Heard the one about the PLA
pilot getting a pasting in a Cypriot restaurant? Incredible as it may seem, that’s exactly what
happened to Eddie Hadnett,
whose appearance on a roll of wallpaper almost made fellow pilot Dave Day choke on his fillet steak.

Dave was recently on holiday with his wife in Alsancak, northern Cyprus, and was enjoying a meal
in a restaurant with friends when
his gaze was suddenly drawn to
the eatery’s decor.

The walls were covered in paper made from press cuttings.
Alongside Hollywood starlet
Marilyn Monroe was a photo of Eddie Hadnett climbing a
container ship’s ladder – an
image used in our 2009 centenary book “A Century of Service”.

Dave said: “I couldn’t believe it. What are the chances of being
out somewhere, in a different country and seeing a pilot on the
wallpaper? It was hilarious.”

Dave, who’s now in his 27th year
at the PLA, didn’t have a camera
to take a picture of the wallpaper, but the restaurant owner kindly offered him the next best thing...
an actual roll of the stuff.

Oddly, Eddie says he’s had lots
of comments from strangers
over the years, since the photo first appeared.

He joked that he’s slowly getting to grips with his wall-based fame. “How funny to be part of a restaurant’s decor,”he said.

“I knew this would happen one
day though, apparently I’ve got
a face for it.”

Despite news of Eddie’s
wallpaper, our pilotage team currently has no plans to
give their office a wall-to-wall makeover.

An inflatable launch for ropes knotting and a wealth of PLA expertise attracted a lot of interest to our stand at Skills London 2016.

The annual careers fair, for 15 to 24 year olds, sees hundreds of organisations offer free jobs advice and demonstrations specific to a wide range of industries.

Many of our departments (and partner organisations such as Thames Skills Academy and Tideway) including Marine Services, Hydrographic and HR, had staff on hand to offer guidance and answer questions.

Head of HR operations Gary Holdforth said: “It went extremely well and our demonstrations attracted many visitors who were keen to find out more about us and the work we do on the Thames.”