THE Rotary Club of Droitwich Spa welcomed town Mayor Coun Bob Brookes and Mayoress Veronica Brookes for lunch at the St Andrews Town Hotel.
Coun Brookes spoke about his life experiences and career – as a boy he built ‘crystal’ radio sets and, as TV replaced radio, he moved on to build and repair television sets.
After qualifying as an electronic engineer, he started his own business, designing and building specialist electrical systems for a number of companies.
He was involved in introducing the first colour television to Australia ‘by the side door’ as the BBC was supplying programmes to be shown in black and white.
But when he and his partners found the colour signal was also present on tapes, they shipped reconditioned colour sets to Australia so people over there could watch colour TV.
A spokeseperson for the club said: “He showed great entrepreneurial skills and design innovation to grow the business in this very difficult market.”
Coun Brookes now still designs and develops electronic and electrical devices when not taking part in his mayoral duties.
