2 minute read
Bidding Farewell to Maintenance Officer Bob Cowley
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2021 marked the end of an era at Regent’s Park College when, after twenty-one years as Maintenance Officer, Bob Cowley embarked on a well-earned retirement. The editors recently sat down with Bob to reflect on his long career and find out how he’s keeping busy now that he’s no longer keeping Regent’s running.
When the College publically announced Bob Cowley’s last day of work in September, the congratulations from students, staff and alumni flooded in. The consensus was that Bob is no less than a ‘total legend’, and one college alumna took to Twitter to declare, ‘Bob! What a star he was. Could fix anything except our existential crises’. True to form, though touched as he was by such kind messages, he still doesn’t understand what all the fuss was about. According to Bob, ‘It’s like any job, you just get on with it.’
When Bob started at the College in 2000, it was only his second job since leaving school. Prior to Regent’s, he had worked almost thirty years for the same building firm, the last ten of those years as partner. But when his partner retired, Bob didn’t want to carry the firm alone and instead applied to be Maintenance Officer when the job came up.
Anyone who knows Bob knows that in addition to being extremely no-nonsense, hardworking and talented, he’s also extremely likeable, charismatic and – dare we say it – just more than a bit cheeky. As we chat together in the SCR, other members of staff who originally thought they would pop in quickly for a tea or a coffee to-go change their plans and take a seat to join us. Bob has many an amusing story to tell about life at College over the years. When pressed for the most memorable emergencies he has been called to, he laughs as he recalls an exchange with a student that has always stuck with him: ‘A student once came to me and said there was water coming out of the lightbulb in his room, and he asked me if that was normal. My response was, well, what do you think?’
For all the trouble they might have occasionally caused him, Bob admits to missing the students and, in fact, that he didn’t enjoy the job as much when the students weren’t in college. So how is he faring in retirement? ‘I thought I was going to struggle with retirement,’ he says, ‘but this just comes naturally to me.’ Of course, Bob Cowley is not one for just sitting around. He’s using this time to do a bit of baking, he’s making glass windows (including one with the College crest, he tells us), and he’s cycling at least twice a week – twenty miles at a time. But, best of all, he’s spending more time with his grandchildren, doing the school runs every day and taking them to the playground. ‘I’m getting to know all the mums down at the playground!’ he beams, ‘But I do miss the people at Regent’s and I miss the chatter and the banter.’
Everyone at Regent’s Park College certainly misses Bob too and looks forward to welcoming him back for a visit whenever he likes…and sampling his homemade cake!
