ONE evening at a charity event in Benalmadena, I was enthralled, as were the group, listening to stories shared by my old mucker Allen Conroy.

He produced a string of captivating tales about apprenticeship at David Browns and the struggle to reach the position of senior manager at the Ghubrah Power and Desalination Company in Oman.

Those who know him might be interested in some of the highs and lows of this modest yet tenacious man’s career.

It’s 46 years this autumn since Al and I met at Crow Lane Youth Club, Milnsbridge and we have been best of friends ever since.

Allen should have retired ages ago but took on a ‘one year assignment’ to prepare one of the Omani power and water plants for privatisation.

Four years on, the Government want him to continue and he is immersed in the project.

He travels often to his delightful home here on the Costa del Sol to share some precious time with his wife Elaine, and she commutes to join him there.

On the acres of wasteland surrounding the plant Allen has created a floodlit football pitch and tennis court, a mini golf course, an indoor badminton court and training facilities which are used by the employees and the public daily.

After leaving Almondbury Secondary School, he began a poorly paid six year apprenticeship at David Brown’s, Lockwood in 1962. Al worked hard for his City and Guilds and was Apprentice of The Year in 1968.

His business card is crammed with qualifications and titles, but he admits the most difficult to achieve were his O- and A-levels.

He studied while on night shift, and would rustle through past exam papers at Huddersfield Library, but being self-financed he could afford to sit only two O-levels at one time.

On some exam days he would leave Brown’s at 7.30am and be in the exam hall for 9am, having worked all night. He obtained the five O- and two A-levels he needed to progress to his HND.

His strong desire to become a chartered engineer was fulfilled after a demanding two-year MSc degree course at Cranfield with little or no financial support.

Allen also somehow managed to take his gymnastics to international level, became a superb high board diver, windsurfer and caricature artist – and is now learning to fly aeroplanes!

He puts his success down to basic apprenticeship training, steeped in old values and standards set by no-nonsense trainers who expected the best from him and were unafraid of putting exuberant young people firmly in their place.

The discipline of gymnastics with coach Stan Booth gave him the determination to achieve goals through gruelling training.

Al went into the Merchant Navy for a while as Engineering Officer, visiting many counties. But he has worked in Zambia, Jordan, Das in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and now Oman, in a number of senior engineering management positions.

Management at that level inevitably meets problems.

At the Um Al Nar Power Station a major fault occurred, blacking out the whole of Abu Dhabi with life-threatening consequences and questions fired from the highest level. Was it terrorist or sabotage? As plant manager he was trying to find out what the fault was when the police arrived. Only after much persuasion to allow him to continue was Allen able to correct it while handcuffed to a police officer!

In 2007 the Oman region was hit by Cyclone Gonu. The relentless, unprecedented tropical storm lasted over four days smashing a concrete clad, carbon steel gas main to Allen’s station, shutting down 21 turbines and throwing the entire region into darkness.

Allen and his management team wading through silt and sewage that had got into electrical switchgear, had to motivate his 300-plus workforce and devise a plan to keep one generator running throughout thus providing essential power to hospitals and emergency services.

He was thanked personally by His Excellency Mohammed Al-Mahrouqi, recognising that he and his team had gone without sleep, food and water for several days to get power and water back to the people of Oman.

‘Oman as a country’, says Allen, is vast, laid back and with a steady pace of life.

“The nationals make ex-pats like me very welcome and the unusual surrounding mountain range is quite spectacular.”

How does he see his future?

“I’m lucky that my wife Elaine appreciates my desire to complete my mission in Oman, and has backed me in all of my foreign assignments.

“I do plan to retire in Spain and perhaps continue in the same line of work but on a consultancy basis, thus allowing us much more time to spend together. And maybe catch up with my twin brother Geoff who travels world wide as a project management consultant.”