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I studied
geology at Aberystwyth University College of Wales between
1971 and 1974. After five years 
working
for
the Institute of Geological Sciences I embarked on a career
of cement making with Blue Circle Cement
(now Lafarge). After a period as a consultant using microscopy as a
tool in cement and concrete manufacture with WHD Microanalysis
Consultants I worked with Consulting Engineers Mott MacDonald
for a few years
before accepting a position at Rugby Cement (which soon became RMC then
CEMEX).
Most people I
encounter professionally agree that
I have a breadth of experience in the manufacture and use of cement
which can be beneficial to all sides of the industry. My
philosophy at work has always been that with the arrival of vertical
integration the different parts of the
concrete industry and indeed the different responsibilities within a
cement
plant do not need to compete with each other but can produce more
economical goods of better quality by working together and trying to
understand each other's positions. I left CEMEX at the end of
2007.
Since
then I have been offering my services to various bodies and
have carried out technical training (essentially cement
chemistry and microscopy) in the UK, Australia, Malaysia, the Middle
East
and Ireland
and have done assessments of raw materials from Moldova and
Armenia. I write a monthly article for International Cement
Review and have been invited to make technical presentations at several
CemNet conferences.
Before
attending University I was at St Joseph's College, Beulah
Hill in South London,
where I studied for seven years and where I took my "O" and "A" level
GCE exams. St Joseph's was then a Catholic
Independant Grammar School. I am sure that many of my values
and preconceptions
about
the World stem from that time and from my close and loving family.
I can think of many worse environments in which to form
values
and I am grateful for what I have.
Between school and University I took a year out to work with the
organisation, "Voluntary Service
Overseas". I spent the year in what was then the British
Solomon
Islands Protectorate, working with the Malaria
Eradication Programme funded
by the World Health Organisation.
As
life changing experiences go I guess this was quite moderate, but as an
eighteen year old who had never been abroad, never flown, never been
away from the family for more than a week I was alone in a hut on the
eastern end of Guadalcanal in charge of a team of medical
technicians and spraymen. Fording river mouths where shark
and crocodile attacks were not unknown, climbing across the central
mountain range where the number of previous European visitors could be
counted on two hands, sailing through cyclones and tsunamis in small
boats, diving on coral reefs for clams and shells, visiting some of the
most extraordinary and beautiful places in the World, my sense of
values matured further and I became more aware of my place in the human
race.
At Aberystwyth I
met my wife Eileen, although it was to be a further
eleven years before we re-met and married. We have two
children, Juliette a
classicist and Ed a musician. Eileen
is an artist currently studying for a Masters degree back at
Aberystwyth and it is a great pleasure for me to accompany her
back to that beautiful place.
A Harrisson 2011