Eric Mashiter

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March 29, 2021

The day Anita's hairdryer was saved from certain meltdown - it was 'defrost the freezer challenge day', we'd carried it out to the back patio and I had only popped to the loo and came back to see that dads chosen weapon to melt that stubborn build up of... more

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March 29, 2021

Eric was one of those people who I knew would always be there for me whenever I needed him. With just a phone call he could make me feel valued and important to him. Such a great quality to have.
Eric lived with my Dad, Joseph (his brother), my Mum,... more

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March 28, 2021

Yes that’s right Ian Dad certainly enjoyed building and never lost the enthusiasm to find more opportunities to pick up a cement trowel! … in fact Sue and I learned that Dad could identify a brick at thirty paces. It is a long story so will be as... moreYes that’s right Ian Dad certainly enjoyed building and never lost the enthusiasm to find more opportunities to pick up a cement trowel! … in fact Sue and I learned that Dad could identify a brick at thirty paces. It is a long story so will be as short as possible…… A good ten years ago now dad’s little toes had both become curled up and he needed surgery to straighten them; best toe first and then once complete and recovered straight back for the other to be done; six weeks from the start to the finish for the first and similar for the next. The operations were being carried out at the Nuffield in Chester. En-route to the various appointments we passed a new stock-house build site in the throes of completion. He had had his operation for the first toe and he came out with a cast on half-way up his left shin, toes showing with a metal bar sticking out of the centre of his little toe to keep it aligned straight while it healed over the next five weeks, and everything had to stay dry; well during that return journey he enlightened us to the fact that he’d been eyeing the bricks on this new build site and that they are exactly the same as the bricks on our house in Salford and he insisted that we have a little drive around this 99% complete new estate. What we did not know is that dad had spotted a few packs of unopened and unused facing bricks and that he wanted to see if we could off-load them from the contractor so he could show us how to build back at the Salford house, as our house was in real need of a number of proper rear walls to make it more private to maximise the garden. We eventually found the site office and two days after surgery he hobbled into that site office with me and made a deal with the site foreman that he could not refuse - we’d be back tomorrow with a van to collect said bricks at no expense to him!

I was instructed to rent as big a vehicle as my license allowed me to drive and the next morning for us to pick dad up in it first thing and we’d all go collect the bricks; well it was a good job we’d put the two barrows from the garage on the trailer of this open-back truck and work gloves too plus a chair for the new site foreman (dad) to sit on with his healing foot up resting! Plus we had one of Sue’s ‘just in case lunches’ made (salmon sandwiches for dad of course!) as when we got there plan A went straight out the window as the heavy lifting plant from the day before had gone so we had no choice but to barrow the bricks from pack to truck.

Dad sat there watching us go back and forth all day “Raymond you should be getting more bricks in each barrow load than that; you are making this hard work” said the man sitting there with his casted foot up and walking stick waving…. Plenty of spiders present of which Sue really enjoyed too!!!

…. Finishing off, the pictures below are dad laying those bricks just after he recovered from the second toe straightening operation; dad spent that second recovery period chomping at the bit to get building and so we designed and dimensioned all the walls to be built (I never got my way; Sue and dad had the last say on the final design) and I was left digging and laying the foundations and calculating the amount of cement and sand we needed to order plus if we had managed to collect enough bricks that day for the whole job and all the other logistics too….

I hasten to add that thanks to dad I can now dig a straight foundation trench, fill it appropriately with concrete and lay a brick in a straight line too although not very fast at any of those things! And Sue knows the difference between a good cement mix and a bad cement mix for the brickie. less

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Sue Binder The correct consistency for cement is like the squidgy chocolate icing on a chocolate fudge cake - if you're interested
I also learnt that another essential contribution for an Eric Mashiter building site is endless cups of tea and kitkats!
- March 29, 2021

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March 25, 2021

And at the Ashes in 2019

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March 25, 2021

Some Photos at Victoria's Wedding from Bill & Dot

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March 25, 2021 · via iPhone

Dot & I were so sorry to learn of Eric’s passing. I first met Eric in 1977 when he came to collect Ian from University in Newcastle. As a Civil Engineering undergraduate I was always keen to chat to a “real” engineer. Eric was rightly proud of his... more

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March 24, 2021

I've really enjoyed reading through these memories of Grandad and it's beginning to make me realise where I get my stubbornness from, or as I like to say strong mindedness! As Anita mentioned, I'll look back with particular fondness on the perpetual... more

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Bill & Dot Rodham reacted on this.

