When I was working in the Architect’s Office of the Oldham Borough Surveyor in late 1945 /46 I casually glanced through the latest Building and Construction Newsletter in my lunch break and saw a tiny 3 or 4 line paragraph about Derek Wrigley having won the Ashpitel Prize for 1945 from the RIBA.
I could not believe my eyes as I knew absolutely nothing about it.
A quick letter to the RIBA resulted in an apology for forgetting to let me know of the Prize which was awarded for achieving the highest marks in all England during the Final Examinations for qualification as an Associate including a Distinction in Thesis on “Sound reduction in buildings”, assessed by the leading acoustics expert in England – Hope Bagenal.
Mum and Dad were the proudest parents in Oldham for a long time and I still have a couple of the Ashpitel books on my bookshelf (2016).