People who tattooed my life #3: Pat Tinworth

Upon arriving back to base after a contract in Gloucester ended I was almost made redundant.  I was only saved 'cos I hit it off with a portly bearded chap named Pat Tinworth.  He "bumped " into me in the wine bar over the road from work and I never knew it was an interview but it was. An assessment of my suitability over a pint.

He took me on and set me to work researching something very alien to a systems programmer.

Let me try to explain how Pat worked: If there was a hangar full of panicking people and a stack of mechanical aeroplane parts, Pat is the kind of person who would go inside and close the door behind him, then when you opened the doors again an hour later there would be a fully assembled  plane, happy people and only Pat with clean hands.

Wonderful motivator, director and facilitator.

Single handedly Pat took a feisty overconfident mainframe sysprog and transformed me into an effective business troubleshooter. That would give me a well paid and satisfying career for at least the next 20 years.

You know how some great people are so great that they make normal people feel inadequate ? Pat is a great man who makes people feel GREAT.

Pat lost his daughter to a car accident on her 18th birthday that left a melancholy air upon him always. His Christian faith was sometimes his only life-raft, but he always conveyed a sense of correct priorities. Nothing at work ever phased him again.

Even after Pat retired and I left for another company Pat continued to mentor me and be my good friend. I found by accident that Pat had prepared me in turn to be a decent mentor myself, always caring profoundly about the staff who work for me, and those others I can help along the way. "Its the best way. It just IS", as Pat answered when I asked him why he invested so much in sometimes unpromising folks and team members.

I am still in touch with Pat from time to time: he's hard to track down as he and Carol, his wife, pretty much cruise the world most of the year these days.( He got married on the day of the world cup final in 1966 !  He had tickets too !)

My mentor, my boss, my good friend;  Pat has been a blessing in my life for 20 years and I thank God for him often. Be blessed Pat, lad. Hope to see you soon.