10 December 1984 Ted Darch retires after 16 years at Lincoln College

Thousands of metres of arc welding on New Zealand farms over the years has come from instruction given by Ted Darch who has just retired as senior agricultural engineering tutor after 16 years at Lincoln College.

In those 16 years he has taught nearly 7000 students as well as many others in Young Farmers Clubs and on short courses how to weld.

As he modestly puts it, in his still discernible Liverpool accent : "Just basic welding. They can't go out and work on pressure tanks."

But that basic welding has helped a lot of farmers save time, save money, and even save harvests.

Like the time a local farmer anxiously phoned the college to say his header had broken down in the middle of harvesting.

"He told me that he would have to get a part from Auckland for $96 and this might take several days to arrive,” Ted said.

"We had his header backer working inside an hour."

Ted's a New Zealander now here since February 1948 he's been here since February 1948 - but he was born in Birkenhead, just across the Mersey from Liverpool.

His first job was working in a timber mill for 3 1/2d an hour when he was 14 years old.

His pay went up to 12/6d a week when he went to work as an apprentice welder in the Cammel Laird shipyards at 16.

In those days Cammel Laird's was Birkenhead, and if the war had not come along Ted might have been working there for the rest of his life.

Just before the war the shipyards were building submarines, and one of these, the Thetis, sank during sea trials.

Ninety nine men were lost, among them some from the shipyards and the rest from the Royal Navy, when the Thetis went down.

Young Ted was among the shipyard workers who helped convert an old cargo ship into a recovery vessel to bring the Thetis to the surface.

Ted went into the Royal Navy in 1942 as an engine room rating, became a petty officer, and served until 1945.

He left England for New Zealand on the Rangitata late in 1947 and arrived here in February 1948 .

On the way over he met an Irish girl on the ship who was later to become his wife Joy.

Ted started working at the college in 1969 after being hired by the then Professor of Agricultural Engineering, John Burton.

Before that he had worked on hydroelectricity projects at Tekapo, Pukaki and Cobb River for the Ministry of Works, and had two spells working for Andersons Engineering in Christchurch.

He was superintendent welder at Andersons, and was also responsible for the radiographic examination of welding.

Unsolicited praise for his work at Andersons came from the Marine Department soon after he started at Lincoln College.

In part, the recommendation from the Marine Department read : "During his 14 years service, which included the welding and radiography of at least 32,000 feet of arc-welded seams for boilers and pressure vessels, his diligence and sense of responsibility have been exemplary."

Now Ted has hung up his welding torch and will be outdoors rather than inside during his retirement.

He is a keen fisherman and has a caravan at the mouth of the Rangitata River.

And for the last 25 years he has taken his tent down to the Temuka Domain for his holidays as a base for fishing and golfing in the district.

He lives in Lincoln and he will be playing a lot of 17-handicap golf on the local course.

When he was playing senior golf his handicap was down to 14. He belongs to the Selwyn Veterans' Club.

Ted is also planning a trip around the North Island next year so that he can see more of New Zealand.

"The only places I have been to in the North Island are Wellington and Palmerston North where I went for a few days for a conference," he said.

He has been every where in the South Island, and only after his trip next year will he decide whether to go back to England for a visit.

Ted hasn't been back since he left in 1947, and he would like to see how the place has changed.

He got some glimpses of Liverpool recently in a television series, and didn't really like what he saw.

"Where the big liners like the Empress of Britain and the Empress of Canada used to come in there was nothing but desolation."

But he would like to see his brothers and sisters again - he came from a family of seven boys and three girls.

A couple of years ago an Australian tourist tracked Ted down and put him in touch with his younger brother Sid who lives south of Sydney.

So Ted and Joy flew over to see the brother he had not seen for 36 years, the only time they have been out of New Zealand since coming here.

Now Ted is getting used to the idea that he will no longer be teaching the future farmers of New Zealand how to weld, and looking forward to his fishing, golfing and gardening.

Further information from Mr Ted Darch, Agricultural Engineering Department, Lincoln College, Canterbury, New Zealand.