This following article charts the life of veteran marquetarian Tom Brewer.

Tom, as you may already be aware, is officially the longest serving member of the Marquetry Society.

He has been involved with marquetry and the Society from virtually the inception of the Society itself.

Tom has made many award winning pictures over the years and his geometric table design patterns are legendary, extolling praise and admiration from all quarters.

Tom’s tables have been extensively described and the principles of the designs fully explained in previous editions of “The Marquetarian” magazine.

Tom has lived a very interesting life and I have to say that when I got him to talk to me about his days aboard ship during the Second World War I was absolutely enthralled with his stories about life on board a battle ship as an Engineering Officer.

Anyway, that’s enough of my chatter, lets hear Tom’s story of his life in his own words (I’m afraid that I’ve “twisted Tom’s arm” somewhat into getting him to talk at length about his Naval days because I found it so interesting, I hope you agree with me).

So here, as I promised earlier, is Tom’s life story in his own words. The floor is yours now Tom:-

“I was born in 1920 at Hackney Wick. I attended the Sidney Road School until the family moved out to Becontree on the outskirts of London in 1926.

In 1931, after passing the then equivalent of the eleven plus exam, I attended the Beal Modern School leaving in 1935 (I still attend the same school for the Marquetry group meetings, though in a different building).

During the war I was in a reserved occupation, but being on Admiralty work, was able to join the Royal Navy as an E. R. A. (Engine Room Artificer) with the rank of acting petty officer. Most of my time in the Navy was spent on repair work, firstly, for the North – Western Approaches mine laying fleet and various drifters, trawlers and other small ships, mainly to the ships’ engines, boilers and all other machinery. After this I joined the newly built repair ship H. M. S. “Beachy Head” at Vancouver.

I did enough engine – room watch – keeping in this ship to pass exams and become a chief petty officer. After sea trials, we put into Pearl Harbour on our way to the Far East. Here the American ships were sunk, but there was a lot of superstructure visible above the water – a very sorry sight.

We would swim at Waikiki Beach, and on one occasion in common with a few other members of the ship’s crew, I was made a life member of the surfing club there.

Soon after sailing from Hawaii for New Guinea we broke down – a bearing on the main shaft (11” diameter propeller shaft, in metric that would be about 29cms) was overheating and we were adrift in the Pacific. Being a repair ship – we didn’t have far to go for help. Together with three or four others, I worked in the shaft tunnel on renewing the bearing. It took about a day – my 25^th birthday, and we were drifting nearer and nearer a coral reef – we asked the Americans to send a tug, but in view of the Pearl Harbour disaster they were apprehensive about opening the boom to let a tug come to our aid, but we managed to repair it enough to get us back into Pearl Harbour where those of us who had done the repair work were granted a weeks leave.

During the war the family home was bombed out and I was obliged to lodge with an uncle in South Wales where I met and married a local girl in 1944 and we stayed happily married until she passed away in 2000.

After de – mob, I stayed in engineering, my jobs being sheet metal-works foreman, draftsman, chief draftsman, and finishing up designing heating and ventilation schemes, and estimating.

I retired at 65 and after finishing my first 80 years I’m now making a good start on the second.”

Thanks Tom that was excellent, I reckon there’s the makings of a blooming good high adventure film there, can I be your agent?