Sharp, Ernie: transcript of an audio interview (30-May- and 25-Jun-2014)

Abstract

Interview with Mr Ernie Sharp, conducted by Ms Lynda Finn, for the History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group, 30 May and 25 June 2014, in the School of History, Queen Mary University of London. Transcribed by Mrs Debra Gee, and edited by Ms Emma M. Jones and Professor Tilli Tansey. The editorial assistance, the project management and the technical support were undertaken by Ms Fiona Plowman, Mr Adam Wilkinson and Mr Alan Yabsley, respectively. Mr Ernie Sharp (1921-2015) worked as a dustman in Lewisham Borough Council from 1947 until 1965 when he became Junior Area Manager of the Rivers and Refuse Disposal division in the Greater London Council’s (GLC) Public Health Engineering Department. He was promoted to Deputy Area Manager, then Area Manager, and in the early 1970s he was appointed Assistant General Manager of the GLC’s Solid Waste Management Branch. He served in the Armed Forces from 1941 to 1947 as a mechanic, and spent a long period of his service in Egypt. In London, he taught on the waste management course at Hackney Community College for more than 30 years.