JERSEY Electricity’s longest serving engineer has retired from his role after 49 years of service.
Chief engineer John Duquemin started his career at the age of 16, joining Jersey Electricity as an engineering apprentice.
He then went to London to complete engineering diplomas, before completing a degree in engineering at Plymouth Univeristy.
Throughout his studies, Mr Duquemin would return to the Island during holidays and work for Jersey Electricity.
He also completed secondments at engineering companies in the south of Scotland and Manchester, to enrich his experience and knowledge.
Mr Duquemin said: “In terms of engineering, it’s extremely rewarding – a lot of fulfilment, and a lot of teamwork.
“My involvement, because of the electricity element of it, has been across a very broad range of engineering. Mechanical, electrical, electronic – we do everything this company.
“A lot of other engineering can be quite specific but we get involved in everything.”
Mr Duquemin explained that, in a video created by Jersey Electricity two years ago, he told the chief commercial officer at the time that he aspired to be chief engineer of the company – which is where he is today.
“I will actually miss that camaraderie of work,” he said. “I won’t miss getting up in the middle of the night in the dark and getting to work in the traffic and all that. But if lights went out, we responded. That’s part of the job.”
Reflecting on his “varied career”, Mr Duquemin added: “When the power station was running full time, that was busy, because often the only time things could be fixed was overnight.”
For young people coming into engineering, Mr Duquemin said “there is no better place to work Jersey Electricity”.
“It’s really large, it does so much, and it’s a great environment to work in,” he added.
“We still run an apprenticeship scheme, and we still get people coming through, which is great.”
Mr Duquemin and his coworkers gathered at The Powerhouse yesterday to celebrate his time working for the company.
