After 50 years working on live electricity cables Tony Skerry has no plans to retire because, in his words, “I’m still living the dream”.
The UK Power Networks engineer from Lynn has only recently stopped doing extra ‘standby’ shifts after 45 years, and he doesn’t have to climb many overhead line poles as “now I shout at them from the ground.”
Since becoming an apprentice in the electrical industry in 1975, first working on overhead power lines, and now as a hot glove linesman dealing with live cables, he has travelled all over the region and beyond, fixing cables after major storms.
He said: “After the 1987 storm I started repairing overhead lines in King’s Lynn, then moved onto Norwich, Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich, somewhere near the M25 and ended up in Southampton helping with repairs.”
Working hard to restore people’s power after severe storms has also taken him to France and up to Scotland, after repairing cables in Carlisle which had lost all its power – he said: “That was very weird to see”.
He also travelled up to Inverness and ended up just five miles from John O’ Groats.
With Sandringham House and Anmer Hall in his patch, Tony has long been one of the team behind-the-scenes making sure the Royals and their staff have reliable power supplies. Although the nearest he has come to any members of the Royal family was his team driving to Sandringham’s stud and passing a woman in a headscarf and long coat walking along. He said: “Then I realised it was the Queen!”
Tony and his wife Annette both enjoy travelling on cruises and railway journeys, and his son, John, and daughter-in-law also work for UK Power Networks
Most of all Tony says he has enjoyed working with his colleagues and meeting so many members of the public. “I work in different places every day and try and do a little bit of good, people are very grateful,” and, he says, he would find that hard to give up.
His field staff supervisor, David Hicks, said: “Tony is a dedicated member of the team who is still passionate about what he does.
He is a walking encyclopaedia about overhead lines and is a point of reference for all his colleagues.
“Tony is a role model for the younger members of staff and is the first person we turn to when we have someone new join, as he likes nothing better than sharing his knowledge and mentoring apprentices and trainees.”
The firm recruits apprentices every year and has more than 300 employees who have been working for more than 40 years, a spokesperson said.
