November 6, 2006 - 4:00pm
Like all trades, welding is not what it was 50 years ago when the Vocational Training School (VTS) began offering it in Nanaimo.
But change isn’t all bad. Improvements to technology, metals and tools have made the job easier.
“There’s more diversity than there used to be. Students need to know more now,” said instructor Jim Craigdallie, who began working at Malaspina in 1990.
“The tools today are more technical, more compact and more complicated, but they also make the job easier.”
When the welding program started in 1956, the VTS had moved from its original location in a stable downtown, to an old army garage on the present Nanaimo campus property. Students from all over British Columbia would come to take the program as well as other programs offered through the school. Most of them stayed in dormitories located on the same property.
Jack Doan joined the welding staff at VTS in 1973 as an instructor. By the time he retired as the Dean of Trades from Malaspina in 1999, he’d seen a lot of changes within the industry and the program.
“It’s an artistic profession,” said Doan, who continues to live in Nanaimo. “It was a great trade for me because it was portable. You just packed up your hood and away you went. Welding has changed a lot since then. The equipment is more technical – it used to be just an electric generator and a welder.”
When Doan taught welding, the VTS course was made popular because all welders who worked on the Peace River Gas Pipeline had to pass their tests at the Nanaimo school.
“Nanaimo was the only place students could get their certification, so we taught them pipeline welding in the mud, in the dirt, in the rain and in the snow,” said Doan.
Now welders work in all aspects of industry including automotive, manufacturing and marine.
The welding program continued to operate out of the old army garage located where the present-day physical plant building is now on the lower campus beside Fourth Street. In 1980 the program was moved into its present location, building 130.
To acknowledge the passing of half a century, all present students received a hat and t-shirt to mark the occasion. Several industry donations, including a gas cutting and welding equipment torch set and welding helmet by Lincoln Electric and a MIG Welder by Miller, were sold to pay for the t-shirts and hats. Proxair approached the suppliers and asked for the donations on behalf of Malaspina.
Tags: In the Community
