MAJALISISSUE 8 ENGLISH

page 13
majalis
Thanks to you all - Lisa Dent
Lisa Dent has asked us to print this letter of thanks following
the tragic death of her husband Robert in Riyadh
N
ow that we’re in our new
home in Tarleton with our
belongings around us, I
wanted to sit down for a moment
to thank everyone who was so
kind to Oliver, Grace and myself
during our last difficult days in
Riyadh.
I write this following a visit from
the Saudi ambassador to Britain, His
Royal Highness Prince Turki al Faisal,
who was both very sympathetic and
thoughtful.
The immediate support we
received from the people on the compound was wonderful and those closest to us in our court in Riyadh were
especially caring. My heartfelt thanks
go to our next-door neighbours
Marjanne and Steve Neil and their
children, Simone and Kyle. Joy and
Phil Nurcombe and their daughters
Carys and Megan, who looked after
Grace, and all the ladies who fed us!
A special note of thanks also, to our
closest friends, Carol and Jon
Runciman for their love and support.
Carol travelled from Dhahran immediately to be with myself and Oliver and
Grace and help us through those first
difficult days. True friends.
Visits from Martin McCann and
Paul Dugan and the support from the
company’s chief medical officer in
Saudi Arabia, Morton Mair, were very
much appreciated.
My friends at the British School
in Riyadh, many of them with family
connections to the company, were
wonderful. The Principal, Patrick
Bloomfield, gave my immediate boss
and dear friend, Myra Cruickshank
leave to attend Robert’s funeral.
Myra even unpacked some boxes for
me whilst she was here! I feel I must
mention Jo, Gillian, Lindsay, Dee and
Lynda as I remember happy days in
the nursery. My thanks to them and
all my ‘long-suffering’ friends on the
Classroom Assistant course. Special
thanks to Nichola Ryan, for co-ordinating the course, and for going that
extra mile to ensure our success.
I was very touched by the number of Robert’s friends and colleagues
from Saudi Arabia and former colleagues back in the UK who attended
the funeral in Southport. I’d particularly like to express my gratitude to
Bruce Irvine who gave a most sincere
eulogy. My heartfelt thanks also to
Robert’s office colleagues from
Riyadh and especially Ivor Turner, and
Charlie McNulty, for their strong support. My special thanks also to Fred
Mayer and Bill Walker, close friends
from our early days in Dhahran.
Many people have sent cards
and letters of support, which have
been of great comfort to us. It has
been particularly comforting to hear
from old friends from Dhahran. The
many generous donations have
reached into thousands of pounds
and because of Robert’s love for children, these will be divided between
Derian House, a nearby children’s
hospice, and Oliver and Grace’s
school, where it help buy playground
toys. My thanks to you all.
I can’t finish without mentioning
two more people. Ian Crawford has
been a tower of strength and his support and good humour have helped
keep us going through some very difficult times. His help even extended to
unloading 105 boxes of our belongings after we had problems with the
shipping company.
BAE SYSTEMS people in the UK
have rallied round too. Tina Cookson
from Warton Personnel has been a
regular and welcome visitor since we
arrived home. I’m about to go out
shopping with her for a new television
as ours was damaged in transit. I
hope it was nothing to do with Ian’s
unloading techniques!
Finally, I hope our many friends
in Saudi Arabia will keep in touch and
I assure everyone that we’d be glad to
hear from friends and colleagues as
we build a life here in the UK.
Please accept my apologies if I
have missed anybody out and be
assured your support has been of
great comfort during these difficult
times. Robert and I were fortunate to
meet and know many wonderful people during our years in Saudi Arabia
whilst he worked for BAE SYSTEMS
and I will always look back fondly on
those times.
During these difficult times for
you all, as I know many families are
separated, please take good care.
Lisa Dent, Tarleton, April 3.
Rolls-Royce Sends New Man to Saudi Arabia
Adrian Wilson a Rolls-Royce engine specialist now
based in Saudi Arabia.
