A personal memoire by Steve Restorick

When I came to F+M in 1972 Bernard was still plain Mr Feilden or BMF (David Mawson was DM). He was heavily involved with work at St Paul’s Cathedral, York Minster and his beloved Norwich Cathedral so he was often away from the office. Despite his regular time-consuming trips to York and London, he always made time to be interested in what everyone in the office was doing (there were 70+ people working in the office at the time) and would make a point of walking round the office and talking to staff about what was on their drawing boards (where DID all those drawing boards go?). The constant travelling may have taken its toll. He once telephoned his secretary Dulcie from York railway station only to be told that he was due at a meeting in Chesterfield in about 10 minutes.

The first job he gave me to do on my second day in the office was to find out where we could get 3” high brass roman numerals AND order enough for a clock face  AND deliver them to The Great Hospital in Bishopgate in Norwich AND to give instructions on how to fix them to an exterior clockface. The second task was to go along to Norwich Station to pick up the  camera he had left on the train the previous day !

Although he worked on and advised on important buildings in the UK and around the world, one of the projects that he found most exciting and satisfying was the development of the new Broad at the University of East Anglia which he saw as a tremendous asset achieved without spending a penny because he persuaded an aggregate supplier to dig out the gravel for free and leave a large hole. We tried to find a home for the tons of peat that were dug out as well but, unfortunately, it was not suitable for either burning or composting. Bernard said “We got 20 acres of lovely water that changed the atmosphere of the University and, according to the Vice Chancellor, ‘introduced a contemplative atmosphere’”.

Bernard was very proud of the office library (he once called it F+M’s Treasure House) and put it in the best room in the new office in Ferry Road with a door to the terrace overlooking the picture postcard view of the Cathedral. In those days, we had an office photographer who worked in the room next door. I would often hear his phone ring when Bernard had noticed a particularly impressive sky behind the Cathedral and Alistair would rush through the library clutching tripods and cameras to preserve the scene on film.

The last time I spoke to Bernard he pointed out with a smile that I had been at F+M for longer than he had.

SCR.

Photograph of Steve Restorick from 1971