14
MODERN QUARRYING
October - November 2013
FACE TO FACE WITH
LYNNE MONTGOMERY
N
ew members may not be aware
that in the past 44 years, the IQSA
has only had four secretaries: Fred
Davies, Carmel Owen, Lynnee Montgom-
ery and its current secretary Terry Pop.
Lynnee Montgomery served as secretary
for 20 years, and joined the Institute by
default.
“Fred Davies, who contributed a huge
amount in terms of time and dedica-
tion, was the first secretary of the South
African branch of the Institute, which held
its inaugural meeting in Durban in 1969.
In the early 1980s Fred sadly passed away
leading to the employment of Carmel
Owen, who was followed shortly after-
wards by myself, which was by default,”
Lynne says with a smile.
Monty Montgomery was serving on
the board at the time and volunteered her
assistance to clear up and get things back
on an even keel until a new permanent
secretary was found. This took more than a
couple of months and Lynne’s small home
business was starting to suffer, as she was
holding down two jobs. Then the chair-
man at the time, Gary Browne, asked her
to join the Institute on a permanent basis.
“It was only a half-day job then with
about 250 members. Over the next cou-
ple of years this grew into a full-time job,
with at one stage over 550 members,”
she tells
MQ
. “Although I had a mining
background, I was worried about my sole
command of Afrikaans being ‘ja, nee and
voetsak!’ But we muddled along and I
decided then, and haven’t been proved
wrong yet, that quarrymen are absolute
gentlemen.”
The antiquated Institute offices con-
sisted of a golf ball typewriter and a roneo
machine, which was considered new
technology by the committee. “Does any-
one remember the wax stencils and black
ink on everything?” she asks.
“The first conference I ran was held
at the Elangeni, and my first equip-
ment exhibition was held at the Durban
Exhibition Centre, which was brand new
in those days. Bob Simpson was a main-
stay in organising the exhibition and we
managed to put together quite an impres-
sive indoor and outdoor exhibition. We
had overseas guests from Australia and
the UK, including Jack Berridge, who was
newly-appointed at the Institute in the
United Kingdom.
“Trying to run a function like that
without the benefit of more modern tech-
nology was very difficult and time con-
suming, and the next board meeting saw
me trying to sell the idea of a computer
and photocopier to a somewhat conser-
vative committee,” Lynne says.
Serving the Institute with passion
Industry will recall the three mus-
keteers – Monty, Evan Shaw and Gerry
Pedder – eager, young and as Lynne says,
“very handsome men, who were newly
elected to the committee.” (
MQ
had the
privilege of interviewing Gerry Pedder
recently, and his wife Daphne described
him in those days, as ‘much slimmer with
a lot more hair’). The three muskateers
were somewhat at odds with the old
school but probably what the Institute
needed to start moving it away from the
old boy’s club-type image, and towards a
professional institution status.
A few years later, the March confer-
ence was run in conjunction with a very
successful working mini-Hillhead-type
exhibition at Clairwood Quarry. One of
the suppliers with equipment on display
was Barloworld, and the sales representa-
tive was somewhat surprised (and slightly
nervous) when Lynne climbed into the
cab and drove the massive Caterpillar 992
wheel loader around the quarry pit. She
says he was very relieved to be handed
the machine back in one piece.
The main contact with members
in those early days was the Institute’s
Newsletter
, which Lynne manually printed
on the old roneo machine. “I never wore
light coloured clothing when I had to
run off the pages,” she says. “Editing
Institute stalwarts: Lynne and Monty Montgomery.
In preparation for the historical
book planned for the IQSA’s 45
th
anniversary celebrations next
year,
MQ
will be featuring vari-
ous personalities and characters
that have made this industry
what it is today. One of these
was more of a behind-the-scenes
personality, but nevertheless
someone who worked passion-
ately and tirelessly for 20 years as
secretary of the IQSA.
Dale Kelly
chats to Lynne Montgomery
about some of her memories.