I
n February Rolls-Royce seconded Adrian Wilson, a senior
propulsions engineer to BAE
SYSTEMS in Saudi Arabia to help
give expert engine guidance and
advice to staff and to the Royal
Saudi Air Force. Adrian’s role will
be to advise on day to day maintenance issues as well as work
closely with Rolls Royce in Britain
to help establish why any major
engine problems develop, and find
solutions to make sure such problems do not occur again.
Adrian replaces James O’Connor
who previously filled this role. Most
of the time Adrian will be working
from Al Bilad, but co-ordinating
closely with the specialist propulsion
engineers at the various sites in
Khamis Dhahran and Riyadh where
Neil Twycross, Neil Everate and Vic
Radford will be Adrian’s respective
contacts.
Rolls-Royce engines are used to
power two types of aircrafts that the
Saudi Air Force operates. These are
Tornado and Hawk. In addition,
Adrian will also be responsible for PC9 engines. He will be working closely
with BAE SYSTEMS customer liason
manager Paul Garstang to ensure
that the customers needs continue to
be satisfied.
Upon taking up his position
Adrian said he was delighted to return
to the Middle East again since he has
previously
worked
in
Oman.
"Teamwork is vital in any job, but
since I will be co-ordinating with Rolls
-Royce, The Royal Saudi Air Force and
BAE SYSTEMS this will be an essential to ensure that the job gets done
to everyone’s satisfaction." Adrian
added.
Adrian joined Rolls-Royce in
1998. He left school at 15 and started life as an apprenad achieved the
position of (Squadron Leader) senior
engineering officer. Since then he
also spent 31/2 years in Oman running a base contract and also had his
own business selling yachts.
Adrian is 52 years old, and has
a wife Heather and two children Mark
15 and Danielle 13. He is hoping they
will be able to come to visit the
Middle East during school holidays.
In his spare time Adrian enjoys cook-
ing, walking, swimming and is now
looking forward to taking up golf.
Relocating in
the Middle
East
C
hris Hart a supply officer
in the LOA7 department
will be leaving Saudi
Arabia in June to take up a supply representative’s position in
Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab
Emirates. The position in Abu
Dhabi will be with BAE SYSTEMS
and Chris will be working to help
the United Arab Emirates meet
their supply needs for their
Hawk aircraft.
Having been in Saudi Arabia
for the past 11 years, both in the
headquarters in Riyadh and in
Chris Hart, picture in his office in Riyadh.
Employee
Discounts
On the company intranet system, alshareka-online, a list of
companies where employees can
obtain discounts has now been
published. The discounts can be
as much as 30 per cent. Any
employee wishing to obtain the
discounts must be able to show
their BAE SYSTEMS identity card
when they purchase the product.
If employees would like any
more retailers to be placed on the
scheme please contact Ahmed Al
Sultan in the public relations and
communications department via
e-mail
on
ahmed.alsultan@baesystems.com or on 01
419 6600 Ext. 2592.
The list of establishments
were discounts are available can
be viewed on www.alsharekaonline.
Just the
Ticket
Pictured above is (left)
Hassam Al Mashwal who works
with
Tornado
Maintenance
Support in Khamis Mushait being
presented a free return flight to
the UK from Kanoo travel representative Iftekar Khan.
Hassam won the return flight
after he entered the free prize
draw available on alsharekaonline. Prize draws take place
every month and the prizes do
vary. The prize draw is available
for all staff to enter the alsharekaonline website. alshareka-online is
also available to computers not on
the
central
network
on
www.baesystems.com.sa.
Dhahran, Chris understands the culture of the Middle East and feels that
will be advantageous in his new position.
Chris discovered about the
vacancy on the Connectus website.
Chris will be sad to leave many friends
and colleagues but is looking forward
to the new challenge. He added, "I
will have to get used to working on my
own rather than in a team environment, but I am also looking forward to
helping to meet the needs of a new
customer and exploring the UAE. "The
move will also be good for my career
development and a chance to learn
about a new part of the region."