Noel Driver still recalls Harold’s first day with the McKay team. Work had just wrapped up at the Whangārei Nurses’ Home, and Wally Faithfull had sent Harold to lend a hand to Joe Faithfull and his crew at Whangārei Boys’ High School. The team was in the roof replacing wiring when Harold appeared and asked, “Are you the McKay guys?” Noel directed him to speak with Tom, but before anyone could warn him, Harold stepped forward and fell straight through the manhole, landing in the kitchen below – narrowly missing a large pot of soup simmering on the stove. Pieces of ceiling came down with him and scattered across the floor. With no way to recover the moment, Harold simply brushed himself off, gave the soup a good stir, and carried on.

Harold’s spent his early years wiring houses across the region and often travelled to Dargaville to broaden his experience, cycling from Whangārei when work called for it. He stayed with Joe’s family. One of Harold’s fondest memories from those early years was seeing a television for the first time at Joe’s house in the 1960s. They watched the New Zealand channels until they went off air, then switched to Australian channels.

During his apprenticeship, Harold worked on a range of notable projects, including the Whangārei Nurses’ Home, Whangārei Fire Station, Whangārei Boys’ High School, Kamo High School, and Whangārei Hospital, where he helped install the original fire alarm system. Later in his career, he took on large industrial projects across the country, from the oil refinery and glassworks to Tīwai Point, Rarotonga Airport, various dairy factories, Port Whangārei, and JNL Veneer and Mill Kaitaia. He completed his apprenticeship and became a registered electrician in 1962.

In 1963, Harold was balloted into National Service and chose to spend one year in the regular Army rather than two years in the Territorial Army. After returning home, he was re-employed by McKay in 1964 and continued working as an electrician in industrial construction and maintenance. He remained with the company on and off for the rest of his career.

When Harold worked for McKay, there was no such thing as ‘relocation’ or a travel allowance. When he was sent to a job, he simply went. Instructions came through, and off he went, often on his own. Sometimes, that meant leaving his family behind for months at a time. On one occasion, Harold was away for nearly nine months, returning home only for Easter and Labour weekend.

There was also no concept of Toolbox Talks back then. As Harold put it, “Why waste all that time when you could be working?” When asked whether there had ever been any serious accidents or big ‘zaps’ on the job, Harold laughed and said, “Oh, you always got a big zap.”

Technology in the workplace also evolved dramatically during Harold’s time. Communication was originally conducted entirely by telephone. Fax machines arrived later, followed eventually by computers, which Harold joked “never quite worked properly at first”.

During his time with McKay, Harold met his future wife, Ashley (Watson) Gwyn. Harold first noticed her walking past while he was on the tools one day – a moment that would change both their lives. Ashley began working in the McKay office under Colin Stephens in 1961, in her first job after leaving school. She continued working in the office until 1968, when she and Harold moved to the Savage River mine in Tasmania.

In 1972, the couple relocated to Rarotonga for McKay, where Ashley managed all the office work related to the projects. They returned home in 1973, and Ashley rejoined the Whangārei office, where she continued working diligently until the early 2000s.