Hansford, Michael Robert William

Michael Robert William Hansford was born on the 17th November 1943 in Chelmsford, Essex. He attended two junior schools, Miss Duggan’s and Warley Church of England, Brentwood, Essex before moving with his parents to Leigh on Sea in February 1953 where he attended Chalkwell Hall junior school until July 1955 after which he attended Belfairs High School for Boys Secondary until the end of July 1959.

On the 9th September 1959 he began work as a Junior Clerk with British Railways at Smithfield Depot. In 1962 he was appointed as a Class 3 Clerk in the Divisional Freight Rates & Charges Section at Paddington and in 1964 he advanced to become a Class 2 Clerk in the same department. In addition, in 1962 he became a member and a Trustee of Rochford Angling Club (RAC) and has held the roles as Vice Chair, Treasurer, Secretary and Committee Member over the years.

In 1966 he became a Class 2 Clerk at the regional headquarters at Paddington station in the Rolling Stock section. In 1967 he became a Class 1 Clerk at the British Railways headquarters in Marylebone in the Director of Costings department. A railway grade assimilation in and a change in grading in 1968, his job changed from a Class 1 Clerk to a Clerical Officer 2 (CO2). In 1969 he was seconded to the regional headquarters at Buchannan House in Glasgow for several months assisting Don Box in development of the Profit Planning & Cost Centre Analysis system.

In 1970 he gained a certificate in Transport Studies at London University and became a Clerical Officer 3 in the finance department for the Divisional Managers in Euston. In 1972 he became a Clerical Officer 4 in the Freight Finance & Costing department, in 1978 he advanced to Manage Staff 1 (MS1) Management in business evaluation and in 1982 MS2 range at Rail headquarters at Waterloo station.

He married Judith née Grove in 1974 and have five daughters and a son. In 1983 he moved to Sector Evaluation, Freight Costing in Finance Assistance at British Railways headquarters based at the regional headquarters (RHQ) at Euston. He has always been a keen freshwater and sea angler and started a junior freshwater angling club in 1984 and ran it for 25 years.

In 1988 he became MS3 Finance manager at the Area Managers Office in Waterloo station and moved into finance administration in 1989. In 1991 he became MS3 Freight Routes Manager South East at the Waterloo railway headquarters before relocating to Friars Bridge Court, near Blackfriars Bridge London. In April 1994 he was made redundant due to privatisation and made the decision to take early retirement from British Railways.

In November 1994 he worked as a Privatisation Contracts Manager MS2 for Transrail at Euston station until the English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS) takeover with services on the railway no longer required. In 1996 he attended the Prospects Business & Technology Training College in Southend on Sea assisting and training unemployed job seekers but due to a restructure at the college his job was displaced. In 1998 he worked as a Training Course and Finance Manager at Southend General Hospital in the Occupational and Physiotherapy department.

In 2001 he assisted his then son-in-law with general book keeping duties for the shed-making business. He retired on his 65th birthday in November 2008.