Back to the drawing board

I returned to Newcastle after the Easter holidays to face my final term at university. The design thesis had to be completed and I began to revise for the final written examinations. A decision also had to be made on finding my first job. Central to these issues was Eileen.

During the day I spent several hours on the design thesis: a proposal for student accommodation in Cambridge. The atmosphere in the studio was more intense as the deadline for submission approached. It was then that Eileen offered to help with finishing the drawings because of her skills in draughtsmanship and engineering drawing. Although her technique was slightly different from architectural drawing, it was accuracy that mattered. She took my drafted working drawings, borrowed a drawing board from her office and set to, at home, to make them into final drawings. 

This saved me so much time that I was well ahead of the other students by the time the Whitsun break came along. To celebrate, I hired a car for the weekend and Eileen and I visited many tourist spots in Northumberland. It was a romantic interlude which became a turning point in our relationship. 

Having more free time, I managed to get in a bit of rowing before the end of term. This was to be the swansong in my rowing career. Ralph Baldwin and I decided to enter the Durham University Regatta as a coxless pair. We invited Eileen and Ralph's wife to come and watch us race. We didn't do very well but managed to finish the course without 'catching a crab' or hitting the bank. When it was all over we were invited by our hosts, Hatfield College, to attend an evening do but the girls were furious that they were not invited. They had to return home to Newcastle by bus. 

With the design thesis handed in and the written exams just around the corner, I had an offer of a job in Norwich. However, the office of Professor Edwards, the head of the School of Architecture in Newcastle, was also looking to recruit a couple of assistants. (The office was actually located just two floors below the fifth year studio.) 

I knew that if I left Newcastle I would most probably never see Eileen again. My decision to stay was therefore made for me. Ken Appleby had already decided to join the Newcastle practice so I told him that I would be joining him. That weekend Eileen and her sister, Maria, were bridesmaids at a wedding between their friend Margaret McMillan and Lewis Ash, another architect. Ken was also at the wedding and unwittingly told Eileen that I had accepted the Newcastle job. She obviously didn't know. Ken apologised to her but said nothing to me. Later that day, when Eileen came to the studio to meet me, I told her of my decision to stay in Newcastle. She didn't give the game away and the moment was unspoiled and memorable. It was only several years later that she told me what had happened. 

It didn't take long after that weekend for me to ask Eileen to marry me. She said yes.