The speaker on Wednesday 14th May was club member Mr David Kyle-Ewing, who entitled his talk “My Travels and memories of a lifetime”. The fact that David’s focus was on his early life as an apprentice engineer in Nestle, Omagh and then his service as a marine engineer in the merchant navy took nothing away from a very interesting talk. David acknowledged his path in early life had been influenced by his elder brother Bert who had been in the merchant navy and travelled the world. He shared his sense of adventure and a desire to explore new horizons.
Supported by his mother David took the Board of Trade Exam for entry to the merchant navy and shortly afterwards was offered a position with the Headline Shipping Company based in Belfast. His first voyage was across the Atlantic to Canada and up the St Lawrence seaway into the Great Lakes. Later he joined Frank C Strick & Co Ltd, affectionately known as the “Chevron Line” due to distinctive red, white and blue chevrons on the funnels of its ships. With them David embarked on a trip that took him right round the world calling in South Africa, the Middle East, the Far East, Australia, San Francisco and back to the UK via the Panama Canal. It was on this 16-month voyage that he celebrated his 21st birthday and encountered a tsunami – a terrifying wall of water that engulfed his ship. It made him think that perhaps employ on dry land was a better option and shortly afterwards he left the sea to marry his childhood sweetheart and continue his thirst for travel, camping on the continent and touring Europe in his motor home.