Abstract
It is with deep sadness that we report the recent death of Steve Lowe. Steve was a lifetime member of the Institute from its SIT days, and his magnificent contribution to its local activities was recognised by the award of the L.B. Lambert Diploma.
Steve was involved in measurement and control for much of his working life, from his early days at the Liverpool Gas Company (which in 1949 became part of the North Western Gas Board) and at Bootle Gas Works where measurement and control was the responsibility of the station chemist – and the maintenance was often the job of the plumbers. Steve eventually meandered across the Pennines to Leeds for more formal qualifications at the university. Following service in the Royal Navy, Steve went to work for a catalogue of well-respected ‘instrumentation’ manufacturers from ‘Fielden Instruments’ through ‘Bell and Howell’ and to finally ‘John Watson Smith’ of Leeds.
Steve was present at the start of the Local Section in Leeds which he experienced growing out of the Sheffield Section and eventually become, first the Leeds Section, then the West & East Yorkshire Section and finally, following the amalgamation with the South Yorkshire Section, the Yorkshire Section – which unfortunately had to close in 2004 – Steve (as a committee member) was present at the last meeting.
Inaugural Meeting of Institute of Measurement and Control Leeds Section, circa 1970
Front row right: Steve Lowe (arrowed) with the Chairman of Sheffield Section? shaking hands with (possibly) Prof. Alan Pollard (Leeds University).
Second row: Between the two shaking hands is Gordon Escritt, North Eastern Gas. Far Left: Don Pickles, Yorkshire Copper.
Back row: Far right Eric James, Yorkshire Copper Leeds; Second right Clive Morbey, Yorkshire Copper; Third right Charlie Gould, Yorkshire Copper; Fourth from right is?
During this period of some four decades, Steve was always involved, whether as a section committee officer, member or respected adviser as the limitations of his job dictated – he would never undertake any job he did not feel he could do justice to. And he did do a marvellous job – whether it was helping in schools, organising exhibitions or shaping the section’s annual programme. Steve knew so many people in the industry where he was a highly regarded and respected engineer. In the early 1990s, he was one of three local section ‘judges’ for a joint venture with the British Association for Science and Technology and the Bradford Telegraph and Argus ‘Schools Technology Awards’ and the CREST Bronze Awards. He also played a major role in the joint Institute MC/BA Science Fairs held at Leeds University and Planet Xi at Queens Hall, Bradford College – all events being attended by hundreds of Yorkshire’s budding young engineers.
He was a great advocate of the Institute and ensured that his son Bernard followed in his footsteps as secretary of the local section. His belief in professionalism, his sharp, enquiring mind and wit did not desert him, even when eventually he had serious health issues which limited his mobility. These latter years saw him maintaining his technical interest and connections with InstMC. He continued asking the awkward and challenging questions and calling to account those who he felt were either overstepping or not stepping up to the mark. We owe Steve the debt of maintaining his vigilance!
Steve can be seen on the attached photograph of members taken at the forming of the Leeds Section. Members are from North Eastern Gas, Yorkshire Copper Works, Leeds University and representatives from the Sheffield Section (later South Yorkshire).