BIOMEDICAL 42 THE SCIENTIST
MY IBMS News
MY IBMS NEWS
OBITUARY
Christopher Wall: Goodbye to an extremely intelligent, caring and respected man
I
t is with sadness that Northwest Region IBMS reports the death of Chris Wall, Manchester Branch and Northwest Region committee member and Treasurer. Christopher James Wall died in hospital on 29 October. For those who knew him, Chris was a straighttalking no-nonsense type of person, but there was also another fun-loving, extremely caring side to him. He was an extremely intelligent and respected man, who valued people, friendships and valued life. After leaving school he worked in a bank, but soon got bored of that, so he applied to train as a lab technician at Black Notley in Essex. The pay as a trainee lab technician wasn’t too good, so Chris decided to sign up to the medical corps of the army, where he could complete his training with better pay and various postings followed. After returning from Cyprus, Chris and his family felt it time to put some roots down and create some stability. Chris got a job in a lab in Carlisle, but quite quickly got promoted and took the role of Chief Scientific Technical Officer at Crumpsall Hospital. A further promotion saw him transfer to Hope Hospital in Salford, which is now Salford Royal Hospital, here he rose to become the Principal MLSO. Chris dedicated a large amount of his time not only to work, but also to lecturing and setting up and running the
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Clinical Biochemistry discipline on the BSc and MSc programmes in Biomedical Science at Manchester Metropolitan University. During the 1970s Chris’s input significantly improved the pass rate for the IBMS Fellowship course in Clinical Chemistry, prior to the inception of the postgraduate programmes in 1986. He also performed duties for both the Manchester Branch and Northwest Region (IBMS), where he was highly respected. When he reached retirement age, he did retire, but
then went back for a few years to work within the lab and continued his role as regional treasurer. Chris enjoyed pub quizzing, football (he was an ardent supporter of Manchester United), skiing holidays, going to the Halle and the theatre (Les Miserable was a favourite) and of course canal holidays and the odd tipple of whisky. Chris will be sorely missed by those whose lives he touched. Joyce Overfield Northwest Region IBMS Committee (rtd) D.W. Eccleston Chairman Northwest Region IBMS
20/01/2022 09:40
