Bill (Bix) Clark, who opened the Fairey Surveys Livingston office back in the 1970s, will be turning 90 on 5th March.
Bill Clark joined Fairey Surveys in 1947 following 6 years in Royal Engineers Surveys, then left after 10 years to work in the US, where he worked in photogrammetry. He returned to the UK in 1960, and rejoined Fairey Surveys in the Photogrammetric Section. He became Photogrammetric Section Supervisor in 1964 and transferred to UK Marketing as Assistant Manager in 1969, reporting to Marketing Manager Peter Forsey.
The opening of the office in Livingston followed the FSL contract to provide mapping for the planning of the new town at Stonehouse, south east of Glasgow. Bill Clark became Managing Director of Fairey Surveys Scotland, and opened the office in November 1973. It had a small map production unit equipped with a Zeiss Stereometrograph and cartographic facilities.
We understand that Bill played the trumpet, and that his nickname came from the jazz musician Leon Bismark “Bix” Beiderbecke, who played the cornet and piano in the 1920s.