Harold Gwyn began his apprenticeship with McKay in Whangārei in 1958. At that time, the branch was managed by Eric Denton, with Maurice Herbert as the Senior Electrician.

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 out to lend a hand to Joe Faithfull and his crew at Whangārei Boys’ High School. The team were up in the roof, replacing wiring, when Harold appeared and asked, “Are you the McKay guys?” Noel pointed him in the right direction 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 left simmering on the stove. Bits of ceiling came down with him, scattering 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 early years were spent wiring houses across the region, and he often travelled to Dargaville to broaden his experience, biking over from Whangārei when work called for it. He stayed with Joe’s family. One of Harold’s fondest memories from those early years was the first time he ever saw a television – at Joe’s house in the 1960s. They would watch the New Zealand channels until they went off air, then switch 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. His later career saw him take on large industrial projects across the country, from the Oil Refinery and Glassworks to Tīwai Point, Rarotonga Airport, various dairy factories, Port Whangārei, 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 a 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, remaining 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 travel allowances. When you were sent to a job, you simply went. Instructions would come through, and off you went, often on your 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 if there were ever 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 done entirely by telephone, fax machines arrived later, followed eventually by computers, which Harold joked “never quite worked properly at first”.

It was during his time with McKay that 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 had begun working in the McKay office under Colin Stephens in 1961, her first job after leaving school. She continued 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 related office work for the projects. They returned home in 1973, and Ashley rejoined the Whangārei office, where she continued to work diligently until the early 2000s.