Just Being There

Talking about how Andrew Wylie developed his mission in the industry, this is the story of his ministry as he sought to define and develop the role. Coupled with a wry and very human observation of that industry, it tells how he found his feet amongst the people employed at all levels of work on, and in support of, the North Sea platforms.

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The North sea oil industry and the people who work in it have made a tremendous contribution to life in the UK during the past forty years. Yet, because their workplace is over the horizon, the adage 'out of sight, out of mind' too often applies. Andrew Wylie was appointed as the first Chaplain to the UK Offshore Industry in 1985. In this book he tells the story of his ministry as he sought to define and develop the role. He tells how he found his feet amongst the diverse people employed at all levels of work on, and in support of, the North Sea platforms. His time with the industry covered a period of major offshore disasters, in all of which he was deeply involved. It was just shortly after his induction to the Chaplaincy that a crowded Chinook helicopter crashed within sight of Sumburgh airport. In the years that followed, there were to be many individual tragedies, which never made the headlines, and also the disaster that was Piper Alpha. The core of this book is how Andrew Wylie developed his mission in the industry. It is coupled with a wry and very human observation of that industry.
Andrew Wylie's innocence of technical engineering matters lends objectivity to his account that may be unique - very few are privileged to visit the oil platforms who do not have a pressing 'technical' purpose to their stay. This book will appeal to all those who work or have worked in the industry. It will also enlighten those of us who are all too unaware of the nature of the people and the operations that make possible our comfortable onshore lives.