Brain Wheatly Interview (1)

An Interview with Brian Wheatly

By Lewis Dean

Brian Wheatly struggles to remember his earliest memory. He says that he wants to say something "funny" but his earliest memory was probably of school. "But not school like it is today" says Brian, "we had much more discipline".

Brian Wheatly was born in Southampton the year the war broke out in 1939. That same year he and his family moved to Poole. “Southampton was a dangerous place to live because of the bombings. The nearest place we could move to that was safe was here in Poole”. When he was 5 years old he started school at Henry Harbin, now known as Poole High and in later life went on to start his own engineering and manufacturing company.

Brian’s earliest memories are of school and in particular the “silly things” they used to do. “We used to have a sleep in the afternoon!” laughs Brian. “We used to have a box of fancy dress items and most afternoons we used to dress up”. Despite this Brian does remember school being very disciplined. “If you misbehaved you would be made to walk in a line in front of everyone and they would hit you with a plimsoll” added Brian. “If the teacher didn’t like you...” he pauses “you would really get hit”.

Retired now, Brian likes to follow sport and spend time with his grandchildren but smiles as he remembers he “spent some very happy times as a youngster at school”.