3 minute read
Life Member profile
Master Plumbers Life Member Barry Watkins says he’d recommend the plumbing trade to anyone—and the more you put in, the more you get out. NZ Plumber talks to Barry about his career and the changes he’s seen over the years.
Having arrived in New Zealand by ship with his parents in 1953, from Harrogate, England, Barry was just 16 when he started his plumbing apprenticeship with JB King and Sons. Based in a very different Auckland to the one we know now, Barry earned £1,16 shillings and threepence a week for his first two years on the tools.
“An apprenticeship was 12,000 hours—or six years—back then,” he says. “If you sat your exams each year and passed them, you were allowed to sit your registration at 9,000 hours. I was fortunate enough to do this, and that made me a registered plumber.”
Barry’s career with JB King continued for a further 12 months, before he moved on to T Osbourne, also in Auckland. From there, he moved to Hoffman Plumbers and, finally, Barnes and Follas in Avondale. He was about to move on again when the owner, Dave Follas, made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“Dave called me into the office the day after I told him I was leaving and asked if I would like to take a partnership in the company,” recalls Barry. “I was very fortunate. That was where my whole working life continued and finished.” AUTHOR: KERRIE MORGAN
Over a working life that spanned fourplus decades, he saw huge changes in just about every facet of the plumbing industry. “First of all, there was no plastic piping in my day; it was all copper or wrought iron pipes. As part of your exams, you had to prove your skills at using lead— there’s no such thing now!”
Barry Watkins (left) at the 2016 plumbing conference with fellow Life Member, the late Graeme Mander (right) and Auckland Master Plumbers Life Member Bryan Heron.
Another huge change has been the emergence of more women in the trade. “In my day, if it was suggested a girl wanted to become a plumber…. whoa!” laughs Barry. “Nowadays there are more and more joining the trade—and why not?!”
Barry always found it easy to stay motivated, and says being successful at something he enjoyed doing was just the icing on the cake. At 60, he resigned from the company and he and Dave Follas sold the building they owned together. Although he’d officially stopped work, he remained heavily involved with Master Plumbers for a number of years—and while serving as National President was lucky enough to travel around the country, collecting friends all over Aotearoa. He and his wife have also taken no fewer than 14 trips to different parts of the world as a shareholder of NZPM.
“I’ve done and seen so much because of my career and I would recommend it to anyone,” he says. “My advice would be: involve yourself. Get out there and become a part of it all—if you want to, of course! I think plumbing is one of the best trades anybody could get into. I wouldn’t change what I’ve done for the world.”
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