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March 22, 2021

I couldn't have asked for a better father-in-law. Eric enthusiastically welcomed me and his three bonus grandchildren, Victoria, Andrew, and Hayley, into the Mashiter family. As sad as I am at his passing, I have many great memories that always make me... more

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Bill & Dot Rodham reacted on this.

March 22, 2021

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March 22, 2021

I am very sad that you left us before you made it to 100. I was sure you would, and the Queen would then have sent you a card. (Though you would have hated that!)
You were so rightly proud of the hard work it took to be a Professional Civil Engineer... more

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Bill & Dot Rodham reacted on this.

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March 20, 2021

00:05

lawnmower

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March 20, 2021

Dad always felt indestructible while on the ride on. The next post is a video, notice dads little glance down before his reply... you'll need a lot of volume to hear his reply.

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March 19, 2021

July of last year saw this certificate arrive in the post; dad was very proud to have achieved Chartered status in the Institution of Civil Engineers. As always dad was full of surprises and when we visited Anderton Boat lift the other year and stood... more

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Bill & Dot Rodham reacted on this.

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March 19, 2021

A traditional Christmas dinner fell out of favour in our house, for various reasons, so over recent years we've been mixing it up - one year we had curry, one year macaroni cheese, and most recently, cannelloni (which actually morphed into lasagne when... more

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March 18, 2021

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March 18, 2021

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/northwich/news/rip-eric-mashiter-2604180.html

R.I.P Eric Mashiter

He will be greatly missed by all that knew him and certainly never forgotten.

pitchero.com

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March 18, 2021

This was dad on his 93rd birthday day out to Liverpool Docks. Travelling over the new Mersey Gateway Bridge he gave us both a full detailed description of how it was built as he’d been following it via the Institution of Civil Engineers monthly... moreThis was dad on his 93rd birthday day out to Liverpool Docks. Travelling over the new Mersey Gateway Bridge he gave us both a full detailed description of how it was built as he’d been following it via the Institution of Civil Engineers monthly magazine. He always enjoyed talking about bridge structures; endlessly talked about the swing bridge at Acton whenever we crossed it. We picnicked last August in front of the Three Graces on Liverpool Docks, the best we could do at the time with Covid lurking around. It was a beautiful sunny day. We parked alongside the Liver building and he was insistent that we would be only staying for the shortest amount of time allowed on the parking meter as it would be so expensive; I read the meter and told him for blue badge holders it was entirely free. ‘We’ll stay all day then Raymond’. Wandered to the public realm area and found an appropriate bench and along came some new-age skateboarders accompanied by a ghetto blaster i.e. battery powered hoverboard enthusiasts going backwards and forwards around us and in true dad style he blurted out ‘They are no good for exercise them Raymond, they’ll just get fat riding around like that’!

Dad told and painted us a mental picture of how busy in shipping terms the docks area was back when he used to visit many moons ago, and he spoke about his time working in Ireland on what was to be a future ICI plant/investment and how he’d catch the overnight ferry from Liverpool on numerous occasions to work out there, and how at the time he was hopeful that he’d be spending more time over there. Unfortunately the sectarian violence put paid to ICI’s plans and dad stayed put in Cheshire from there in.

After a couple of hours he was bursting so we used our contacts to access the toilets at the British Music Experience and gave him a sneaky peek inside the exhibition too and he showed great interest as Sue went into great detail about the time the museum had a Tim Burgess hologram; Tim being Sue’s teenage music heartthrob.

Off we returned back home with greater detailed stories of how the different bridges were built. less

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March 18, 2021

Thanks for setting this up guys, I really appreciate the chance to share about dads life.

A sombre post to start with and then it will be about celebrating and laughing about what dad achieved and what dad got up to.

This is dad eating his hospital... more