LOCAL author and historian Andy Binks proved himself a natural raconteur before a packed house at the Central Library on Thursday evening.

His subject was his life and times in the Railway Works, where he worked from his mid-teens at the turn of the 1970s until the winding down in the mid-1980s.

When he started at the Works, his spending money after paying his board and putting some in a savings account was 35 shillings a week. In a neat twist as we commemorate the 175th anniversary of the works, 35 shillings translates as precisely 175 pence in decimal currency.

Swindon Society stalwart Andy easily managed the tricky job of keeping his central story entertaining and clear while branching off into countless equally entertaining side-stories.

Hard facts about architecture, engineering and senior historic figures segued seamlessly into other things entirely, such as the enormous prehistoric marine reptile unearthed during alterations at the Works. The creature’s bones rested for millions of years as the seas above receded, and the place where they lay is somewhere below the Suit Direct store at the Swindon Designer Outlet.

Another diversion was a list of Works nicknames among Andy’s generation. The best was probably Black and Decker, which was bestowed on somebody who passed out while ill, on account of being a collapsible workmate.

The talk was illustrated throughout with photos. Many of them were taken by Andy, who it seems had a historian’s eye for important images even as a much younger man.

Then-and-now sequences taken from the same vantage point years or decades apart were especially poignant. It’s a technique he and fellow railway historian Peter Timms use to great effect in their excellent book, Swindon Works Through Time, which is available at the library and through local book shops.

Andy concluded by saying how proud he was to have been at the Works and to have played a part in its history.

He deserves our thanks for helping to keep that magnificent history alive.

More information about the Swindon Society, whose work covers all aspects of local history, can be found at theswindonsociety.co.uk