The Last Day (28 February 2001)

Tim's last day at the office was spent catching up on some outstanding paperwork and clearing his desk. Those file reviews will just have to wait a little longer. Goodwill messages continued to arrive from colleagues who were unable to be present at the evening function. We managed to get Tim out of the office just after 1700 and the guests assembled at the Lamb, a popular London pub.

Nearly 100 invited guests turned up for the celebration. The evening was very relaxed and informal but there was a speech by Gary followed by a presentation of a gift to Tim and a bouquet to Anna. A very relaxed and happy Tim thanked everybody for their good wishes and their friendship.

Gary's speech:

Welcome everybody to this special evening !

We are all here to help Tim celebrate his 60th year. If not - then you are in the wrong party.

My name is Gary and I have worked with Tim for the last 4 years. A comparatively short period in such a distinguished career but I am privileged to be able to give you some of my recollections.

Tim was recruited into Lloyds Bank International in 1978 as manager of the newly created IT Audit function. He was working alongside a former LBI programmer, Stuart O'Nions.

Tim then began a series of world tours which have continued unabated until his last audit in November 2000. His boundless enthusiasm for the people and cultures of all the countries he visited during this period is well known to Bank staff worldwide.

His house is so full of souvenirs brought back from these 22 years of travels that he has been forced to keep on the road because there is now very little room for him to live in it.

One of his most well-known collections is that of airline sick bags - early in his career in the Bank he was a founder member of LASBAG - the Lloyds Air Sick Bag Accumulation Group (the other members of which have since sunk into obscurity). Officianados will of course know that there is a web site available for collectors the splendidly named www.vomitarium.com

This collecting instinct is apparently inherited from his father along with an impressive collection of neckties - four suitcases full to be precise. As a result Tim has been able to come to work wearing a different tie every day, although some of the earlier items from the collection, dating from his father's schooldays, did not really do justice to his now portly figure and were the cause of a number of citations from the style police.

Tim has accumulated more than 300,000 Plus Air Miles on his travels and by my calculations that should certainly take Tim and Anna around the world at a pace of their choosing.

There can be few people who would be unable to recall an encounter with Tim.

He can be enlightening, amusing, interesting, entertaining, exasperating and at times infuriating.

He has the potential to deliver an awesome tongue lashing via the telephone but he is always full of remorse if, no when, he discovers that the recipient may have been just a teensy weensy bit upset.

A direct man who says what he thinks and holds a passionate belief that things should be done properly both at a personal and professional level.

Tim does not agree with comments that are made behind people's backs - an admirable philosophy and Tim does indeed follow it to the letter by copying in anybody that he refers to adversely in correspondence. Funnily enough some of these people can be less enthusiastic about Tim's open and direct manner. I have discussed the improvement opportunities with Tim and it is in his personal development plan for 2001.

Imagine Tim as a witness in court. When asked 'Do you promise o tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth' I believe that Tim would reply I do ...followed by 'well for a start you need to lose a few pounds, the judge is exceedingly bald, that juror in the second row is absolutely beautiful, this courtroom needs decorating' - ...

I didn't really believe the tales about his legendary late nights in the office but since sharing a room with Tim I can confirm that it is all true. He really does work until 8, 9, 10, 11 and even through the night. He is definitely the only man I know who keeps a spare pair of pyjamas in the office.

Tim quite definitely has his own style of auditing:

When Tim reviewed IT in a country he didn't just interview the IT staff - he interrogated absolutely everybody: Chauffeurs, cleaners, car park attendants, Comissionnaires and so on. Information, no matter how trivial, was gathered for potential subsequent use. And used it was ... in some cases to substantiate a point - in others to become items on one of the legendary 'to do lists' as items 5923-5961. Tim's filing and retrieval system for this information is quite frightening. It spans years and there are files in the basement (nobody knows how many) that will continue to provide their own tribute to Tim... well at least until the next cull. Several people have got their eyes on a 1994 TJLO file of 'Things to be reviewed'.

I digress - back to the audits...What Tim achieved by talking to all these people was an understanding of the culture, the background, the personalities, the politics, the standard of internal communication, the level of morale etc. etc.

He also ascertained the form of the local football team (for any younsgters out there this tactic works in 9 times out of ten except for the USA), the local perfoming arts, the best places to eat, local events, the local economy, other places to eat, local news, the price of fish.......

Basically he did his best to appreciate the local environment that Lloyds TSB were doing business in. Along the way Tim established a rapport with many many people and set up a magnificent network of business colleagues that regularly seek advice and guidance from Tim.

I couldn't omit a reference to a special lady who has been a constant nuisance to Tim for the last 6 years. I refer of course to Gracie and annual appraisal after annual appraisal incorporated Tim's avowed intent to start using it. I can confirm that it has been included in his objectives for 2001.

An individual's contribution to a team and an organisation can be considered quite simply in terms of the resultant gap when they are not around. In Tim's case that gap will be very large indeed.

Thanks for all your efforts over the years, you have been an excellent colleague.

You can look back with pride on your career with the Bank and you can now look forward to as many rest days as you wish.

Oh and I have been asked by Janice to tell you that you can return the globetrotter suitcase when it is convenient.

I would like to share with you all some recollections that colleagues past and present have given me:

And many many more similar stories of people's happy memories of times shared with Tim. I won't read them out now but I will go one better.....

It is traditional to capture people's good wishes in a binder. This occasion is no exception and I would like to thank Jackie for a fantastic job in compiling the binder and incorporating her own style.

Also, as you may know Tim is a great lover of music from around the world and I am also very pleased pleased to present Tim with a voucher that will enable him to please himself.

Finally.

The last present.

Ladies and gentlemen what finer tribute to a distinguished career in IT and IT audit than your own website

And it is with great pleasure that I present to Tim www.geocities.com/timothy_oxton

The secret (until now) site has been compiled by your colleagues and created by a very talented man in Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Fajardo and we must say a massive thank you to Eduardo who did most of the work whilst on holiday.

The warmth of the greetings on the site is overwhelming.

The site includes:

Tim - with our very very best wishes

And a big thanks to everybody here tonight and those who were unable to make it in person.