Our club was privileged to welcome Roger Preston who recounted the years he and his family spent in Naivasha, Kenya establishing a technical training institute which is flourishing to this day.
The family made the bold decision to move to Kenya in the 1970s. Roger recalled how the land designated for the technical training Institute was a huge empty space and the first task was to build a water tower. Roger turned the building of the water tower into the first learning task and successfully trained a team of over 15 young people in the art of construction. The project went from strength to strength with many ups and downs including the great drought of 1985 which many will recall the year of Live Aid.
Having spent many years in Kenya, Roger and his family returned to the United Kingdom and settled in Dundee where Roger lectured at the University. He continued to use his Chartered Civil Engineer skills to support many projects around the world.
Roger has now retired and lives in Bampton.
The club thanked Roger for an enthralling and humbling presentation. Roger is a great example of how much good one person can achieve when applying a ‘can-do’ approach.
