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John Powls
ARTHUR WILLIAMSON
I first met Arthur in early 1979 when I arrived at HMP Manchester - my first posting - as an Assistant Governor Under Training and he was the Dep. My early impressions were that if the dictionary definition of ‘avuncular’ needed an example Arthur could have been properly referenced. But there was so much more to the man than that and lots to learn from.
Most importantly for someone in my then position and with aspirations to move up in my career, Arthur proved a very good role model in how to be a deputy governor. He dovetailed seamlessly with the Governor in that loyal, true but realistic ‘bridge and shield’ way that hall- marks the best of those working relationships. If you add in the then Chief Officer you had as effective a leadership triumvirate as I experienced in my career - all very different as personalities and in their leadership and management styles but all knew their roles inside out and how to work together to get the job done in a challenging environment through the rest of their staff. All three also knew that it was actually the matronly Governor’s secretary who really ruled their roost!
That said, things could be a bit ‘old school’ at times but that was then...... and it didn’t mean that newer ideas didn’t get listened to - or even acted on if you were prepared to argue your corner and back your judgment with action and results. There was other stuff to learn from Arthur too - not the least about being at the other end of his career from where I was in mine.
His oft-stated ambition was to collect as many years pension as he’d served which, with a career spanning a prison works background to the higher echelons of governing was a very decent span. With his retirement not far off, Arthur often lamented how many retired governor grades seemed to pass away all too soon after they retired even if their pension arrangements left them financially comfortable.
Above the tool of the taxing demands of the job, he put that down to three things - losing the framework of the role and its authority; not preparing properly for replacing those with other satisfying things to be and do; and, losing touch with the working community that provided comradeship and context.
He reasoned that the first issue was just a fact but needed thinking about and adjusting to in advance and that could be helped by proper planning with things put in place to address the second which involved family, finances, where you were going to live and what you were going to do.
Even in my late twenties, these seemed eminently sensible and over thirty years later I attended Civil Service pre-retirement seminars that said much the same thing in a PowerPoint slidestorm! Arthur was assiduously doing what he needed to do for himself on the first two but with the last of the three he thought there was something he could do to help more widely. He’d had the idea of setting up a newsletter for retired governors to support those that wished to keep in touch with former colleagues, developments in the service and with retirement issues generally.
By that stage Arthur knew I was a published author - albeit in very different genres - and asked if I’d give him a hand to get the newsletter off the ground. I was pleased to help and the rest, as they say, is history - but history still being made, thankfully!
And me? Well, I’m still trying my best to follow Arthur’s example of claiming at least as many years pension as the 35 years service I put in and enjoying my home life and the new grandchildren.
I'm a writer full time now- my website www.promiselandpoetry.co.uk covers my writing career and current projects. My latest book, 'North Sea To The East' which is inspired by the landscapes and seascapes of my native North Yorkshire is planned for publication later this year.
John Powls
