Sponsorship Interview – British Steel

Over the year leading up to my A Level exams I made a lot of trips on my own. The trip to Middlesbrough left a lasting impression. I think I interviews from other potential sponsors. I have an impression that I had an interview with Courtaulds, but I may be confusing it with an interview in my final year.

This is what I remember my interview for the sponsorship with British Steel. The journey north was an adventure. I took the train from Euston to Darlington and then changed to a diesel-multiple-unit to Middlesbrough. It would have been a train to Saltburn. I found the idea of actually visiting Darlington (as in “The Stockton and Darlington Railway”) interesting in itself. I remember looking at the structure of the station building.

My interview was an all-day affair. It was held in the Royal Exchange Building which was close to the railway station. The morning was lots of psychometric tests and the afternoon was some sort of board interview. I remember that the tests involved me doing all sorts of things, including some where I had to use my left (non-dominant) hand to draw lines. I don’t remember that much about the board interview, but I got the sponsorship which made my life at University financially secure.

(15th December 2016 – 219 words)

Daily “Memoirs” exercise for when I’m not doing anything which I regard as “creative”. This is written almost stream-of-consciousness and is not edited very much afterwards.

This would be in 1974 or 1975. I was 17 or 18.