Thinking about Les
Thoughts on the passing of a comrade
I heard the other week that Les had passed on, we celebrated his life on Thursday.
Friendships operate at different levels and sometimes relate to the ‘place’ we find ourselves. If I go with ‘place’, we met at the Luton Probation Programmes Unit. The year was 1996 the month was February.
We got an introduction to programmes by Les. I recall thinking, “This guy can talk”. Perhaps it takes one to know one.
That was my initial meeting with Les. The next ‘place’ was at what was called the JNCC, the Joint Negotiating and Consultative Committee. That occurred in the conference room at Frank Lord House.
It was my first and my perception was this was very formal. There were three board members in addition to the secretary to the board, the ‘Minute taker’ and the Chief.
On the union side was Les heading up the team of four.
It was from there Les and I developed a working relationship on behalf of Napo the trade union for Probation staff.
That went on for several years until I felt the need to take a break. Les never did take a break, serving right until the end except for the year he became a national trainer for a drink-driving programme. Even then I heard that the Chief was concerned that I was feeling the weight of the job in the absence of Les and could he attempt to get me support.
I have a notion Les was seen as tough until I came along and then in contrast to me, he seemed tame. We had grown up in different places. If I remember correctly Les had worked in the Docklands where he was an active trade unionist. I had grown up in Northern Ireland under mantras such as ‘No Surrender’ and ‘Ulster Says No’ so I found the art of negotiation difficult. Les knew when to strike a deal that was something, I was to learn from him although even now I still find it difficult.
Les continued to teach others the ways of trade unionism and we saw successive members take on roles.
It was from Les I first heard the mantra, “Never ask a question you don’t know the answer.”
There were funny moments despite the seriousness such as when I poured myself a glass of water and Les said, “Thank you, Gordon”. Me being me I would have said to most, “I poured it for myself” but I respected Les too much and poured myself another glass. He also had the ability to quieten me when I got, let’s say ‘over excited’. I knew if Les was hushing me it was for good reason.
It is a great pity there are no recordings of those sessions as in those rooms I witnessed Les represent members with informed passion. He had this way of saying, “John, you are a decent bloke so I know you will understand the concern of members. These members tell me ……”
He also trained me on programmes and on one occasion we were inspected and got a good report. We were later bemused to be told that the same Inspector was a former ‘Mastermind’ champion!
With the advent of mobile phones 27 years ago Les introduced a ‘mobile phone bin’ that everyone had to put their phone into during the session.
Thinking about Napo he was such an influence initially I called him ‘the Father of Napo in Bedfordshire’ and as time went on ‘the grandfather’. He exuded to me fatherly qualities in all that did whether with Napo, work or personally.
There was no other who was continuous and consistent over, was it, 30 years or more for Napo in Bedfordshire, there is only one Les Wildman.
Our thoughts are with his family at this time.
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