PASLR legend John Brokelbank celebrates 25 years
In October, John Brokelbank, our most experienced Pump Technician and highly valued member of the team, celebrated 25 years with PASLR. For over a quarter of a century John has contributed to the growth of our business through hard work, supporting the team and taking care of our customers.
“John has been through almost the entire roller coaster of the business and always been supportive of all the directions the business has moved through. I am proud to have him as part of a wonderful team and privileged to call John and his wife Bev my friends,” says Darlene Henshaw, Director, PASLR.
John didn’t necessarily have his sights set on a career in this field. As a biosciences and psychology student at university, he wasn’t yet aware of his natural flair for finding faults, pulling things apart and fixing them. He left university, joined the army and later found himself in a job he didn’t love. Darlene convinced him to join her (instead of entering the field of zoology and botany) and the rest is history.
John jokes that in the pumping industry you’re working with the worst possible combination of components – a mechanical device, electric components and an aggressive liquid. “You really have to understand how it all integrates,” he says. “Water dissolves everything, then we make it worse by adding chemicals. Water has resistance, so it wears things out. It wants to go down, and we’re saying, no you’re going this way. We forget how mankind is incredibly adaptable – pumps have one of the biggest effects on our environment – we make water go where we want it to and water is one of the most important things in the world.”
With such depth of knowledge and experience in this highly specialised field, John is currently in the process of being grandfathered into a Pumping Systems Technician qualification with the New Zealand Milking & Pumping Trade Association (NZMPTA). The qualification recognises those technicians currently working within the water-based pumping systems industry that have many years of experience but no formal trade training or qualification.
John was surprised in the middle of an online end of month meeting when colleague Kelvin Boyd (who John has known since he was born!) turned up at his front door to present him with a special commemorative award and a “very nice” bottle of Scotch.
John says with technology continuing to evolve and change they are always discovering better ways of doing things. When asked if he ever imagined he would be here after twenty-five years John said, “No… and yet it doesn’t seem like twenty-five years! It wasn’t what I expected to do but it’s the right sort of job for me – it’s always challenging, you’re helping people and every job is different,” he says.