Digby Woods, engineer

Born in Maidenhead and educated at boarding school in Reading and Marlow, Digby was articled to a Municipal Engineer at Harpenden Council & qualified in 1954. He then moved to a job in Hemel Hempstead Development Corporation in 1955. A few years on, inspired to move abroad, he applied for a job in Bulawayo, Rhodesia – his cricket playing helped him get the job! There he was employed on development of roads and drainage and eventually gained Chartered Engineer status. On a trip to South Africa he met Jill, who became his wife in 1959. Homesick, he returned home to the UK in 1962, and worked for Bracknell Development Corporation, but they returned to Cape Town after 4 years, working on the civil engineering for housing projects for coloured people. Convincing his wife by promising a house with central heating, Digby and the family moved back to the UK in 1970, briefly in Bracknell until Digby applied for and obtained a job with MKDC working on the construction of balancing lakes.