang him up and offered him a job in sampling.
Murray Mansfield, who was then managing the accounting department, moved Malcolm into purchasing and stock control. He was soon given the difficult job of managing the Brokers Handling Charges – fees collected by AWTA from the buyers on behalf of the brokers, to cover the costs of moving wool out of store once it had been purchased and assembled into consignments. In these early days Malcolm also organised various management conferences, but quickly learnt how to escape from this onerous responsibility by delivering warm beer for post conference drinks – could you expect anything less from a Yorkshireman?
Malcolm continued to work within the accounting department for the rest of his working career. Among other duties he controlled the printing of stationery and publications, ensuring corporate standards were maintained.
It is a pity that in recent years, due to the dismal performance of the English team, he has been less than eager to discuss his favourite sport – cricket. But we are sure that when the tables turn, and turn they inevitably must, then the old eagerness will return and the emails will flow! In the meantime Malcolm is planning to enjoy his retirement, visiting his beloved Yorkshire and travelling around Australia.
Kay Shivers – Courier (Fremantle)
Kaye Shivers commenced with the statutory AWTA in August 1979 as a part time document courier. She was subsequently made full-time as the need to service delivery requirements increased and continued in that role until her farewell on Friday 17th of January this year. During those years Kaye has delivered literally millions of test certificates to our clients in and around Fremantle, and along the way has made many close friends.
Kaye Shivers (right), left AWTA Ltd on 17th January 2003
We may be able to send test results via fax machine and computer, but one thing is for certain, we can no longer send the smiling face that Kaye delivered every day. We all wish her well in her new life of renovations and golf lessons.