by Dr. Iain Corness
The
president of the Jomtien-Pattaya Rotary Club this year is Englishman Chris
Gibbins who, as he left, said, “Please make sure you spell my name
correctly. With an ‘o’ in it, that makes me a monkey, and I’ve
progressed a little beyond that.” The self-deprecating humour is now
almost a trademark of the man, who really comes across as a very gentle,
but concerned human being. In some ways the ideal Rotarian, and indeed he
has been a member of Rotary International for the past 24 years.
Chris was born near Stratford on Avon, the home of the
UK’s great bard, William Shakespeare. The youngest of four children, the
family lived in a small village that did not have electricity or gas, and
the water was brought in buckets from the village well. I suggested that
life must have been tough in those days, but Chris denied this. “I had a
happy childhood. I didn’t know anything different.” In fact after
WWII, where the UK was in the grip of rationing, Chris sailed through
again blissfully ignorant. “I didn’t know there were privations!”
Those were certainly the days before world-wide TV coverage.
Chris had to leave school when he was 16 years of age,
as his parents could not afford to keep him on, and he joined the local
paper as a reporter at the urging of his school English teacher, Anthony
Burgess, himself famous as the author of the book, A Clockwork Orange.
Chris found that he really did enjoy the life of a
reporter, but his (perhaps youthful) idealism was to be a drawback. His
reporting of the truth behind some famous figures who were demanding money
to attend charity functions which they were supposed to be promoting, and
giving poor reviews for sub-standard stage productions was enough to raise
the ire of the owners of the newspapers, who lowered the boom on the cadet
reporter.
He had no sooner returned to the ranks of the great
unemployed when the British government came up with an idea to keep him
off the streets for a couple of years. This job offer was called
‘National Service’ but it was not to Chris’s liking, so with 30
pounds in his pocket and his entire worldly possessions in a suitcase, he
boarded the ferry for the continent, where he was to spend the next three
years. In Europe he did many jobs, mainly in the sales side, especially to
the Americans based in Germany. “I was single, and had no
responsibilities, but after the government stopped trying to train the
entire young male population for belligerent warfare, I went back to the
UK,” said Chris.
After his return, Chris tried his hand at many jobs,
but nothing was really appealing as a future career. “I met a bloke in a
pub who had an insurance broker’s office and he offered me a job
there.” This was the start of what was going to be a very lucrative
career for the boy who had left school at 16 years of age.
He did well, learned quickly and before too long he was
opening up his own brokerage, and he was still on the young side of 30. He
then began expanding, opening up a series of insurance broker’s offices.
“It was enjoyable. It was my own business and you enjoy making money for
yourself.”
However, in 1986, the insurance companies were
consolidating and buying up the brokers and when one group came along with
an offer Chris couldn’t refuse, he sold out and promptly retired. He was
48 years old.
“I’d worked hard, so I welcomed the break,” said
Chris, but after a holiday in Thailand with some friends, he returned to
the UK and “dabbled” in various enterprises. He also had more time to
devote to the charitable side of the Rotary International organization,
and even became president of the Watford Rotary Club for 1990/91. “I had
done some work for local charities, but I liked Rotary. I have found that
most members are decent, upright people,” said Chris.
However, the visits to Thailand became more frequent
and eventually he decided he should settle down here. “I was on my own,
so it wasn’t a difficult decision!” He decided on Pattaya and built a
home here, and of course, joined Rotary, choosing the English speaking
Rotary Club of Jomtien-Pattaya.
It was his aim that he would ‘really’ retire this
time and settle back to read books - historical novels are his favourite,
citing books by Wilbur Smith as examples. His other hobbies include deep
sea fishing and golf, where his handicap is 20 on a 28 point system, and
he swims every day. I congratulated him on this and he did admit that he
does this for health reasons only. “It’s boring actually,” said
Chris.
However, like many people who “retire” over here,
they find they need to do something more than daily swims and the odd
book, and Chris Gibbins is no different. With a friend, Geoff Paston, he
has become involved in a new concept called FAST, the Farang Aid and
Support Team (telephone 09 988 7023). This concept grew out of a situation
where a friend from the UK was hospitalized here, but there seemed to be a
breakdown in communications in the insurance side. Chris was able to draw
on his insurance broking experience and after a couple of telephone calls,
everything was resolved.
This brought them to look at different scenarios in
expat life in foreign countries and to realize that there were other
problems that could occur where the expat needed an “instant friend”
who knew the local ropes, and FAST became a reality, drawing upon the
expertise of many people domiciled here, both expat and local Thai.
While Chris’ involvement in FAST is more as that of a consultant, you
can see just by talking to him, that this has become something that he has
been able to get his teeth into.
