13 September 2012 Audrey Cooper Face to Face

Rotarian from nowhere in a man's world.

Falling her length on top of the Forth Rail Bridge is just one of the heart-stopping adventures that have befallen civil engineer Audrey Cooper during her career.
As one of Bridge of Allan & Dunblane Rotary club's newest members, she was invited to recount some of her career exploits as 'a woman from nowhere in a man's world' at the club's meeting on Thursday evening.
            The daughter of a civil engineer, Audrey's destiny was mapped out at an early age. "I also loved maths and the outdoors," she said. "I suppose I am one of the few people who can claim that no particular place is home, as I have always moved around so much. The only place I have ever lived in twice is Dunblane, I was here for two or three years as a child, and moved back here five months ago after spending 11 years at Dounreay."

As a youngster her somewhat nomadic lifestyle was determined by the projects her father undertook. Then after she qualified from Paisley College of Technology - one of only three girls in a faculty of 83 students - Audrey's jobs have taken her to a number of destinations throughout the UK.
Her work -often in extreme weather conditions - is demanding and sometimes dangerous. Occasionally her problems involve logistics on a gargantuan scale, including an occasion when giant steel girders for a bridge were delivered to the wrong side, so she had to work out a route that would negotiate them safely around a number of buildings and houses to their rightful destination.
Her time at Dounreay as part of the decommissioning programme, have left her with a very favourable impression of safety levels. "It's something we should all be proud of," she says.
Perhaps her most personal hair-raising experience was standing atop one of the spans on the Forth Rail Bridge inspecting the paintwork. "I tripped and fell - but luckily as I'm only five feet tall, just my head was left dangling over the edge!"

In other business, the club presented Jenny Ferguson, one of the Westland Hotel staff, with a card and engraved quaich as she was leaving to start her university career at Aberdeen at the weekend. Jenny was always willing and cheerful and we wish her well with her studies.

And finally, we had a visiting Rotarian from Hinton, Alberta paying us a visit. Henry Rowbottom had hosted President Iain Smith and Marjory when they visited Canada in 2009.